ay Gooden and his Huskie volleyball team will be out for blood this weekend to avenge an early season loss against MAC powerhouse Akron.

“We want to do the same thing to them that they did to us,” Gooden said about beating them on their home floor. “That would be a good thing. At home we played really well; what we have to do this time is just finish it up.”

NIU hits the road to Ohio as it takes on the Zips (19-5, 10-2 MAC) on Friday at 7:30 and Kent State (14-10, 7-5 MAC) on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The Huskies (12-12, 5-7 MAC) will try to even the score with the Zips after they blew a two-game lead on Victor E. Court on Oct. 19.

After winning the first two games, NIU fought its way back in the third game before falling 31-29.

Instead of sealing the deal, the Huskies lost that game, and their focus as they went on to lose in five games.

After Akron, the Huskies are off to Kent to take on another MAC opponent above .500.

KSU has won four of its last five matches, falling to a 20-6 Ohio team.

Freshman Danielle Holt leads the Golden Flashes and the MAC with over four kills a game.

In order for the Huskies to stop their recent slide of six losses in eight games, they need to have a balanced attack and have everyone healthy.

According to Gooden, Jen VonderHaar is about as healthy as she is going to get, but other than that, his team is very healthy.

NIU has not won back-to-back matches since the beginning of October when it defeated Buffalo and Bowling Green.

Gooden said that these games are not yet must wins, but he did say that it is getting to that point. He said that it is very important to beat Akron first and to go on from there.

“We need to beat Akron for sure,” Gooden said. “Kent State is important too, but Akron is the most important to win.”