The NIU volleyball team can hold its heads a little higher today.

The Huskies can still bask in the glow of an accomplishment that very few NIU teams have done. They went to Bloomington and came home with a victory over Illinois State on Tuesday night.

Why is there so much significance in this match you may ask? Well, for starters it was the Huskies’ first victory at ISU since 1973. ISU held an incredible 25-10 advantage in the all-time series going into Tuesday night.

It was also a victory over a ranked team, which is vitally important to NIU’s chances of landing an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.

“This win really improved our chances for an NCAA bid,” NIU head coach Pete Waite said. “Our conference (Mid-Continent) does not have an automatic bid. It’s been tough for us to get in there (The NCAA Tournament) because we have not been in it before.”

They also impressed Illinois State coach Julie Morgan with their play.

“Give Northern credit,” said Morgan.”But, once we get the ball we have to learn to keep the ball against a good team by scoring more than one point at a time.”

The people who do the selecting for the tournament use strength of schedule, and this victory carries plenty of weight when you consider that the Redbirds, now 14-3, beat highly-ranked Notre Dame last week.

“Winning has made sure that the confidence stayed,” said Waite. “As a team we did not play as well as we can. But it is also nice to see you can beat a strong team without having your day.”

The team now gets a real break in the schedule. The Huskies’ next game is at Western Illinois Saturday night. This is their only match in the next nine days which Waite feels will help his team, not hurt them.

“This gives us some leeway in how we structure practices,” he said. “We can even give the girls a day off to let them take it easy, get caught up in their schoolwork. We have a long season and we want to be sharp at the end of it.”

The Huskies travel to Macomb on Saturday to take on the Western Illinois Westerwinds. The first serve at Brophy Hall is slated for 7 p.m.