After a week off, the NIU volleyball team will host its second tournament of the season starting at 7 p.m. tonight, when the Huskies square off with UIC at Victor E. Court.

The four-team Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational will include Stony Brook and Valparaiso as well as the Flames and Huskies.

“Maybe by name these three teams aren’t as big as our first tournament or our match against Northern Iowa,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said, “but Valpo is off to its best start ever, and UIC is such a feisty team that you never know what you’re going to get when you face them.”

If NIU wants to improve to 2-0 with tournament titles this season, it will have to go through Valparaiso in the invitational finale on Saturday.

“These three teams play more our style of volleyball,” senior outside hitter Brooke Dodson said. “They are scrappy fighters like we are. It’s going to be a challenge facing those types of teams.”

The Crusaders come to DeKalb with an 8-1 record, with the lone loss to No. 15 Notre Dame on Tuesday.

“It comes down to us defending our home court and playing good team volleyball,” Gooden said. “Nothing changes, whether it’s Valpo or Northern Iowa.”

NIU has dominated the Crusaders in the all-time series, winning 18 of the 19 matches.

Gooden isn’t very familiar with Stony Brook as a team.

“We don’t know too much about Stony Brook, but we do know that one of their best players is local so she’s probably going to try to give one of her best efforts,” Gooden said.

The player Gooden referred to is senior outside hitter Rachel Goldsmith, of Aurora. Goldsmith was second on the team in kills and digs last season. She finished with 389 kills and a 2.99 kill-per-game average, while recording 313 digs.