April 25, 2007

STATS

DeKalb, Ill. - NIU (5-11, 1-7) will go up against Akron (9-12, 0-8) for the second time in as many weeks on Thursday, April 26 at 12pm in Toledo, Ohio. This time, however, both teams' seasons are on the line because it's the first match of the Mid-American Conference Championships.

Seemed Like Just Yesterday
The Huskies defeated the Zips, 5-2, last Saturday in Akron, Ohio to pick up their first MAC win of the year in their last regular season match. NIU was led by Nao Umemura and Dora Delgadillo, who both gathered two wins. Even though he was happy with the win, Huskies head coach Ryun Ferrell saw some adjustments that needed to be made in order to have a successful run in the MAC Championships.

"We were way up at times, but let [Akron] back in the door," said Ferrell. "All of a sudden things went bad and [the girls] were focusing on all of the negatives, and that can't happen. We've been talking a lot about that. If you start to feel yourself going in the wrong direction emotionally, you have to stop it, turn it, and come back as fast as you can."

On The Road Again
NIU has been on the road for six weeks straight and this week will make it the seven weeks straight when they travel to Toledo. Ferrell has geared-down his practices to accommodate for all the travel because he wants to keep his team fresh as they prepare to face Akron, again.

"The big thing is we've been on the road six weeks in a row," commented Ferrell. "So, I have backed way off and kept [practices] incredibly light. Sometimes you need to take a step back to truly prepare and that's what we have done."

Zipping The Zips
With having just lost to NIU, Akron will be able to make adjustments and be prepared with the loss still fresh in their minds. The Zips will also be seeking revenge because the Huskies ruined their Senior Day.

"[Akron] will come after us probably harder than what they did before, but then again I don't know," Ferrell said. "Their emotion was really intense on Saturday because it was their Senior Day. Who knows if they can replicate that again or not? It was pretty impressive with what they did, but to do it twice in 10 ten days is pretty tough to do."

And The Winner Gets
The winner of the seventh-seeded Huskies versus the eighth-seeded Zips match-up will get the tough task of facing the number one-seed, Western Michigan, on Friday, April 27 at 10am.

-NIU