NIU volleyball coach Todd Kress hoped his Huskies could come away from this weekend with a couple of wins and some playing time for everyone.

He got exactly what he wanted.

The Huskies opened their season with a 2-1 record and a second place showing in the Best Western Invitational that they hosted this weekend.

On Friday night, the Huskies opened their season with an impressive match win in three straight games against Texas-San Antonio 30-22, 30-18, 30-25. Senior Carrie Blankenship and Junior Jen Vonderhaar led the way with 12 kills each, while senior Sara Lein followed closely behind with 11 kills and a .688 hitting percentage.

The Huskies continued their match and game winning streak Saturday as they took three straight games and the match from Creighton 30-28, 30-22, 30-27.

Vonderhaar had 14 kills in the second match, while freshman Daren Poe added 10.

Later that evening, NIU took on DePaul in the championship match. NIU found itself down most of the first game but persevered and fought out a 30-28 win, which extended their win streak to 7 games.

However, the Huskies couldn’t beat the experienced DePaul team as they lost the match in four games 30-28, 26-30, 24-30, 23-30.

“This was a good weekend for us,” said Kress. “We learned a lot about where we stand and what we need to work on for next weekend. We had a solid effort in all three matches but too many mistakes killed us in the third match.”

Freshmen Tera Lobdell and Poe got their first taste of collegiate volleyball this weekend and contributed nicely. Lobdell had 17 digs for the weekend while Poe added 19 kills and eight digs.

“I think the newcomers did a great job for their first weekend,” said sophomore Jenny Bowman. “I think they did a great job of getting over their jitters and stepped it up at some key times.”

Bowman also stepped her play up this weekend as she had 32 digs and 138 assists, which helped her earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Jen Vonderhaar was also named to the All-Tournament Team thanks to her 41 kills.

“I think we learned a lot from this weekend as a whole,” said Bowman. “We’ll improve as we go along with each tournament.”