It may have been senior night for the NIU volleyball team, but senior Laura Baetzel was more interested in a freshman.

Beatzel was key for NIU (13-17 overall, 7-9 MAC) during its sweeps over Ball State and Toledo this weekend. Friday night’s victory against BSU (5-24, 4-12) was especially important, as it secured a home game during the first round of the MAC tournament for the Huskies.

But Friday was also special for the outside hitter and the team, as NIU coach Ray Gooden was able to get all his players on the court.

This included freshman outside hitter Mallory Thompson. The DeKalb native is a walk-on with the program and saw her first action of the season against BSU.

“Getting on the court, having just joined the team, is pretty cool,” Thompson said. “I’m glad I got to do it. Even if it was just for three points.”

While the freshman and other players got a chance to play Friday, Saturday was all about the seniors.

NIU recognized its two senior players, setter Mandi Caputo and Baetzel, before the start of Saturday’s match against Toledo. For the weekend, the pair combined for 19 kills, 64 assists and 29 digs in their last regular season game as Huskies.

“It’s not going to hit home yet,” Baetzel said. “You know, I’ve been playing with Mandi since I was like 13.”

“You kind of don’t realize it because it’s not officially your last game,” Caputo said. “But, it’s kind of sad, Laura and I have been together forever. It’s kind of sad that we’re never going to play together after this.”

Gooden was happy to celebrate senior night with a three game sweep of Toledo (4-23, 1-15), but was also excited to see the team effectively block.

In total, NIU put up 16 team blocks against the Rockets, a season high.

“We’ve talked about it so much, we’ve worked on it so much and they finally had a chance to experience it tonight,” the coach said. “It’s a fun way to play, and I’m glad the girls got to experience it.”

Outside hitter Irene Johnson led the team in blocking against Toledo. The junior provided four solo and three assisted blocks.

Jonhson also led the Huskies with a total of 25 kills over the weekend.

“In practice we worked a lot on hitting shots that were opened,” Johnson said. “I just worked on doing that. It just feels great to win ­— it’s been a while.”