NIU volleyball continued its record-breaking season this weekend, taking down two MAC West rivals.

With the wins, the Huskies now sit alone on top of the MAC West and have a 5-0 record on the road, a feat last accomplished in 1992.

On Friday night, the Huskies (19-2 overall, 5-1 MAC) matched up against Central Michigan, seeking redemption from last year’s MAC Tournament loss. The Chippewas (7-11, 1-5) were touted to finish first in the West during preseason rankings. Thus far, the team has struggled to finish matches, but the Huskies did not come out underestimating the team’s talent.

“For CMU it happened to be the right things at the right time,” NIU head coach Ray Gooden said. “That’s what it really came down to because Central came out on fire and was kicking our butt up and down the entire first set. We didn’t know what hit us.”

After losing 25-17, the Huskies stabilized in the second to a 32-30 victory. The momentum swung back and forth through the third and fourth sets, with each team taking a set 25-18, before the Huskies finished off the Chippewas in dramatic fashion.

“The fifth set was neck and neck up until 13-13,” Gooden said. “We had two plays, a kill from Allison [McGlaughlin] and an overpass kill from Sarah Angelos, and we won it 15-13.”

NIU’s offense was effective, turning in 61 kills and 58 assists, but Maddie Hughes shined on defense. The senior libero and reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Year gave one of her best defensive performances of the year, turning in a season-high 30 digs.

“Maddie did an incredible job,” said freshman outside hitter Lauren Wicinski. “She was touching things that no one could have touched. There were long rallies, and she kept getting everything up.”

Saturday night the Huskies headed southeast to face Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, Mich. With the Eagles (17-6, 4-2) coming into the match atop the West, the Huskies knew winning would not be an easy challenge, Wicinski said.

The Huskies started off on a positive note and would carry it to a four-set victory, after having played three consecutive five-set matches.

“For the first time since the Toledo match we won the first set; that was a good start,” Gooden said.

The second and third sets went to extra points, with each team snatching a game, before the Huskies made a last push in the fourth to take the set and victory 25-21.

“Our middles did really well,” Wicinski said. “They threw the block and got us some big kills. Overall we all worked really well moving our offense around a lot more and opening gaps.”

Middle blockers Sarah Angelos and Mary Kurisch combined for 18 kills and 9 of the team’s 12 blocks, with Kurisch earning the team’s only three solo blocks. Wicinski led the Huskies with 27 kills and 3 service aces, but also added six service errors.

“[My serve is] really inconsistent right now,” Wicinski said. “It’s either in the net or an ace or sometimes over. But, it really helps that Ray and the other coaches are really positive with me…I’m just going to keep trying to do my best and work on it in practice.”

The clipping of the Eagles and a loss by Ball State to Buffalo puts NIU alone a top the MAC West and tied with Akron for the overall lead in the MAC.

“If you look at all the MAC scores from the past weekend, we got a whole lot of different things happening,” Gooden said. “Every weekend is going to create a new storyline. We are happy about being successful, but we know that we are not even halfway done with the regular season so got to keep pushing to get better.”