DeKALB | The Huskies added another victory at Victor E. Court this weekend against Toledo, but also put in a loss against Ball State to open MAC play.

NIU head coach Ray Gooden knew going into the Ball State (11-3, 1-1 MAC) match on Friday, the Huskies (15-2, 1-1) would be facing a tough opponent.

“I thought if we didn’t control things, we were going to be in a dogfight for the entire time,” Gooden said. “And that’s what happened. They have a great coach and very good players.”

The Cardinals forced the match into five sets, after winning the first (25-20) and fourth (25-23). The Huskies were able to capitalize on opportunities in the second and third defeating the Cardinals 25-18 and 25-17 before losing the fifth set 16-14.

“I knew it was going to be a war,” said Ball State head coach Steve Shondell. “For a team that young to play that high a level, it’s scary. If they lose another match [at home] this year, I’ll be surprised.”

The Huskies made Shondell’s prediction accurate Saturday night, beating Toledo (5-8, 1-1) in three sets (25-15, 25-22, 25-19) to get their first conference win.

“We came out with a lot more aggressiveness,” Gooden said. “We served a lot more aggressively, blocked a lot better, picked up more tips. We were more efficient in our attacking. We had a much better team effort tonight.”

NIU’s outside hitting core of Allison McGlaughlin, Lauren Wicinski and Meghan Romo proved to be difficult for the Rockets’ blockers, earning a combined 37 kills.

“The outsides we knew were going to be the primary go-to players; it proved right,” said Toledo head coach Greg Smith. “All three outsides hit over 44 percent.  We just can’t stop them.”

Wicinski led the team with 19 kills and four service aces. Romo also had her most productive match of the season adding 10 kills, two solo blocks and two block assists. “We were able to get Romo in there and do some really nice things,” Gooden said. “Romo’s been antsy for a productive match. She did a great job attacking and blocking for us.”