Volleyball (20-8, 13-1 MAC) earned its second MAC West division regular season title in four seasons with a 109-kill weekend.

By winning both weekend matches, NIU clinched a top-two seed in the MAC Tournament and will receive a double-bye into the semifinals.

The Huskies (20-8, 13-1 MAC) swept the Western Michigan Broncos, 3-0, Thursday in Kalamazoo, Mich. Saturday, NIU rallied to beat the Bowling Green Falcons, 3-1, at Victor E. Court.

NIU won 20 games for the sixth time in head coach Ray Gooden’s 13-year NIU career, which he said is a nice accomplishment, but he has his eyes set on bigger things this season.

“I think the better stat for us is that we continue to defend home and helping us solidify what we needed to as far as winning the [MAC] West outright and getting the No. 2 seed,” he said. “… The 20 wins is a nice milestone, but it’s more about the team, their success and what they’ve done.”

Western Michigan

NIU concluded its five-game road swing with a strong defensive showing, defeating Western Michigan (16-13, 7-7 MAC) in straight sets Thursday (25-16, 25-22, 25-15).

The Huskies collected 12 blocks in the win, including six from sophomore middle blocker Jenna Radtke.

Bronco Lexie Pawlik came into the match leading the nation in assists and finished the contest with 24, but she got outdueled by junior setter Alexis “Pookie” Gonzalez, who registered 31 assists. The passing from Gonzalez helped NIU strike down 42 kills to the Eagles’ 30.

NIU was also smarter with the volleyball, making only 14 errors to Western Michigan’s 21.

With the combination of NIU’s 12 blocks and its pressure forcing WMU errors, the Eagles ended up having a .087 attack percentage while NIU finished with .250.

In her second start of the season, freshman middle blocker Shelby Seurer finished the match with a .429 attack percentage and four kills. Senior outside hitter Mackenzie Roddy collected 19 spikes in the win.

Bowling Green

NIU performed well in front of the big lights, taking down Bowling Green in four sets (24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 25-22) in the program’s third match televised on ESPN3.

NIU knew that even though Bowling Green (7-16, 4-10 MAC) has been struggling this year the Falcons are only two years removed from a MAC Championship they won in 2011 when they beat NIU, 3-2.

The match went back and forth and included 30 tied scores and 10 lead changes. Gooden said the Huskies might have been a little too pumped up, but they did a nice job loosening up as the match went on.

“I think we had to get used to playing back here after being on the road for five matches,” Gooden said. “I think we started a little tight because we were so energetic and ready to go, and once we settled down we started playing better volleyball; that’s for sure.”