Individual awards and team accomplishments are both, undoubtedly, good things.

But there is no question which one is at the forefront of the NIU volleyball team’s mind.

“We’re really not worried about individual goals, and our kids aren’t either,” volleyball coach Todd Kress said. “They are more worried about the product at the end of the road come conference tournament time and NCAA tournament time. They are more worried about how we are playing as a team and how we are going to get better going into the next match in the following week.”

With a pair of wins over Bowling Green and Buffalo this past weekend, it wouldn’t have been far-fetched to assume that the West Division Player of the Week could fall on one lucky NIU volleyball player’s lap.

On Monday, when Katie Butts from Ball State won the award, there were no questions asked by any of the Huskies.

“With our balance and the way we distribute the ball offensively, someone would have to put up really big numbers for us in our system to get MAC player of the week,” Kress said.

Sibling chooses own path

A highly recruited player out of Minnesota, NIU’s Jenny Bowman has a sister that is following in her footsteps…almost.

Kelly Bowman, a junior in high school, is one of the state’s top players and, like her sister, is a top-notch setter.

NIU would’ve loved for Kelly to call DeKalb home, just as her sister now does, but unfortunately she has made an early commitment to her home state school, University of Minnesota.

“We were recruiting [Kelly] hard,” Kress said. “We had already offered her a scholarship. She is a great player also, and not only a great player but also a great kid, so we were definitely interested in making her a Huskie. I think it was a situation where she probably would’ve loved to play with Jenny for one year, but after that year she really didn’t want to follow in her footsteps, and she wanted to do her own thing.”

“I think that Coach (Mike) Hebert does a great job at the University of Minnesota, and either way she couldn’t have gone wrong with either here or at Minnesota, and I’m sure she’ll do great at Minnesota.”

Scary rescheduling

In their “Halloween match,” the Huskies contest versus Iowa has been rescheduled for October 30.

Still to be held at 7 p.m. at NIU, the Huskies have a loaded schedule now, facing Ball State and Western Michigan on successive days, two days after the Hawkeyes.

“It’s the week of Western Michigan and Ball State, so that’s a challenge. But our kids really wanted to play that game, so I think it’s good with them being a neighboring state in the Big Ten.”