Hopes are high this weekend for the NIU volleyball team as it hits the road against two teams with a combined record of 13-19.

The Huskies take on MAC opponents Buffalo (8-9) and Bowling Green (5-10).

“Our goal is to play three good games with good effort and good energy in these matches,” coach Ray Gooden said.

Jen VonderHaar leads the Huskies with 3.33 kills a game, 183 kills and a .304 hitting percentage.

Rena Widboom is third in the conference in blocks with 1.22 per contest.

VonderHaar, Widboom and Tera Lobdell own the three highest hitting percentages on the team. All three have a hitting percentage over .209 while the team averages a .198 hitting percentage.

Melissa Benson leads NIU with 2.90 digs a game. There are four other Huskies along with her that average over two digs per game.

On Friday, the Huskies will travel to New York to take on the Bulls, who are winless in three attempts in conference play.

“Road matches are always tough on you,” Gooden said. “We know what we need to do and we need to do it.”

The Bulls are led by Lindsay Matikosh, who currently is leading the MAC in both kills (263) and kills per game (4.24) and is fourth in the conference in digs per game with an average of 3.66.

On Sunday, NIU will finish its hectic traveling for the weekend as it treks to Bowling Green, Ohio, as they have a match versus Bowling Green.

“[Opposing teams] records don’t really matter,” Gooden said. “We control what goes on in our matches. We need to play well; it doesn’t matter what happens on the other side of that net.”

Winless in its three MAC games, Bowling Green has two players that are in the conference’s top ten in kills per game. Susie Norris and Kristin Gamby both average over 3.50 kills a game.

“Any conference match we can win is a big deal,” Gooden said. “We are trying to work to get a No. 1 seed or a very high seed [for the MAC tournament].”