Last season, the NIU volleyball team couldn’t get past the quarterfinal round in the MAC tournament.

The Huskies hope to hang around a bit longer in this year’s quarterfinal match against No. 2-seed Ball State at 10 a.m. today at tournament host Bowling Green.

Coming off a three-game sweep of No. 10-seed Toledo, No. 7 NIU (14-18 overall, 8-8 MAC) will look to keep its five-match winning streak alive against the Cardinals.

If NIU advances, it will face the winner of the Marshall against Bowling Green game in the semifinals Saturday. The championship game is at noon on Sunday.

When the two teams face off, BSU (19-9, 12-4) will be without leading attacker Sarah Obras, who is out with a knee injury. Obras was averaging 4.85 kills per game and had 27 kills in her two matches against NIU.

Obras and NIU’s Tera Lobdell were named to this year’s six-person All-MAC first team. Huskies sophomore Kate McCullagh was an All-MAC honorable mention selection.

“Even without Obras, that team is still really, really good,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “They are the No. 2 seed for a reason.”

The home team has won each of the NIU-BSU matches this season. With today’s match at a neutral site, Gooden hopes his team can use that as an advantage.

“Every team is on the road now,” Gooden said. “And even though we’ve been at home the past weeks, it’s our energy here that we can take with us and get us to that next level in the tourney.

“If you have road issues now, then you shouldn’t be in the tournament. Bowling Green is where the best teams want to be. That’s where we want to be,” he said.