The women’s tennis team will look ahead to this weekend after taking care of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in its last match.

Friday, the Huskies will be going against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (1-6), whose only win this season came against the Green Bay Phoenix. Saturday, NIU will face University of Indianapolis (0-0), which hasn’t played a team match all season; Sunday, the Huskies will take on Butler University (2-5), which just broke off a five-game losing streak with a win coming against Morehead State.

NIU head coach Ryun Ferrell is looking forward to the challenge.

“We are starting to figure it out and we have a young team and are excited for this weekend,” Ferrell said. “We haven’t faced any of the three teams but [we are] just excited about playing against them.”

Leading the way this weekend will be junior Haley Dekkinga, who was named the MAC Player of the Week. Dekkinga won the award after having a perfect 4-0 record in singles and in doubles against Saint Louis and SIU-Edwardsville last weekend. Her record at this point in the season is 5-1 in single play and 4-0 in doubles play with her partner Stephanie McDonald. She is the second player to win this award on the team as sophomore Nelle Youel won the award on Jan. 30.

The coach emphasized that the team must play its own game if it wants to come with the win.

“Discipline, having a game plan and dealing with it, play smart and don’t force anything,” Ferrell said. “We want our opponent to be uncomfortable. If they can’t do something, don’t change your game plan. Dance with the guy that brought you there.”

To increase its chances of winning this week, the team is going to have to start strong by winning its double matches. Ferrell believes getting the first point in doubles gives a player a better shot of beating an opponent.

“If you win the double you have a 60 percent chance of getting the win,” Ferrell said. “Focusing a lot on doubles is something we need to address.”

Besides the loss to Southern Illinois University, the Huskies have won five out of their six games, and three of the six matches were without letting up a point, resulting in 7-0 blowouts. Going into this weekend, the Huskies are going to have to be precise if they plan to win out.