This weekend may seem like a breeze for the NIU volleyball team on paper, but NIU head coach Ray Gooden knows otherwise.

The Huskies (11-9, 3-3) open up the weekend at 7 p.m. tonight against Buffalo (5-15, 0-6) and finish it off at 7 p.m. tomorrow night against Akron (7-10, 1-5).

“It’s going to be another tough conference weekend,” Gooden said, “and thankfully we’re doing it at home,”

NIU is 8-2 at home this season, with one of the losses coming last weekend to Ball State.

Outside hitter Meagan Schoenrock leads the NIU attack with 326 kills and a .249 hitting percentage. Her 4.72 kills per set ranks first in the Mid-American Conference and sixth in the country.

Freshman Kristin Hoffman guides the offense with 341 assists and 8.97 assists per set.

The Huskies have been working on some issues from last weekend’s performance to get ready for the next two matches.

“The biggest things we’ve been working on are trying to stay consistent,” Gooden said. “When we play at a high level, we do a good job and we just have to do that for longer stretches of time.”

NIU is 10-2 against the Bulls all time and has won the last five meetings. Buffalo is currently on a six-game losing streak and is dead last in the MAC in assists, kills and digs.

“Buffalo has a couple of very strong players that we need to do a good job identifying,” Gooden said. “They do a good job serving and blocking.”

The Bulls star player middle blocker Kristin Bignell is first in the MAC in hitting percentage at .332 and second in blocks with 73.

“We have to do a really good job of identifying her, attacking her early and often,” Gooden said. “She’s a really solid player.”

The Huskies are 15-8 against the Zips all time and have won the last four meetings. Akron has also lost its last three matches entering this weekend.

“Akron has the most dynamic offense we’re going to see,” Gooden said.

The Zips are currently second in the MAC in opponent hitting percentage and blocks and that will be a focus point for NIU.

“We have to do a good job attacking the ball as well as we possibly can,” Gooden said.

Akron’s standout player is outside hitter Brionna Patterson. She is currently fourth in the MAC in kills per set with 3.55 and tenth in hitting percentage at .277.