The NIU volleyball team has a tough assignment ahead of them in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Penn State this Saturday night.

The Lady Lions are ranked 7th nationally, and are currently 27-4 (18-2 in the Big Ten; 1st) and 200-9 in their last 209 matches at home since 1980 (16-1 this season). They are also one of only five schools to have played in the NCAA tournament in every year since the tournament was introduced in 1981. The other four are Pacific, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara and Stanford, last year’s national champs.

Of those, the Huskies have faced only UC-Santa Barbara, but that was early this season. The Gauchos handed NIU their second loss of the season 3-15, 7-15, 16-14, 9-15.

“Penn State is a great team,” senior middle blocker Kori Schauer said. “But we’re a good team too. It should be a great match.”

The Huskies earned the right to play the Lady Lions by advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament in an exciting three-game victory over rival Illinois State on Wednesday.

The win upped NIU’s record to 29-5 and extended their unbeaten streak to 17 matches, a new school record.

They are coming off a huge come from behind win and have the advantage of game film shot during the ISU-PSU match on Oct. 16th.

Such film is like gold to a coach. Not only that but Waite has the luxury of having most of his scouting already done by his longtime friend ISU head coach Julie Morgan.

Much like the Huskies, Penn State loves to beat up on conference rivals. The Lady Lions have won matches by scores like 15-1, 15-1, 15-2 (Nov. 20 over Michigan State), and this season equalled a record for sweeps over Big Ten opponents with 16.

The only problem is that the Mid-Continent can in no way be compared to the Big Ten. Of the ten teams in the Mid-Con, only NIU is made it to the big dance. Of the 11 teams in the Big Ten, five are seeded in the NCAA tourney. The other four are Ohio State (17-3 conf.), Illinois and Minnesota (14-6) and Wisconsin (11-9).

The interesting thing is that Penn State was a pre-season coaches pick for third.

“I really hope we have a good crowd in Rec Hall on Saturday,” said PSU head coach Russ Rose. “The type of crowd that has given us great support in the past.”