After playing all four of its MAC matches on the road, the NIU volleyball team will get to play host when a pair of conference teams come to DeKalb this weekend.

Marshall (8-6 overall, 2-1 MAC) and Bowling Green (9-7, 2-2) will play a Huskie team that looks to extend its first winning streak of the season.

But in order to keep its three-game winning streak alive, NIU (7-10, 2-2) will have to control Marshall freshman attacker Kelly-Anne Billingy and bounce back against a BG team that ruined Tera Lobdell’s record-breaking night two weeks ago, giving NIU a loss.

“We have played great on the road lately, and that’s huge,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “But to be a great team, you have to win at home, and we have some challenges this weekend.”

NIU’s first test comes in the form of Marshall at 7 p.m. today at Victor E. Court as the top-two MAC attackers and two of the nation’s top 10 square off.

Averaging 5.61 kills per game, Billingy, the No. 8 attacker in the nation, will try to keep pace with NIU’s Lobdell and her 5.63 kills per game (No. 7).

“[Billingy] hits it very hard, I hear,” Lobdell said. “But she is young, and we are going to key in on her, and if we can put pressure on her, then I think we can stop her.”

The pressure that will be necessary to stop the freshman attacker is going to have to come from a strong defensive effort; one that puts up a strong block and digs everything, Gooden said.

NIU will then get a chance for payback at 7 p.m. Saturday versus Bowling Green.

Two weeks ago, when the Huskies fell in four games at Bowling Green, the team was just 4-9 overall. But that team is just a memory compared to the positive attitude the Huskies have now, Lobdell said.

In the previous match, four BG attackers had 12 or more kills and a .322 hitting percentage, while NIU had 31 hitting errors and just a .171 hitting percentage.

“We didn’t play our best game last time, so hopefully this time things will be different,” NIU setter Marie Zidek said. “We know it’s going to be a fight, but lately we have been winning those fights, so I can’t wait to see what happens.”