In back-to-back matches, Megan Markowski set new personal bests in blocks.

With 11 blocks in five games against Butler on Saturday and nine in three games against the University of Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday, Markowski more than doubled her output for the three previous matches.

“It’s exciting,” the senior middleblocker said. “I didn’t even realize that I was doing so well. Blocking really is my best skill, and it’s showing now.”

Markowski’s previous highs were nine blocks in five games and five in three, respectively.

The blocking output, though a surprise to Markowski, is no shock to NIU coach Ray Gooden, who said she is one of the best blockers you will ever see.

“She’s not a big scorer, but that’s not her job,” Gooden said. “Her job is to block, and if she gets points off that, then that’s huge. We try and put her on the other team’s best middle attacker and have her shut them down, and she does it as well as anybody out there.”

Markowski credits a lot of her recent success to constant talks with Gooden about her movements at the net and her overall focus while playing has allowed her to up her play and frustrate opposing hitters.

“I know when we get blocked it’s so frustrating for the team and our hitters, so I have to imagine that it’s just as frustrating for [opposing teams],” Markowski said. “But it’s a great thing to frustrate them. It just feels good.”

Frustrating opposing hitters is something Markowski hopes to do for the rest of the season, but it’s a tough thing to do, she said.

“Blocking is a skill, but it also depends a lot on the hitter and where they hit the ball, so it’s hard to tell how long this success will last,” the Glen Ellyn native said. “But it would be very nice.”

Gooden is just happy that she’s playing well now and feels she is very capable of repeating her past two performances for the rest of the season.

“Blocking is like anything else,” Markowski said. “Sometimes things click and sometimes they don’t. And right now everything is clicking.”