Check out the links below to follow your favorite Huskie team as winter sports’ conference championships are quickly approaching!
Men’s Basketball
Tuesday, Feb. 28: vs. Buffalo, 7 p.m. – Live Stats | Live Audio | ESPN+
Friday, March 3: vs. Eastern Michigan, 7 p.m. – Live Stats | Live Audio | ESPN3
Having clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament with its win at Central Michigan this past Saturday, the NIU men’s basketball team looks to close the regular season with momentum as the Huskies host Buffalo and Eastern Michigan. The Bulls of Buffalo come to DeKalb on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. tip while Eastern Michigan visits the Huskies for Senior Night on Friday at 7 p.m. Both the Bulls and Eagles come into the week looking to earn their way to Cleveland. Kaleb Thornton and Zarique Nutter each scored 21 points to lead the Huskies to the win at Central Michigan on Saturday. Nutter is averaging 16.6 points per game over the last seven games while Thornton leads the MAC in conference games with 6.3 assists per contest.
Women’s Basketball
Wednesday, March 1: vs. Eastern Michigan, 6 p.m. – Live Stats | Live Audio | ESPN+
NIU women’s basketball plays its final home game of the regular season on Wednesday night against Eastern Michigan at 6 p.m. at the NIU Convocation Center. The Huskies earned a key MAC win last Saturday with an 84-80 double overtime win over Central Michigan on Senior Day. Junior guard Jayden Marable played all 50 minutes and led NIU with a career-high 23 points. A’Jah Davis recorded the 50th double-double of her career with 20 points and 19 rebounds, tying the NIU career record. She is ninth among active Division I women’s basketball players in double-doubles. The Huskies enter the final week of MAC play tied for fifth with Akron at 8-9. A full preview of each game will be available on NIUHuskies.com later in the week.
Wrestling
Friday, March 3: MAC Championships Semifinal (George Mason University) – ESPN+
Saturday, March 4: MAC Championships Finals (George Mason University) – ESPN+
After beating SIUE 25-12 Feb. 19 in the Huskies’ regular season finale, it’s now time for the team to turn its attention to the 2023 MAC Championships this Friday and Saturday (March 3-4) in Fairfax, Va. on the campus of George Mason University. All 13 of the conference’s wrestling programs will be competing at the two-day event inside the George Mason Field House.
With the conference receiving 22 qualifier allocations for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, the fifth highest of any Division I wrestling conference, NIU will fight to represent the program on a national stage.
Redshirt senior Izzak Olejnik owns the No. 6 spot in NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches’ Rankings with an outstanding 23-3 record this year. He’s a perfect 6-0 in MAC duals and has racked up four major decisions and six pins.
Softball
Friday, March 3: vs. USC Upstate, 8 a.m. – Live Stats
Friday, March 3: vs. Rhode Island, 3:30 p.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, March 4: vs. Army, 8 a.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, March 4: vs. Kansas, 10:30 a.m. – Live Stats
Sunday, March 5: at USF, 1 p.m. – Live Stats
NIU heads to sunny Florida this weekend (March 3-5) where they’ll look to have a strong showing at the Bulls Invitational which is hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa. At the USF Softball Stadium, the Huskies will face USC Upstate and Rhode Island Friday before taking on Army and Kansas Saturday. NIU will conclude the tournament with a 1 p.m. CT matchup against USF on Sunday.
The Huskies are coming off a 2-3 showing at the Liberty Classic last weekend where the team beat Elon 7-4 on Saturday and Princeton 6-1 on Sunday. Courtney James posted a team-high batting average of .571 and four RBI through NIU’s five games. Danielle Stewart had a great weekend in the circle, pitching back-to-back seven-strikeout games (15 total through the weekend) against Elon and Princeton.
Baseball
Friday, March 3: at Western Kentucky, 3 p.m. – Live Stats (check schedule for link)
Saturday, March 4: at Western Kentucky, 1 p.m. – Live Stats (check schedule for link)
Saturday, March 4: at Western Kentucky, 4 p.m. – Live Stats (check schedule for link)
Sunday, March 5: at Western Kentucky, 1 p.m. – Live Stats (check schedule for link)
NIU Baseball heads to Bowling Green, Ky. this weekend for a four-game series against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The Huskies earned their first win of the 2023 season last Sunday with a 6-3 win over Maine at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. Parker Shupe and Colin Summerhill each went 3-for-5 in the win with two RBI each. Summerhill hit .417 for the three games over the weekend, driving in four runs. Junior pitcher DJ Hess earned his first career save in the win over Maine with two scoreless innings. WKU is 7-1 to start the season, winning three out of four games this weekend against Ohio. The Hilltoppers and Huskies last met in February of 2018, with WKU winning three of the four games that weekend. NIU shut out WKU 5-0 in the final game with Michael Lasiewicz striking out six batters in seven innings.
Men’s Tennis
Friday, March 3 at Lipscomb, 1 p.m.
Saturday, March 4 at Tennessee State, 1 p.m.
The Huskie men’s tennis team takes its three-match win streak on the road to Nashville, Tenn., this weekend as they face Lipscomb and Tennessee State. NIU is 7-3 overall following a 4-3 victory against local rival UIC last time out (Feb. 22). Cheng En Tsai and Mikael Vollbach are on a seven-match doubles win streak as the Huskies have been dominant in doubles early in the season, posting a combined 18-4 record. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia has a team-high seven singles wins while Vollbach is currently 6-0 in singles. This weekend represents the final non-conference matches for the Huskies, who begin league play at home against Buffalo on Friday, March 10.
Gymnastics
Saturday, March 4 at Western Michigan, 3 p.m. – Live Stats | Watch
The NIU gymnastics team continues its season-ending road trip on Saturday, and wraps up its regular season MAC competition, with a 3 p.m. (CT) meet at Western Michigan. The Huskies defeated Lindenwood, 195.950-195.050 Sunday in St. Charles, Mo. to improve to 8-3 overall and bring a 3-2 mark versus league opponents to Kalamazoo.
NIU’s 195.950 at Lindenwood tied for the highest team score of the season, led by the bars squad which posted a 49.125 to match its best score this year. Huskies Natalie Hamp (bars), Alyssa Al-Ashari (beam) and Emmalise Nock (floor) won their events with 9.900 scores, while Isabella Sissi tied her career high with an all-around mark of 39.225. Emma Brkljacic paced NIU’s vault squad as her 9.800 was good for second place.
The Huskies enter the WMU meet with an NQS ranked fourth in the MAC and 42nd in the country while the Broncos are second in the league and 31st nationally. Hamp leads the MAC individual rankings on bars while Al-Ashari is second on beam while Sissi is third among conference all-arounders.
Women’s Tennis
Saturday, March 4 vs. Drake, 10 a.m. – Live Stats (check schedule for link)
Saturday, March 4 vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2 p.m. – Live Stats (check schedule for link)
After splitting a pair of matches in Minnesota last Sunday, the NIU women’s tennis returns home for its final weekend of non-conference competition before opening Mid-American Conference play on March 19. The Huskies will take on Drake and Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday, March 4 in the Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evans Field House.
NIU is 8-7 on the year, while Drake, which will play at DePaul on Friday prior to facing NIU, is 5-3. UWW opens its spring dual match schedule on Friday versus Northern Iowa before traveling to DeKalb.
Freshmen Nataly Ninova and Isabella Righi and sophomore Angelica Ross each went 2-0 in singles over the weekend with Ninova improving her dual match record to a team-leading 13-2 on the year. Sophomore Diana Lukyanova earned her 10th singles win of the season while Righi is 9-5.