Women’s tennis (5-7) will look to break its recent struggles as it begins conference play this week against Bowling Green State University(2-11) and Ball State University (13-2).

The Huskies are currently on a three-game losing streak and have won just four matches in that span. Their streak includes losses to Drake University, Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Atlantic University.

The team’s last victory came March 5 against the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. NIU is now 2-6 on the road and 2-1 at home.

The Huskies didn’t choose an ideal time to have their recent skid — riding a three-game losing streak into a stretch will not be favorable, but they are luckily only two games behind .500.

The good news for NIU is that four of their eight remaining games will be at home, where they’ve played just three games thus far. The team will have more than a month to pick up its play before the MAC Tournament gets underway April 29.

“Against an extremely good Drake team, I felt that we played one of our best matches of the season,” said head coach Tanya Gombera following the team’s 4-3 loss to Drake on March 12, according to an NIU Athletics news release. “We played especially well in doubles to earn the key doubles point. We are definitely peeking at the right time, and I know if we continue to improve at this rate that we can be successful in the MAC this season.”

Ball State has won 10 consecutive games and is the top team in the MAC. No other team in the conference has a winning streak of more than two games. Bowling Green is currently the worst team in the MAC and NIU is currently seventh.

Matches against Bowling Green will start at 1 p.m. Friday in Rockford. They will end against Ball State at 1 p.m. Sunday in Muncie, Ind.