DeKalb — The reigning Mid-American Conference champion Huskies, coached by Ray Gooden, have a challenging schedule ahead of them. The 2017-18 schedule includes matches against 10 teams who were 2016 NCAA tournament participants.

Gooden is the program’s all-time leader in wins with 289. In five of his 15 previous seasons, the Huskies faced at least five participants of the NCAA Tournament with 20-win seasons in three of those five years.

Gooden said he expects all of the matches to be tough ones and his team needs to be ready for every game.

“[Many of those] teams made it to the tournament alone,” Gooden said. “We will be playing some really great teams. The Huskies [will need to] work hard to prepare for these matches, especially in the preseason. We need to become cohesive and work as one unit”.

The Huskies will start off their season facing nine of the tournament opponents. The first two being against the High Point University Panthers and the University of Dayton Flyers for the NIU Holiday Inn Express Invitational Aug. 25 at Victor E. Court in DeKalb.

The Huskies will have a one-game stint against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers 6 p.m. Aug. 28 in Milwaukee, which will be followed by the Oregon Invitational Sept. 1 at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon. The Huskies will face the Loyola Marymount University Lions, the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros and the University of Oregon Ducks in the tournament.

The Huskies’ third week of competition includes a match against the University of Northern Iowa Panthers 6 p.m. Sept. 5 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Huskies will return to Iowa Sept. 8 for the Iowa Invitational where they will play the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Sept. 8 and the Iowa State University Cyclones Sept. 9.

NIU’s final midweek contest will be against the Illinois State University Redbirds Sept. 12 leading to the Huskies final non-conference invitational, the Buckeye Invitational. The Huskies will be in Columbus, Ohio Sept. 15-16 to face Dayton, the Ohio State University Buckeyes and Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers.

MAC play will begin for the Huskies Sept. 21 in Kalamazoo, Michigan against Western Michigan University Broncos. The following week the Huskies will host their conference home opener against the Eastern Michigan University Eagles 7 p.m. Sept. 29.Six of the last eight matches will be played at home for the Huskies. Two of these matches will include Miami University Redhawks, who the Huskies defeated in the MAC Championship last year, and the University of Toledo Rockets.

Last season, NIU went 25-6 winning the MAC West Division,won the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2001 and earned the program’s seventh appearance to the NCAA Tournament. Eight Huskies from last year’s championship team return in 2017, including six who appeared in all 31 matches.

Gooden believes these returning players are experienced now and will be the impact players for the 2017 season.

“The seniors will be able to finish out their careers the way they want”, Gooden said.

In addition to returning players, the Huskies have added six new players to the roster.

“The new kids have the ability to contribute right away,” Gooden said.“ Everyone’s got athleticism, some of them have high volleyball IQ and some of them benefit to the gym. Everyone’s got a unique skill set.”