The dominance over Toledo continued for the NIU volleyball team in the first round of the MAC tournament Tuesday night at Victor E. Court.

The No. 7 seeded Huskies (14-18 overall, 8-8 MAC) swept all three games by scores of 30-26, 30-26, and 30-20 and beat the No. 10 seed Toledo for the third time in a span of 19 days.

NIU will play No. 2 Ball State (19-9,12-4) in the quarterfinals Friday at a tournament hosted by Bowling Green. NIU split its two meetings with Ball State this season, sweeping the Cardinals in its last match Nov. 6.

Against Toledo, the Huskies jumped out to a 16-6 lead in Game 1 behind five kills from senior Tera Lobdell, who won her second straight MAC Player of the Week award Monday.

“A good start is always important to us and we were able to maintain it,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “We gave up some points here and there, but we never allowed any big six- or seven-point runs.”

Toledo (16-14, 5-11) grabbed its first lead of the match in Game 2, 8-7, but an 8-4 run by the Huskies put them behind for good.

NIU had a .140 hitting percentage in Game 2, which was its lowest of the match, but still captured the win.

“We blocked hard and were able to key in the middle,” junior setter Marie Zidek said. “I think even though we beat them twice already, we had our backs against the wall because the third time playing a team is tough.”

Game 3 was the Huskies’ best on both sides of the ball, as they hit .410 and held Toledo to a match-low .116.

Lobdell and senior middle blocker Megan Markowski had seven kills and five digs apiece in the clincher.

“They played us tough for two and a half games but as we continue to play, we continue to communicate better,” Gooden said. “Right now we are where the best teams want to be and we are getting confident.”