NIU volleyball opened up its four-game homestand this weekend with victories against the University of Illinois-Chicago and the University of South Florida.

The Huskies (11-3) returned to Victor E. Court Friday for the first time since Aug. 27 to face their non-conference rival, UIC (6-5). NIU won the match in three sets, 25-14, 26-14, 26-24.

NIU continued its dominance Sunday, defeating USF (4-8) 25-19, 25-17 and 25-20.

“I thought we played with a lot of energy,” said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. “It was cool for us to feel the energy of being back home. I thought we played, at times, some real good volleyball in both matches.”

Sophomore Lauren Wicinski led NIU with 18 kills and a .516 hitting percentage against UIC. She also led both teams with five aces and recorded four digs.

Allison McGlaughlin paced the Huskies with seven digs, while Mary Kurisch had a season-high six blocks.

As a team, NIU outhit UIC .371-.103. Sarah Angelos started off with five kills in five swings as Huskies hit .667 in the first set while committing only one hitting error. Angelos hit .438 with 10 kills in the match.

NIU outhit UIC .458 to .097 in the second set, but came out flat in the third set. Despite only hitting .182 in the third frame, the Huskies’ solid defense and serving helped to hold UIC to a .132 hitting percentage.

Sunday played out slightly different for the Huskies. NIU’s offense started out shaky, committing six hitting errors in the first 15 points of the match.

“I think they all identified the problem,” Gooden said. “We called a time out and everyone regrouped a bit. We had to respect our play a little bit better, and once we started doing that, we improved from there.”

Wicinski once again led the Huskies with 12 kills, but hit only .147 in the match.

Libero Amber Walker led NIU with nine digs, while Justine Schepler chipped in with eight digs.

McGlaughlin hit .429 with 11 kills, and Angelos dominated once again, hitting .562 with 11 kills. Kristin Hoffman dished out 34 assists on the night.

“Sarah’s had a real good weekend and attacked the ball really well in both matches,” Gooden said. “She blocked very well. Our whole group did some really nice things. I thought Kristin did a good job running the offense. Mackenzie [Roddy] and Meghan [Romo]both did a good job. It’s good to get contributions from a lot of people, and that’s what we’ve really been trying to work for through our preseason before conference play.”