A repeat performance from earlier this season would be ideal for the Huskies volleyball team when it faces No. 3 Akron in the MAC tournament.

NIU will take on Akron (16-12) at 3 p.m. today at Ball State‘s Worthen Arena. The Huskies (20-10) beat Akron in straight games on Oct. 3 and look to move on to the quarterfinals with a victory.

Junior outside hitter Tera Lobdell, who was named Honorable Mention All-MAC, had 11 kills in the first meeting between the two teams.

“I think that we are peaking at the right time and at the right place,” Lobdell said.

The Zips are led by the duo of Sandy Lewis and Ashleigh Nugent. Lewis was a First-Team All-MAC choice while Nugent earned an honorable mention.

In the first match the teams played, Akron had no players with double-digit kills. Lewis led Akron with eight kills, the third highest total of the match.

The Huskies had three players with double-digit kills. Senior Brooke Dodson had a match-high 14 kills while junior Megan Markowski and Lobdell each finished with 11.

NIU led in every team statistical category except for blocks in the first meeting. Akron had 11 team blocks, and the Huskies had eight.

“We are probably as prepared as much as we can be,” Dodson said. “I think that we are playing as well right now as we were when we had the winning streak at the beginning of the season.”

The winner of the NIU-Akron will face the winner of the Central Michigan-Marshall matchup. The match will be at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Redshirt freshman April Hankton, who was dismissed from the team early last week, indicated that returning to NIU is her No. 1 choice.

Also, Ohio’s Laura Hageman was named the MAC Player of the Year on Thursday for the second consecutive season.