This week in Huskie Athletics the Huskies will have eight teams in action with four teams at home. The Huskies men’s basketball team opens up the week with a road trip to Miami before taking on South Alabama in the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge. Women’s basketball will be in action at home against Ball State on Wednesday and Georgia Southern on Saturday. Wrestling and Gymnastics will host their annual Beauty And The Beast meet inside the Convocation Center on Friday, Feb. 9. Softball opens their 2024 season over the weekend with five games at the UNI Dome. Men’s tennis will host a pair of duals against EIU and Lewis. NIU women’s tennis will compete away from home on Friday and Sunday.

 

 

Men’s Basketball

 

Tuesday, Feb. 6 at Miami, 6 p.m. –   ESPN+ | Live Audio

Saturday, Feb. 10 at South Alabama, 2 p.m. –   ESPN+ | Live Audio

 

The Huskie men’s basketball team heads on the road for a pair of games this week as NIU travels to Miami and South Alabama. NIU is coming off a 76-66 victory over Miami on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3). Xavier Amos netted a team-high 19 points while Will Lovings-Watts added 18 points in the win. Tuesday’s game will be the only matchup between NIU and Miami this season, the Huskies earned an 81-77 win in Oxford a season ago (Jan. 17, 2023). Following Tuesday’s game, NIU make the trip to Mobile, Ala., to face South Alabama in the second game this season in the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge. Saturday’s contest will be the first all-time meeting between the Huskies and Jaguars. A full preview of both games will be available on NIUHuskies.com.

 

 

Women’s Basketball

Wednesday, Feb. 7 vs. Ball State, 6 p.m. –   Live Audio | Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 10 vs. Georgia Southern, 1 p.m. –   Live Audio |  Live Stats

The Huskie women’s basketball will return to play after the weekend off from action. The Huskies will host MAC leaders Ball State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The Huskies will then take on Georgia Southern in the second game of the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge. NIU sits at 3-6 in MAC play.

The Huskies lost their last matchup at Bowling Green 72-54. In that game the Huskies scored 24 in the opening quarter before being slowed down by the Falcons. Brooke Stonebraker scored 15 in the game and picked up six rebounds while Jayden Marable scored 11.

 

 

Wrestling

 

Friday, Feb. 9 vs Lock Haven,  7 p.m. –  Live Video | Live Stats

 

The Huskies wrestling program returns home their final two regular season duals of the season, hosting Lock Haven in the annual Beauty and the Beast dual in coordination with the NIU gymnastics program. The Huskies have won four straight duals and move to 5-1 in the MAC West as they look to defend the home mat.

 

The Huskies won a thriller over Buffalo on Feb. 3, defeating the Bulls 18-16. It was a back-and-forth battle from start to finish, with only three matches having extra points. Jacobi Jackson sealed the victory for the Huskies with a major decision in the heavyweight match. The Huskies have reached 11 wins in a single season for the tenth time in program history. The Huskies are receiving votes in the National Wrestling Coaches Poll (NWCA) and are ranked No. 14 in the NWCA Mid-Major Top-20 poll.

 

 

Gymnastics

 

Friday, February 9: Quad-Meet vs WMU, UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater, 7 p.m. –  Watch

 

Sunday, February 11: at Kent State, 12 pm.

 

The Huskies Gymnastics program will take on Western Michigan, UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater in a quad-meet on Friday, Feb. 9. The meet will be the annual Beauty and the Beast meet as wrestling will compete simultaneously inside the NIU Convocation Center.

 

In the Huskies last meet on Sunday, Jan. 28 they finished in third place in their home opening meet against CMU and EMU. Isabella Sissi scored 39.050 in the All-Around at the meet and got a career high 9.850 on vault.

 

 

 

Softball

 

Friday, Feb. 9. vs. Western Illinois, 9 a.m.  –  ESPN+ |  Live Stats

Saturday, Feb.10 vs. Nebraska Omaha, 3:30 p.m. –  Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 10 vs. Northern Iowa, Feb. 10, 6:00 p.m. –   Live Stats

Sunday, Feb. 11 vs. Butler, 9 a.m. –  ESPN+ | Live Stats

Sunday, Feb. 11 vs. Drake, 11:30 a.m.  –  ESPN+ |  Live Stats

 

The 2024 season begins for Huskie Softball as they compete at the Doc Halverson UNI-Dome Classic, February 9 to 11, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Huskies will face Western Illinois, Nebraska Omaha, Northern Iowa, Butler, and Drake in the opening weekend of the season. Friday and Sunday’s games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats available all weekend.

 

The 2023 Huskies posted the fourth-best GPA by team in the nation, saw Danielle Stewart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) earn Third Team All-Region honors from National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), and return two All-MAC honorees in Stewart and Kiley Conner (St. John, Ind./Lake Central).

 

Men’s Tennis

 

Saturday, Feb. 10 vs. Eastern Illinois, 9 a.m. – Live Video

 

Saturday, Feb. 10 vs. Lewis, 6 p.m. –  Live Video

 

NIU men’s tennis is 4-2 overall in 2024. The Huskies have won their last two duals, with wins over North Dakota and Chicago State to close out January. The Huskies won both of those duals 6-1.

 

Last time out the Huskies took the doubles point and five of their six singles matches. At No. 1 singles Mikael Vollbach won a tight match in three sets with a 10-8 win in the super tiebreaker.  Saul Berdullas won at No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-1. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia is 4-1 overall in singles competition this season.

 

 

Women’s Tennis

 

Friday, February 9: at Northern Iowa (in Waterloo, Iowa), 10 a.m.

Friday, February 9: at Iowa, 6 p.m.  –  Live Scores | Watch

Sunday, February 11: at DePaul, 10 a.m. | Live Scores

 

The NIU women’s tennis team hits the road for the first time in 2024 with a trio of dual matches this weekend. On Friday, the Huskies head west for a day-night doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m. versus Northern Iowa before making the short trip to Iowa City for a 6 p.m. match-up with the Hawkeyes. On Sunday, NIU faces DePaul at XS Tennis Village on Chicago’s South Side (5336 South State Street).

 

The Huskies are coming off a 2-0 weekend to even their record at 2-2 on the dual match season. NIU defeated Marquette, 6-1, on Friday and bested Bellarmine, 4-3, Saturday at the Nelson Tennis Center. The Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in both matches by taking the doubles point with the No. 3 duo of Jenna Horne and Reagan Welch winning twice.  Erika Dimitriev earned a pair of three-set wins at No. 1 singles, including in a third-set tiebreaker versus Marquette while Diana Lukyanova and Isabella Righi also each won both of their matches at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, respectively.

Track & Field

 

Friday, February 9-Saturday February 10, Wisconsin Windy City Invitational – Live Stats

 

Just two meets remain for the NIU women’s track and field team prior to the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships, beginning this weekend as the Huskies make the short trip to Chicago to compete in the Windy City Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park. Competition will begin on Friday at 2 p.m. with the long jump, the first event on track will be the 5,000 meters, beginning at 2:20 p.m. On Saturday, events are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. with the shot put, preliminary rounds of the 60-meter hurdles are slated for 12 p.m.

 

This past weekend, NIU competed at Notre Dame’s Meyo Invitational. Arianna Calloway won her third consecutive high jump title as she cleared the bar at 1.78 meters. Malia Watkins and Skylynn Blue both earned top-five finishes in the 200 meters, Watkins was third in 24.40 seconds while Blue was fifth in 24.54 seconds.