Stumbling out of the blocks in conference play, the NIU volleyball team now needs to pick up its play at this crucial juncture in the season, going on the road to face Kent State on Friday and Toledo on Saturday.

“We are in a critical part of our season right now,” NIU coach Todd Kress said. “We struggled at the start of conference play, and we kind of put ourselves in a little bit of a hole.”

Starting off Mid-American Conference action at 1-2, the Huskies had to fight an uphill battle after the rough start. However, a pair of MAC wins this past weekend helped rejuvenate the team.

“The two wins this past weekend helped immensely,” added Kress. “Now we just need to keep the momentum going and continue to improve our play. If we can win on the road, we can win this conference. We need to go on the road and be successful and continue to play well and build confidence.”

While Kress is happy with the way his team has prepared this week in practice, he feels that its commitment and dedication were not only exemplary but necessary.

Facing Kent State (8-4, 3-2) and Toledo (7-4, 3-2) and just coming off of wins against conference opponents Eastern Michigan, Buffalo and Akron, the Huskies should have their hands full.

After facing Kent State and Toledo, the Huskies continue on the road with two more conference away games but then return home for an 8-game home-stand.

“This is a big next few weeks,” said Kress. “If we could get three or four of these next four on the road and then come home for that stretch, we could put ourselves, once again, into a good position after not starting off that good.”

Reminding him of his own team, Kress says that Kent State and Toledo are both scrappy teams as well.

“They don’t make a lot of mistakes, they play great defense and they have very solid middles, which we do,” Kress said. “They are very similar teams to us so it will be real interesting for us to see how we do this weekend.”