This Week in Huskie Athletics
This Week in Huskie Athletics NIU will have eight teams in action. Baseball will play their home opener on Friday against Bowling Green. Softball heads back on the road for a weekend series against Ohio. NIU gymnastics sends Alyssa Al-Ashari and Kiera O’Shea to the NCAA Regionals. O’Shea will compete on vault, where she won the MAC Championship and Alyssa Al-Ashari will compete on bars. Al-Ashar won the MAC championship on beam and qualifies for regionals in 2023 as well. Men’s golf travels to Tennessee for a tournament while women’s golf is underway in Kentucky. Track and field heads to Miami for the Hurricane Alumni Invitational. Men’s tennis heads on the road for two duals and women’s tennis hosts EMU before traveling to WMU on Sunday.
Baseball
Friday, April 5 vs Bowling Green, 3 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 6 vs Bowling Green, 2 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Sunday, April 7 vs Bowling Green, 1 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
NIU Baseball opens its home slate this weekend against the Bowling Green Falcons at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park. The Huskies went 2-2 last week at Northwestern and Toledo. NIU won at Northwestern 17-8 last Tuesday, the Huskies’ first win against a Big Ten program in seven years. JP Gauthier was 3-for-4 against the Wildcats with five RBI as Eric Erato drove in four runs. Colin Summerhill hit the first of his two home runs last week in that game as well. Summerhill has nine home runs on the year, second in the MAC. He also leads the MAC with 22 walks. Bowling Green enters the weekend with a perfect 9-0 in league play. The Falcons lead the MAC in scoring at 9.7 runs per game.
Softball
Saturday, April 6 at Ohio, 12 p.m.
Saturday, April 6 at Ohio, 12 p.m.
Sunday, April 7 at Ohio, 11 a.m.
The Huskies hit the road for MAC play as they travel to Ohio University for a three-game series. The Huskies have won four of the last six meetings against Ohio, including the three of the last four in Athens.
In their last outing, the Huskie softball team won 2 of their last three games in MAC play, taking the series 2-1 against Kent State. The Huskies had a walk-off win in the first game of the series before splitting the final two games. Caitlyn Shumaker broke the Huskies career record for stolen bases, setting the new record at 61.
Gymnastics
Thursday, April 4 at NCAA Regionals, 1 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Kiera O’Shea and Alyssa Al-Ashari will head to Fayetteville, Ark. to represent NIU Gymnastics in the NCAA Regionals on Thursday, April 4. O’Shea will compete on vault. She scored a 9.925 on vault which tied an all-time NIU high score as she won the MAC Championships in the event. Al-Ashari won on beam at the MAC Championships with a score of 9.900 and will compete on bars at the NCAA Regionals. Both O’Shea and Al-Ashari made the All-MAC second team this regular season before winning MAC Championships.
Men’s Golf
Friday, April 5 – Sunday, April 7 at Mason Rudolph Championship (Franklin, Tenn.)
The Huskies begin a stretch of four consecutive weekend tournaments at Vanderbilt’s Mason Rudolph Championship April 5-7 at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn. NIU was last in action at Auburn’s Tiger Invitational March 11-12. Felix Krammer tied for 18th with a 54-hole score of +11 227. It was the third time this season Krammer placed in the top-20 of an event. Ben Sluzas, NIU’s leading scorer at 72.286, tied for 32nd. The Huskies finished 12th at last year’s Mason Rudolph Championship. Sluzas was NIU’s top finisher, tying for 33rd with a three-over par 216. Last year’s tournament field featured four top-25 teams in the Bushnell/Golfweek D-I Coaches Poll.
Women’s Golf
Monday, April 1 – Tuesday, April 2: at Colonel Classic (Richmond, Ky.)
After taking second at the Pinetree Invitational, the Huskie women’s golf team is in action on April 1-2 at the EKU Colonel Classic. The Huskies will compete in the 54-hole, par-72 course.
Caroline Kent and Jasmine Ly earned Co-Golfers of the week from the Mid-American Conference following their performances at the tournament. The duo tied for fifth place, Kent’s highest finish and Ly’s fourth consecutive top-10 finish.
Track and Field
Friday-Saturday, April 5-6: at Hurricane Alumni Invitational (Coral Gables, Fla.)
The Huskie women’s track and field team heads to Miami this weekend for the Hurricane Alumni Invitational. NIU began this season this past weekend, sending student-athletes to a trio of events as the Huskies competed at the Texas Relays, Texas State’s Bobcat Invitational and Illinois State’s Redbird Challenge. Freshman Arianna Calloway won the high jump title at the Bobcat Invitational to highlight the opening weekend for NIU.
Calloway ranks third in the MAC in the high jump with her meet-winning mark of 1.74 meters (5-08.50). Malia Watkins ranks third in the league in 100-meter dash, running 11.73 seconds at the Texas Relays, and ranks fifth in the 200, posting a time of 24.44 seconds at the Bobcat Invitational.
Men’s Tennis
Friday, April 5 at Buffalo, 12 p.m.
Sunday, April 7 at Toledo, 12 p.m.
The Huskie men’s tennis team heads to the road for a pair of weekend duals. The Huskies will take on Buffalo on Friday before traveling to Toledo for a Sunday dual. NIU holds a record of 16-3 this season and is 5-1 in Mid-American Conference play. NIU has won their last five duals and last four in conference play. Cheng En Tsai and Mikael Vollbach hold a doubles record of 13-5 this season and were named the MAC doubles team of the week last week. Cheng En Tsai went won in two sets in his match at No. 1 singles in the Huskies win against UIC on Saturday.
Women’s Tennis
Friday, April 5: vs. Eastern Michigan (Nelson Tennis Center, DeKalb), 1 p.m. | Watch | Live Scores
Sunday, April 7: at Western Michigan (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Noon | Live Scores
With six regular season matches remaining, NIU will play the first of three consecutive “split” weekends, playing one home and one away match in each of the next three weeks. On Friday, the Huskies have a rematch with Eastern Michigan just one week removed from a 6-1 loss to the Eagles in Ypsilanti. NIU then travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan for Sunday’s rematch with Western Michigan after defeating the Broncos, 4-3, in DeKalb on March 24 in a match that was decided at No. 6 singles.
Isabella Righi picked up the Huskies’ lone point at Eastern Michigan last week with a three-set decision at No. 4 singles to improve her record to 9-7 on the season.
The Huskies are 12-8 overall and 1-3 in the MAC and are 7-3 in matches played at home in the Nelson Tennis Center. Eastern Michigan enters Friday’s match with a record of 8-8 overall, 2-2 in the MAC. Western Michigan, which plays at Buffalo on Friday, enters the weekend at 11-6 overall, 2-2 MAC.