The good news for the Universities of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee was they survived their visit to Chick Evans Field House this weekend with little else than their pride hurt. The bad news is they will have to face the Huskies again late next month.

The NIU squad dominated every aspect of every game in both matches compiling a combining 90-9 score against the two schools.

Friday night saw the Huskies (10-2; 4-0 in conference) take a 15-0, 15-5, 15-2 victory over the UWGB (8-6; 2-1). The fighting Phoenix had very little fight in them for this one.

NIU took it to them early in the first game. Shelby Snyder started the game serving and it wasn’t until the score read 8-0 that Green Bay finally earned a side-out. That was all they would get.

The Huskies got the ball right back, and Nikki Kozak served out the game with a flurry of jump serves that often left the Phoenix looking at each other in dazed confusion.

For the match, Kori Schauer led the way with seven kills in only ten attempts with no errors (.700 hitting percentage). Becky Ramsey was close behind (seven kills, 13 attempts, one error; .462). Amy Foulke and Tammy Campbell both had six kills.

The defense was great too. The Huskies had one solo block (Schauer) and four block assists while holding UWGB to a -.068 hitting percentage. Two of the Phoenix players finished at -.666 while only two others had an attack percentage over.000.

The next night, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (4-10; 1-3) stepped up on the chopping block.

The stormy weather outside was only the first indication of the type of evening UWM was in for. The final score tells the tale.5-0, 15-0, 15-2.

That’s how ugly it got for the Panthers.

Nikki Kozak was the main Panther-killer with eight kills on 12 attempts and no errors (.667 attack clip). Amy Foulke recorded six kills on seven tries (.857) and Joyce Book chipped in five kills in eight chances.

Again the defense stood tall.

There were few blocks, but the wall put up by the Huskies continually got a hand or two on the ball (soft-blocking) which made it easier for the defenders behind them to deliver to the setter. For the match, UWM was held to a -.151 hitting clip and only one player cleared .000.

“Both Friday night and Saturday night’s matches were played well,” said NIU head coach Pete Waite. “We stayed focused and didn’t play below our level … I think last year we would have lowered our play and really gotten sloppy.

“We’re really trying to focus on playing good volleyball through every team we play no matter what their skill level is.”

Next up, Eastern Illinois and Wright State.