Having lost three of its last four home matches, the NIU volleyball team will try to use its home court advantage as an edge this weekend.

The Huskies (11-11, 4-6 MAC) will square off today against Toledo at 7 p.m. and on Saturday against Ohio at 7 p.m. at Victor E. Court.

“It’s always easier to play at home,” sophomore outside hitter Tera Lobdell said. “It doesn’t matter where you are, you need to play to win.”

Toledo is a good candidate for NIU to snap its current three-match losing streak because of its 10-12 record and 2-8 record in the MAC.

The Rockets are led by Heidi Neumeister and Jessica Buck, both averaging over 3.4 kills a game.

Toledo is on a nine-match losing streak, which could make the Huskies’ woes at home a little less worrisome.

“We go into every match looking to win,” freshman libero Marie Zidek said. “There are two competitive teams going into a gym and only one team can win.”

Ohio (17-7, 7-3 MAC) comes to DeKalb on Saturday after going 3-3 in its past six matches.

Laura Hageman leads Ohio with 280 kills and 118 blocks (1.31 per game). Ohio has a team hitting percentage of .235 while opposing teams have a .175 hitting percentage against them.

“We know from now on, we need to win each game and take it one game at a time,” Lobdell said. “We don’t need to put any added extra pressure on us.”

Tenisha Wilkins, Jen VonderHaar and Lobdell all average over three kills a game for NIU. VonderHaar boasts the highest hitting percentage with a .282 average and has 101 blocks (1.16 per game). Wilkins leads the team with 3.19 digs per game, while Lobdell averages nearly three.

VonderHaar, a senior, has the experience to understand the importance of these games.

“These two games are huge,” VonderHaar said. “If we lose, then it could possibly put us out of the [MAC] tournament.”