April 6, 2007

Stats

DeKalb, Ill. - The Huskies (4-6, 0-2) return to Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a pair of road matches and a chance to get their first conference win. NIU will go up against Eastern Michigan (8-8, 1-2) today, April 6, 2007, at 1pm and they will play Toledo (12-3, 3-0) on Saturday, April 7, 2007 at 1pm.

Doubles Duty
NIU will look to keep their doubles momentum alive and try to build on their singles play. Last week, against Southern Illinois, the Huskies were able to capture the doubles point with two solid performances from their top two pairs of Megan Brooks / Brooke Forsberg and Lilian Asuaje / Nao Umemura. However, the Huskies came up one singles match shy of picking up a victory. NIU head coach Ryun Ferrell continued to work on doubles in practice this week and is confident about the singles play.

"Our singles play has been fine," Ferrell said. "We're still focusing mainly on the doubles because we need to get that doubles point. I think that will help us in our singles because then we can go after people instead of playing carefully."

Flying Low
Eastern Michigan enters their weekend on a downslide. After winning five consecutive matches earlier this year the Eagles have lost five of seven matches since. The Huskies will have their best chance to pick up their first MAC win against the Eagles.

"[EMU] is in a similar situation as we are," said Ferrell. "They hired [Ryan Ray] in November. He is a good recruiter and he is going to do a good job. They have [Vanessa Frankowski,] who is ranked 81st in the country. They're a solid program and we're going to have to play well to beat them."

Rising Rockets
The Huskies will have their hands full against Toledo. The Rockets bring a four-match winning streak and the reigning MAC Player of the Week, Maha Guirguis, in to their match with NIU. The Huskies will have to be at their very best to beat Toledo, who is undefeated in conference play.

"[Toledo] is having a heck of a year," said Ferrell. "They've been playing with a lot of determination. We're going to have to really bear down and focus, keep a tempo against that squad if we want to take them down. We just can't give them anything for free."

Schedule Changes
Next week's home matches versus Miami (OH) and Ball State have both been moved up a day. NIU will take on Miami (OH) on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 1pm and they will face Ball State on Friday, April 13, 2007 at 1pm.

-NIU-