DeKALB — For the first time since 2002, the volleyball team will not be competing in the Mid-American Conference tournament after winning it all in 2016.

The Huskies (8-23, 7-9 Mid-American Conference) concluded their regular season over the weekend with two home games against the Ball State University Cardinals and the University of Toledo Rockets.

The volleyball team lost to the Cardinals in four sets (25-13, 18-25, 17-25, 13-25) Friday and swept the Rockets in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-17) Saturday. The win against the Rockets came on senior night and marked the Huskies’ second sweep of the season.

Head Coach Ray Gooden spoke about his feelings regarding sending the team’s seniors out with a win but failing to qualify for the tournament.

Gooden said it’s hard to end the season without qualifying for the postseason, but he is proud of his team’s effort throughout the season.

“At least we finished on a positive note with our fans here,” Gooden said. “We played against a good team in Toledo. We appreciate the seniors for what they’ve done, and we’re getting ourselves ready for the future.”

Friday — Ball State

The Huskies began the weekend with a loss to Ball State. Junior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz recorded a career-high 19 kills, freshman outside hitter Kaylee Martin tallied her ninth double-double of the season with 17 kills and 14 digs, senior libero Anna Brereton led NIU in digs with 17 and senior setter Chandler Kinley paced the team in assists with 37.

NIU jumped out to an early 9-2 lead to commence the first set. The Cardinals battled and managed to bring the deficit down to five points, but the Huskies closed out the set with 7-2 run to win the set 25-13.

The second set featured a more competitive start when Ball State took an early 9-8 lead. The Cardinals scored eight of the next 10 points and led 17-10. Ball State held onto the lead for the rest of the set and won the second set 25-18.

The Cardinals scored the first four points of the third set and didn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the set. The Huskies trailed in the set by as many as 10 points and couldn’t bring the deficit down to less than four points. Ball State won the third set 25-17 and took the match lead 2-1.

Ball State took a 10-9 lead to start the fourth set. The Cardinals scored 15 of the last 19 points in the match and won the fourth set 25-13, winning the match 3-1.

“I thought we had really good energy in the first set and really played well and executed our game plan,” said Gooden, according to NIU Media Services. “Credit to Ball State, they made a couple of adjustments, they showed why they’re the [MAC] West [Division] Champions. We just got stuck a little bit in a couple of situations.”

Saturday — Toledo

NIU concluded the weekend, and its season, with a win against Toledo Saturday.

Martin had a match-high 15 kills, Brereton recorded a team-high 10 digs and Kinley led the team in assists with 30.

“It’s harder this year because this is our last match on our home court, we didn’t have the [MAC] tournament this year,” Kinley said. “Throughout the game we focused on us, not worrying about the Kent State [University Golden Flashes] versus Eastern [Michigan University Eagles] match, just doing what we had to do on our side. To get a win, a sweep and a pretty good scoring sweep was a good way to end for me.”

The Huskies had a slow start to the first set and trailed to the Rockets 6-10. NIU scored 12 of the next 16 points and took a four point lead, 17-13. Toledo battled and cut the deficit to one. The Huskies maintained the lead for the rest of the match and won the first set 25-22.

Martin said she was happy to send the seniors out with a win.

“It was awesome,” Martin said. “Especially to get the sweep. We really played for them. We made a lot of fun out of the game. We had a lot of fun decorating [for the seniors], and we tried to make it as special as we could for the seniors.”

The Rockets took an early 13-10 lead to start the second set. But, NIU scored eight of the next 10 points and gave itself a 18-15 lead. The Rockets came back and tied the set 22-22, but the Huskies scored three of the next four points and won the set 25-23.

NIU jumped out to a commanding 16-5 lead in the third set. Toledo cut the Huskies lead down to six points, but NIU scored the last two points of the set, won the set 25-17 and swept the Rockets 3-0.

“At the beginning it was really sad,” Brereton said. “When it finally set in that this can be our last game, and it ended up being our last game, we hoped that tonight would end on a positive note. Sad to see it end, but glad to see it end on a positive note.”

The Huskies will lose their trio of senior in Kinley, Brereton and senior outside hitter Taylor Krage.

The group finished their careers with 73 victories, three MAC West Division titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016, two MAC regular season crowns in 2015 and 2016 and a MAC Championship in 2016.

Gooden said it’s disappointing the season is over, but he is proud of the team.

“I think we all know [missing the tournament] isn’t what we hoped for,” Gooden said. “There’s moments of positive. I think we have some good pieces in place, some good kids that can do some good things. We’re going to add some more that are going to help us out. We’re going to work really hard this spring to improve and get better each day.”