This Week in Huskie Athletics
This Week in Huskie Athletics Northern Illinois University will have six teams in action. NIU women’s tennis will travel to Miami to close out the regular season on Friday, April 18. The Huskies will look to clinch a share of the MAC Championship with a win. NIU Baseball heads to Evanston to take on Northwestern on Tuesday before hosting Akron in a three-game series from Thursday to Saturday. NIU softball hosts Bradley on Wednesday before a weekend series against Kent State in Ohio. NIU track and field will travel to compete in the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas on Friday and Saturday. NIU women’s golf will begin competition at the MAC Championships in Muncie, Ind. on Sunday. NIU men’s golf will travel to Indiana to take part in the Boilermaker Intercollegiate.
Women’s Tennis
Friday, April 18 at Miami, 12 p.m.
The NIU women’s tennis team continued its historic season with a 4-3 win over Buffalo Sunday at the Nelson Tennis Center for its school-record 21st dual match win of 2025. The win also secured the MAC West Championship and clinched NIU’s spot in the April 24-25 MAC Tournament. The Huskies will make their first appearance in the tournament since 2017.
Also on Friday, junior Nataly Ninova won for the 29th time this season with a three-set (6-0, 3-6, 6-1) win at No. 4 singles to break the school record for single season victories. Ninova surpassed Huskie great Nelle Youel’s total of 28 wins in 2014-15 and picked up her 20th win in dual matches this spring.
The Huskies will travel to Oxford, Ohio for a Friday match with the RedHawks. With a win, NIU will tie Miami atop the MAC standings and will earn a share of the regular season MAC Championship. The RedHawks have dominated the series with NIU, winning 19 of the last 21 meetings with the Huskies’ only wins coming in the 2021 season.
NIU is 21-5 on the season after splitting its two MAC matches last week. Prior to the win over Buffalo, the Huskies suffered a 5-2 defeat at Eastern Michigan to end their six-match winning streak.
Baseball
Tuesday, April 15 at Northwestern, 3:30 p.m. – B1G+ ($) | Live Stats
Thursday, April 17 vs Akron, 3 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Friday, April 18 vs Akron, 2 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 19 vs Akron, 1 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
NIU Baseball heads to Evanston on Tuesday to take on the Northwestern Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. The Huskies won last year at Northwestern 17-8, scoring 10 runs in the final two innings for NIU’s first win over the Wildcats in 11 years. NIU already has a win over a Big Ten program this season, winning at Purdue 2-1 on April 1. Junior Logan Gregorio brings a 12-game hitting streak into the week. Gregorio is hitting .333 over this current stretch with six home runs and 20 RBI. He is second in the MAC in home runs and third in RBI with 46. The Huskies host Akron over the weekend at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. NIU won two out three games at Akron last season. A preview of this weekend’s series will be available on NIUHuskies.com later this week
Softball
Wednesday, April 16 vs Bradley, 4 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 19 at Kent State, 12 p.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, April 19 at Kent State, 2 p.m. – Live Stats
Sunday, April 20 at Kent State, 11 a.m. – Live Stats
NIU Softball plays hosts to Bradley on Wednesday before taking on Kent State over the weekend. Last weekend the Huskies took two out of three games against Buffalo. The Huskies set an all-time record for the most runs and RBI’s ever recorded in a single game with 19 in a 20-2 thrashing of Buffalo. Jenna Turner went 4-4 with 5 rbi’s in that win in game two against Buffalo on Saturday.
Track and Field
Friday-Saturday, April 18-19: at Michael Johnson Invitational (Waco, Texas)
NIU women’s track and field heads to Waco, Texas, this weekend to compete in Baylor’s Michael Johnson Invitational. Competition begins at 11 a.m. with field events on both Friday (April 18) and Saturday (April 19). The Huskies head to Texas after competing at Illinois State this past weekend, where the Huskies recorded seven top-three finishes, highlighted by Jasmijn Raes taking second in the high jump and Precious Umukoro finishing second in the triple jump.
The meet is scheduled to feature 24 teams, including host Baylor, who is currently ranked fifth nationally, as well as Oklahoma, ranked seventh, and TCU, ranked 10th. Last season in Waco, Emma Vorpagel finished fourth in the 800 meters.
Women’s Golf
Sunday, April 20 – Tuesday, April 22 at MAC Championships
NIU Women’s Golf will begin competition in Muncie, Ind.at the MAC Championships on Sunday, April 20 and play through Tuesday, April 22.
Last week the Huskies played in the Therese Hession Invite hosted by Ohio State where NIU earned 10th out of 13 teams. The Huskies were led by Alexa Ouelliet who finished in the top-35 at the invite. In the third round the Huskies had birdied from Emma Thorman, Dakota Tallent and Mia Raines.
Men’s Golf
Saturday, April 19 – Sunday, April 20 at Boilermaker Intercollegiate
The NIU men’s golf team plays its final tournament before the Mid-American Conference Championship this weekend at the Boilermaker Intercollegiate. The Huskies took seventh place at the Hawkeye Invitational that wrapped up on Monday. Senior Ben Sluzas finished in third individually with a 54-hole score of six-under par 210. Sluzas scored under par in all three rounds, starting with an opening round 69. Freshman Beau Petersen tied his best finish of the year, tying for 13th at one-over par. Senior Felix Krammer placed in the top-20 for the seventh time in the last eight tournaments, tying for 19th place.