Ray Gooden’s return to his old stomping grounds proved to be unpleasant as the Huskies dropped both of their matches at Saturday’s Adidas Invitational.

NIU (2-3) and Gooden, who made his first trip back to Loyola University where he was an assistant coach, fell to both the University of Illinois and the home team Ramblers. Illinois currently is ranked 21st in the latest AVCA / USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Huskies lost to Illinois in three straight games 30-25, 30-24, 30-23.

Outside hitter Tenisha Wilkins kept her consistent play going, giving NIU 13 kills. Brooke Dodson and Jen VonderHaar added nine and eight kills respectively.

The Illini came ahead with an attack percentage of .243 to .096.

The Huskies took on Loyola in their second match of the day.

NIU fought back from a 2-0 deficit, but was beaten by Loyola in five games 20-30, 20-30, 30-27, 30-18 and 13-15.

“It was a very different feeling, being on the other side of the net,” Gooden said. “It was great to see the team again. My experience there was great. It was tough to lose to them, but it’s tough to lose period. It was a full range of emotions throughout the day.”

The two teams combined for 68 attacking errors with 28 from NIU.