A rowdy home crowd and 20 kills from Tera Lobdell helped NIU to a three-game sweep over Western Illinois Wednesday.

The Huskies opened their season in front of a packed house of 585 with a 30-20, 30-21, 30-25 victory over the Leathernecks at Victor E. Court.

Sophomore middle blocker Kate McCullagh scored 12 kills and junior setter Marie Zidek tallied 35 assists to help pace the Huskies offense.

Freshmen outside hitters Laura Baetzel and Amy Ward split time in their first collegiate matches.

“They were definitely nervous,” Zidek said. “But they made some clutch plays and they’re probably glad they got their first game out of their system.”

But Lobdell was the catalyst of the offense, with nine of her 20 kills coming in the second game.

“We did a pretty good job of taking them out of their offense,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “We covered better than we have before because that has been our big focus lately.”

The Huskies next set of matches will be a four-team tournament that includes Washington, ranked No. 7 in the preseason.

“We definitely need to keep playing as a team,” Zidek said. “The blockers we’re going to be playing this weekend will be a lot bigger, so we’re going to have to cover our hitters and run a fast offense.”

The Huskies will host the Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational Friday and Saturday at Victor E. Court. NIU will play Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 7 p.m. Friday, with Saturday matches against Washington at noon and the finale versus Butler at 6 p.m.