The Huskies will be hosting their second home invitational of the year starting today.

NIU is looking to continue its winning ways after snapping its five game losing streak on Tuesday.

Head coach Ray Gooden knows that this weekend will be tough but is just happy to be home. “It cures a lot,” Gooden said.

“All the teams are solid and all of them are aiming for three or four wins,” Gooden said. “All ten games will be competitive.”

The Huskies continue to be paced by their kills and points leader Meagan Schoenrock. Schoenrock leads the team with 136 kills, a .231 hitting percentage (kills plus errors divided by total attacks) and 141.5 points. Junior Amanda Tadla’s 225 assists holds the NIU attack together. NIU’s defense is led by defensive specialist Maddie Hughes with 106 digs and libero Maria Benitez with 57 digs.

Towson

The Huskies first game of the invitational starts at noon today against Towson.

The Tigers (5-2) have lost their last two games and have yet to have a home game.

Towson has a hitting percentage of .211 while allowing a .164 hitting percentage from its opponents. Towson’s attack does not have a standout player, but gets contributions from the whole team. Senior Ally Perko is the Tigers leader with 65 kills, a .154 hitting percentage, 14 serving aces, and 64 digs. Sophomore Katee Luecke is Towson’s setter with 223 assists.

“They are very experienced with only one freshman,” Gooden said.

Loyola Chicago

At 7 p.m., the Huskies will be taking on the Ramblers, Gooden’s former team. Gooden is 2-1 against Loyola with the last meeting coming in September of 2004. NIU won that match 3-0 at Loyola.

“There’s always a little sentiment,” said Gooden. “I just try to coach the best I can against whatever team.”

Loyola (7-0) began the season with two big wins against rivals DePaul and Northwestern. The Ramblers are leading opponents 319-243 in kills, .263-.108 in hitting percentage and 48-26 in blocks. Junior Dana VanDiggelen is the Ramblers leader with 76 kills and a .324 hitting percentage and is second on the team with 61 digs.

Fairfield

NIU will continue its tournament play Saturday at 2 p.m. against Fairfield (2-4).

In the Stags four losses, they did not win a set, while in their two wins the matches went the entire five sets.

“They had a slow start, but against solid competition,” Gooden said.

Outside hitter Alex Lopez and middle blocker Katie Mann are the leaders of Fairfield. Lopez leads the team with 55 kills and is second on the team with seven blocks and a .923 serving percentage. Mann leads the team with a .233 hitting percentage and 17 blocks.

Bradley

The invitational will come to an end at 7 p.m. Saturday against rival Bradley.

The Braves lost their first four matches but have pulled things together with two straight wins.

“They’ve been playing solid volleyball,” Gooden said.

The two wins came against SIU-Edwardsville and Eastern Michigan.

Bradley’s (2-4) attack is lacking that special something, with a team .141 hitting percentage. The Brave’s attack is led by outside hitter Amy Reichel with 73 kills and seven serving aces. Reichel is a former teammate of Irene Johnson when they played at Schaumburg High School.