On Saturday, the 18th-ranked ISU volleyball team will enter its second day of competition at the NIU Invitational, where it will take on both the IUPUI Jaguars and the Northern Illinois Huskies.

“This weekend will be very tough for us. Northern Illinois is picked to win the MAC, probably for the first time ever,” said ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “For us not knowing exactly and having a lot of questions still, it’ll be a really tough weekend.

IUPUI is returning seven players from its 8-22 campaign in 2010, including second-team All-Summit player Shari Bernhardt.

Bernhardt has collected more than 500 digs in each of the past two seasons. In addition to Bernhardt, the Jaguars return sophomore Alexis Meeks, a Summit League All-Freshman Team selection from a year ago. Meeks led the team in assists last season with 901.

“Basically our whole preseason is tough,” said Cyclone outside hitter Carly Jenson. “This month is going to test everyone in our abilities and our stamina. Every time we play we’re going to have to be ready to go.”

After facing IUPUI at 10 a.m. on Saturday, the Cyclones will have little time to rest before their 2 p.m. matchup with the Mid-American Conference preseason favorite NIU Huskies.

The Huskies are coming off a 27-win season in 2010, the most victories for the squad since 1998.

NIU return two Preseason All-MAC team members in sophomore outside hitter Lauren Wicinski and senior setter Kristin Hoffman.

Wicinski is coming off a huge season in which she set school freshman records in aces (71), kills (636) and points (742.5) while averaging 4.82 kills per set, good for 6th best in the nation.

Hoffman averaged 11.51 assists per set, ranking second in the MAC and 17th in nation in that category.

“I think we’re definitely ready to see where we stack up with other teams and just play a game, just to play somebody new and see some new stuff,” said Cyclone middle blocker Jamie Straube. “They’re great teams, but we’re a great team also. We can’t get too focused on the team we’re playing. It’s just more important to see if we can go out there and how well we can compete at this level.”

The Cyclones will kick off Saturday morning’s action at the NIU Invitational in DeKalb, Ill., at 10 a.m. against IUPUI.