This Week in Huskie Athletics Northern Illinois University will have three teams in action. NIU softball will travel to Akron to compete in the MAC Championships starting on Wednesday. The Huskies will face off with CMU in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. CT. NIU women’s tennis travels to Rome, Ga. To begin play at the National Invitational Tournament on Wednesday. The Huskies will face off against Washington State in the quarterfinals. NIU baseball will host Illinois State on Tuesday before hosting Toledo in a weekend series.

Softball 

Wednesday, May 7 – Saturday, May 10 at MAC Championships  ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tournament Central

Qualifying for the MAC Tournament for the first time since the 2019 season, the NIU Huskies softball team will hold the sixth seed in the tournament and face Central Michigan, the three seed, in the second game on Wednesday (May 7). First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT  at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.

The Huskies clinched their spot in the tournament with a 4-1 win over Toledo on May 3. Senior infielder Jenna Turner extended her hitting streak to 10 games with a hit in each of the Huskies’ games on Saturday while Rylie Hartman went 3-of-4 at the plate and Danielle Stewart marked a combined 3 RBIs in the doubleheader.

Women’s Tennis

Wednesday, May 7 – Friday, May 9 at NIT (Rome, Ga.) – Tournament Information

Wednesday, May 7 vs. Washington State at UTR Sports NIT Championship Quarterfinals, Rome, Ga., 2 p.m. (CT) | Live Scores | Watch on PlaySight (create free account)

Thursday, May 8 vs. Appalachian State/North Texas at UTR Sports NIT Championship Semifinals, Rome, Ga., TBD | Live Scores | Watch on PlaySight

Friday, May 9 vs. TBD at UTR Sports NIT Championship Finals, Rome, Ga., Noon (CT) | Live Scores | Watch on PlaySight

For the first time in NIU’s history as an NCAA program, the Huskies will play in a national postseason tournament when they take the courts at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga. on Wednesday to face the Washington State Cougars in the quarterfinals of the UTR Sports NIT Championship.

After advancing to the finals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time in school history with a win over Toledo, the Huskies accepted a bid to the NIT on April 30 to continue their history-making 2025 dual match campaign.

NIU is 22-7 on the season and will take on No. 54 Washington State, which enters the tournament at 17-8 overall in one quarterfinal, with the winner taking on the winner of the Appalachian State-North Texas match on Thursday.  Click here for tournament information and follow the NIU women’s tennis social media channels on X – NIUwomenstennis, Instagram – niuwtennis and Facebook – NIU Huskie Women’s Tennis, as well as NIUHuskies.com, for more coverage.

Baseball

Tuesday, May 6 vs Illinois State, 2 p.m. –  Watch | Live Stats

Friday, May 9 vs Toledo, 3 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats

Saturday, May 10 vs Toledo, 2 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats

Sunday, May 11 vs Toledo, 1 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats

NIU Baseball opens its final homestand of the season on Tuesday against the Illinois State Redbirds before hosting Toledo this weekend. The Huskies will honor their senior class prior to Sunday’s 1 p.m. game for Senior Day. NIU is having one of its best offensive seasons in recent history. After scoring 47 runs in four games last week, NIU has scored 381 runs this year which is the third-most in a season in program history. Last week NIU broke the single-season home runs record with four at Milwaukee and now has 76 on the year. The Huskies enter the penultimate weekend of the MAC season with a 7-17 league record, four games back of Western Michigan for the sixth and final MAC Tournament berth with six games to go. NIU won two out of three games at Eastern Michigan for its second MAC series win of the year. Toledo is fifth in the MAC at 12-12 after taking two out of three against Bowling Green this past weekend. A full preview of this weekend’s series will be available on NIUHuskies.com later this week.