NIU volleyball coach Ray Gooden emphasizes defending home court to his team.

The Huskies did exactly that, sweeping its second tournament of the season at Victor E. Court in front of an average attendance of 384.

NIU came out on top in the Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational Friday and Saturday by beating University of Illinois-Chicago, Stony Brook and Valparaiso.

“We knew that UIC would be out to get us with the in-state rivalry,” said outside hitter Tera Lobdell, who was one of three Huskies who made the all-tournament team. “We didn’t really know much about Stony Brook. And Valpo has their best team ever; they’re a good team. We are pretty even with them.”

The Huskies improved to 6-0 in tournaments on their home court, and have their best start since 1998.

In the first match of the tournament, NIU struggled against UIC (4-6).

After losing the first game of that match to the Flames, the Huskies won the second, fourth and fifth games to win the match 19-30, 30-27, 25-30, 31-29 and 15-13.

Lobdell led NIU with 18 kills. Brooke Dodson and Megan Markowski had 17 and 10 kills, respectively, in the victory.

The second match against Stony Brook only went four games for the Huskies.

Once again, NIU lost the opening game to start the match but was able to rebound and handle the Seawolves (1-8) the rest of the way. The Huskies won with a final of 25-30, 30-15, 30-25 and 30-18.

This time, Dodson led the way with 18 kills followed by the trio of Lobdell, Amanda Newlin and Corinne Walsh all having double-digit kills.

Freshman libero Gina Guide had 22 digs, the most by a Huskie since Lobdell had 22 against Eastern Michigan University on Nov. 10, 2000.

In the championship match, NIU went up against Valparaiso (10-2).

Down two games to one against the Crusaders, NIU responded by winning the fourth game, forcing a fifth game.

In the final game, NIU scored the first point and then gave up five unanswered to Valpo. The Crusaders had match point at 14-13 and 15-14, but could not put NIU away. The Huskies won the fifth game 19-17 on a kill by Walsh.

“Even when they were up and had serves, we never had any doubts,” Dodson said. “You could just feel it; it’s something that you can never explain. It’s just an aura within the team that you just know that you are going to push through.”

Lobdell, Walsh and Dodson all set career highs in kills with 32, 21 and 17 respectively.

Sophomore setter Marie Zidek tied the school record with 85 assists in a five-game match.

“I thought Northern Illinois played great,” Valparaiso coach Carin Avery said. “They played great defense and put balls away and that’s how they won. They just played great.”

Dodson and Walsh made the all-tournament team along with Lobdell.

It was the second time Dodson and Lobdell have been named all-tournament this season.

“This was some fun volleyball,” Gooden said. “It was just two teams fighting hard to win a big match, and there were some good volleyball plays. Neither team was waiting on the other to make errors. We made a lot of excellent plays.”