The NIU volleyball team became consecutive victim No. 56 at Ball State’s Worthen Arena Friday night.

The Huskies, riding a six-match winning streak, opened MAC play with a straight-games loss to the Cardinals, 30-21, 30-26, 30-18. The win was the 56th in a row at home for the Cardinals.

“Ball State plays with great confidence at home, and has for years,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “They just look really comfortable at home and continued to play well tonight.”

NIU (11-2, 1-1 MAC) rebounded on Saturday to beat Miami-Ohio and record its first conference win. The Huskies lost the first game before winning the final three to take the match over the RedHawks, 29-31, 30-21, 30-28, 30-27.

In the loss to Ball State, NIU had a season-low .034 hitting percentage. The Huskies posted a .000 percentage in the first game, with 10 errors on 40 attempts.

“We weren’t putting ourselves in good spots to swing,” Gooden said. “Our sets were not where our hitters wanted them to be, and then, they didn’t make good attempts at the ball.”

Freshman Gina Guide finished with 23 digs, second-most in a three-game match in NIU history.

Senior outside hitter Brooke Dodson led the Huskies with 18 kills and 11 digs in the win over Miami. Tera Lobdell and Amanda Newlin also posted double-doubles for NIU. Lobdell finished with 15 kills and 14 digs, while Newlin had 15 kills and 10 digs.

“We fought through a lot tonight and had a really good team win,” Gooden said. “We had multiple people contribute by collecting some kills, and also played some really good defense.”

The Huskies will play their first home match since Sept. 16 when they take on non-conference opponent Loyola at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.