Huskies visit pair of Michigan teams

Volleyball team

to play Central and Eastern Michigan

By Jason Watt

Sports Reporter

The NIU volleyball team will take on two of the three teams tied for first place in the MAC West Division this weekend.

The Huskies (16-9, 5-7 MAC) will visit Michigan to play Central Michigan at 7 p.m. today and Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“We have to just keep working hard even though we just had a bad weekend,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “We still have a chance to make up for that. We understand that no matter where we stand in the standings, all of our remaining matches are going to be tough.”

Gooden said CMU worries him because they are the fastest team in the conference, and when they pass well, it is very tough to get multiple blockers on them.

“We need to serve tough against them,” Gooden said. “We need to work a little harder, and get our blockers in a good spot to block. That’s what we need to do.”

EMU will look to return the favor to the Huskies, who beat the Eagles in four games Oct. 28 at Victor E. Court.

Gooden said his team did a good job serving the ball against EMU, and keeping it away from their strengths when they played.

“If we keep our errors down, we have a really good shot at beating Eastern,” Gooden said.

In the past four matches, NIU has featured different lineups.

“We’re going to go with the group that is most productive,” Gooden said. “We need everybody right now. We’re at the stage where we need everyone to make a contribution at some point. You name the player, and she’ll probably be in there at some point this weekend.”