During practice Tuesday, NIU tennis coach Laura Scott told her team that consistency was more important than how hard they hit the ball.

She wanted the players to have more hustle for this weekend’s meets. Today, NIU will go to Toledo, Ohio and Saturday, the Huskies will head to Ypsilanti, Mich.

“I don’t want to see you walking around,” said Scott. “I don’t want to hear any dragging around; get ready for your next shot.”

At times Scott even hit against the players to show them how it should be done. This comes after the team had its fifth straight loss and second loss of the newly-started Mid-American Conference season last weekend.

Freshman Kristi McIntyre is confident the team will do well against University of Toledo and Eastern Michigan University this weekend.

“We’re trying to work on ground strokes and be consistent,” McIntyre said.

Scott said Toledo and EMU are two very different teams. EMU is nationally ranked and Toledo is an aggressive team.

“We have to be consistent and aggressive,” said Scott. “We’re going to have to play really smart.”

Scott said the Huskies can’t repeat their last five matches.

“We have to play points bigger, think about just getting into the comfort zone and be confident instead of scared or timid,” Scott said.