Needing one more victory to pass last year’s win total, the NIU volleyball team is new in more ways than its improved record.

The Huskies own a 13-3 record this season. Last year, during Ray Gooden’s first season as coach, NIU finished 13-17.

Assistant coaches Chrissy Smith and Paul Rappaport have helped make Gooden’s job easier.

“Chrissy has helped with the recruiting and other team-oriented things,” said Gooden about the team’s changes from last year. “As Paul works his way through it, it’s going to become a really good situation. That makes it a lot easier on me and allows me to focus on coaching the team.”

Even with Gooden being able to concentrate on coaching more this season, some players noticed a difference from last season.

“Last year’s team, we were all individually playing for ourselves and not as a team,” senior outside hitter Amanda Newlin said. “Most of the people were too worried about their performance and not the team’s performance. There were a lot of egos.”

This year, NIU has six new players, including four freshmen and two transfers.

Junior middle blocker Megan Markowski transferred from Marquette and sophomore middle blocker Corinne Walsh came from South Florida. Both transfers have received significant playing time this season.

Gooden said both transfers have been great lifts to the team and are hard workers.

Freshman libero Gina Guide stepped in for sophomore Marie Zidek, who moved to setter.

Guide leads the Huskies with 3.51 digs per game, while Zidek leads the team with 11.86 assists per game.

Zidek, who split time last season with Melissa Benson and Shara Parker, has played well and was named MVP of the Virginia Tech Fall Invitational on Sept. 20. She agreed that this team doesn’t play as individuals.

“I think we have a little more of an overall team concept this year,” Zidek said. “We’re working hard for each other, and that seems to be the main focus. We’re not really focusing on our record; it’s more on us working as a team. When you work well as a team, that is when you achieve a good record.”

This year’s team has made it a necessity to put the team first and the individualism behind it.

“I think the biggest thing was that we had a season like we did last year; that was a huge wake-up call,” Newlin said. “We saw what happens when we don’t put the team first. We made it a priority that we weren’t going to let that happen again this year because our program is too valuable to us.”

Gooden said the change from last year can be summed up in one word: effort.

“Everyone, I think, is trying a lot harder this year,” he said.