This year’s NIU women’s volleyball team is a lock to succeed and at the same time electrify Evans Field House.

With the level of talent to be exhibited on the floor this season, even the fairest of fans would take a second look.

And while looking among the pool of ability and aptitude on this Huskie squad, it is easy to see the future.

One such sight is junior Amy Foulke.

She returns to the Huskies with desire—a quality built into a born leader.

After spending the first week of August at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the Senior Elite Camp, Foulke confesses she was tested to the best of her ability while playing with and against more than 20 of the NCAA’s best volleyball players in the nation.

Coaches from Illinois State University and Bowling Green State University were on hand to view the upper echelon of women’s volleyball.

Also on hand were scouts from other colleges and universities to ‘spy‘ on possible talent that their institutions might encounter this season.

Foulke and the rest of the best practiced three times a day and poured in hours of toil and exhaustion during the week-long event.

“Although we worked hard every single day, the competition was phenomenal,” said Foulke, who was NIU’s first-ever representative at the camp.

So, with this in her bag of experience, Foulke looks forward to this season with the Huskies.

“Volleyball is great to watch here,” she said. “We have a very deep team. Coach Waite can substitute over and over, and it always looks like we have the same team on the floor.

“Our success will also be aided by our fans. The more people we can draw to our matches, the more fun we have, and the more successful we can be.”

It seems as though Foulke is looking for a little bit of relief. She contends that the toughest aspect of being on this team is the pressure.

But the more the team is supported, the easier the pressure will be transferred to the Huskies’ opponents. It’s the home-court advantage.

Depth and support—two of the most important words in the playbook for Amy Foulke and the NIU women’s volleyball team.