Volleyball (15-7, 8-0 MAC) embarks on its final road trip of the regular season with a pair of games in Ohio this weekend.

The Huskies visit the Kent State Golden Flashes 6 p.m. Friday in Kent, Ohio, and then take on the Ohio Bobcats 4 p.m. Saturday in Athens, Ohio.

After a pair of home games last weekend against Akron and Buffalo, the Huskies begin their longest stretch of conference games away from home.

“Now we’re going to go through the hardest stretch. We’re going to play five in a row on the road. Nobody else has that schedule, so we’re just going to take it match by match,” said head coach Ray Gooden. “We’ve got a very big weekend at Ohio and Kent. I think Ohio is undefeated, as well, so everyone is going to look forward to that match, but it’s another match on our schedule. So, we’re just trying to do it one match at a time.”

Kent State

NIU will put its 8-0 MAC record on the line when it takes on a Kent State (11-10, 3-5 MAC) squad that has yet to lose a home match, going 6-0 on its home court.

Freshman defensive specialist Challen Geraghty has been setting the tone for the back row on defense for Kent State, collecting 329 digs at 4.02 digs per set through 81 sets.

The Huskies will have to find a way around 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker Liz Reikow. Reikow’s MAC-leading 97 total blocks through 81 sets this season is a huge reason why the Golden Flashes are atop the MAC in total blocks with 196.

“I think we just really have to make sure Friday we are focusing on Kent and not Ohio because in MAC any team if you don’t give them your best anything can happen,” said freshman libero Anna Brereton. “I think for Friday we just need to focus on Kent and what they can do and what we can do [to] be successful against them.”

Ohio

Saturday, Ohio and NIU will collide with the winner as the lone undefeated team in the MAC.

Junior setter Alexis “Pookie” Gonzalez, who finished Saturday’s 3-1 win over Buffalo with 51 assists, said the approach and mentality leading up to this weekend has been like that for any other game.

“Just the same as it does for any game: Go out, leave it all out on the court, play your heart out [and] play together, and we’ll be successful,” Gonzalez said.

In his first season as the Bobcats’ head coach, Deane Webb has his team off to a 15-4 record and perfect 8-0 in the conference. Ohio hasn’t lost since Sept. 18, and it has won 13 of its last 14 games.

The Bobcats are coming off a 4-0 road trip and will play Western Michigan Friday at home, where the Bobcats are 5-1, before they take the floor Saturday against the Huskies.

“… Saturday, against Ohio, it’s just going to be an all-out battle for the most part, and if we play the way that we know how to play our aggressive serve, scrappy defense [and] consistency at the net, I think we will be able to surprise them and show them what the [MAC] West is all about,” Brereton said.