Earlier this season, the NIU volleyball team lost in straight games to MAC favorite Ball State.

This weekend, the Huskies take on Ohio – a team that beat Ball State in straight games last week.

NIU and Ohio face off at 7 p.m. today. After the match, the Huskies (13-3, 2-2 MAC) will hit the road again for a 7 p.m. match with Marshall (12-7, 2-1) on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a tough back-to-back weekend for us,” Gooden said. “Marshall is no worse than OU, both matches are going to be very very tough. We put a lot of focus on OU because we play them first. After that, then we can worry about Marshall.”

The Bobcats (12-3, 3-0) are atop the MAC East Division. Along with that, Ohio is in the top five in the MAC for nearly every statistical category, including No. 1 in hitting percentage with a .251 team mark.

“Ohio is a great program,” Gooden said. “It’s a great challenge for us. We’re going in there with the idea that if we can play our style of volleyball and put the effort that we need to do, then we put ourselves in a good spot to win games and to win the match.

“Sometimes we’re capable of doing that and sometimes we’re not, but against [Ohio] we’re going to have to do that on a regular basis.”

NIU junior outside hitter Tera Lobdell is third in the MAC for kills per game with 4.12. Lobdell is just ahead of Ohio’s Laura Hageman (4.06), who was named the Division I National Player of the Week last week for her efforts in the Bobcats’ wins over Ball State and Miami-Ohio. Hageman became the second MAC player to win the award in as many years.

The Bobcats will be gunning for a school-record 11th win in a row when they take on the Huskies.

Sports reporter Jason Watt contributed to this story.