The NIU volleyball team stepped out of the Mid-Continent Conference on Tuesday night and stepped all over the DePaul Lady Blue Demons in straight sets by scores of 15-4, 15-4 and 16-14.

The win extends the Huskies’ impressive winning streak to 13 matches. NIU has now won 39 of its last 41 games as well.

The Huskies improved to 17-2 with the victory while dropping the Lady Demons below the .500 mark at 11-12.

NIU head coach Pete Waite was impressed with his team’s play in the middle of the court.

“Both Amy (Foulke) and Kori (Schauer) did an outstanding job for us tonight in the middle,” Waite said. “They were unstoppable. DePaul’s defense was picking up our outside hitters’ attacks but they couldn’t stop our middle.”

Both hitters statistics prove Waite’s comments were well deserved. Kori Schauer slammed 10 kills in 14 attempts against one error for a .643 attack percentage. Amy Foulke was not far behind. She blitzed the Lady Blue Demons with 12 kills in 23 attempts good for a .478 attack percentage.

On defense, the Huskies were led by Shelby Snyder and Nikki Kozak. Both grabbed 13 digs each to account for 26 of the team’s 41 digs. The defense also held the Lady Demons to just 14 kills in the first two games combined.

“We kept DePaul quiet in the first two games, but it wasn’t because they were surprised at our strength—we’re not surprising anyone anymore,” said Waite. “They made several passing errors, and they had a hard time adjusting to our middle hitters.”

Though the score does not indicate it, Waite tried to keep his players focused on how capable the Lady Blue Demons are.

“Before the third game, I warned the players that DePaul is an up and down team, and sure enough they took the lead on us a couple of times,” Waite said, “but we buckled down and got the job done.

“I was happy we did it in three because it is the first time in five years that we’ve beaten a DePaul team in three games.”

The Huskies will now turn their attention to the Mid-Continent once again as they prepare for a trip to the Phoenix Sports Center in Green Bay, Wis., and a match with UW-Green Bay on Friday night.