Wildcats Outlast South Florida in Season-Opener

8/25/2017 9:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. — Northwestern volleyball, with four first-year players seeing significant playing time, overcame deficit after deficit to top South Florida, 3-1, on Friday night at The Corral at Sun Dome Arena.

The Wildcats' offense was slow out of the gate, marked by their .176 and .158 hitting percentages in sets one and two, respectively, However, the team clicked in the latter half of the second period and it showed: a .319 hitting percentage in set three and a .357 hitting percentage in set four.

Senior setter Taylor Tashima was strong in the contest, posting 54 assists — seven shy of her career-best mark of 61. The Willmette, Illinois, native also collected six kills and no errors, good for a .500 hitting percentage.

In her first game as a Wildcat, first-year Nia Robinson posted 45 total attacks and converted 20 for kills (.289 hitting percentage). Also on the front line, first-year Alana Walker registered a comparable hitting percentage at .267 (5 kills, 1 error, 15 attacks).

Senior Gabrielle Hazen had the best hitting percentage of the night (min. 15 attacks), as her career-high-tying 13 kills carried her to a .292 mark.

After losing the first set against USF, the #B1GCats barreled back to take the last three.

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— NU Volleyball (@NUVball) August 26, 2017

Northwestern and South Florida fought a neck-and-neck battle in the first set. With the first few points closely contested, the Bulls eventually snuck their way to a 12 to 7 advantage.

The 'Cats methodically erased the deficit, tying up the game at 20 points apiece. The contest would remain within two points, but USF pulled out the set one victory, 25-23.

The second and third games fared better for the Purple and White. After going down eight points to five in the beginning of set number two, the #B1GCats pushed to make the competition as tight as possible.

After trailing for the majority of the later stages of the set, Northwestern took advantage of three-straight attack errors by USF to win, 25-23. First-year libero Amy Wang served in the final three points to lead the 'Cats to their first set victory of 2017.

Again, Northwestern found itself in a hole early to the Bulls. Trailing by seven points early, the 'Cats found themselves in an all-too-familiar position. However, their fates ended up much in a similar way to the second set — and not the first.

The third set, however, overflew with drama. A 24 to 22 advantage gave Northwestern a set point opportunity, but it was squandered with a pair of Bulls points. The score would remain tied or within one point into extra points.

With the Wildcats trailing 26 points to 27, Robinson racked up a pair of clutch kills to push NU's advantage to one. Faced with another set point situation, USF's front-line was no match for the first-year duo of Alana Walker and Danyelle Williams, who both notched block assists to give the 'Cats a 29-27 win in the third set, and a 2-1 advantage overall.

In the fourth set, the 'Cats were able to create some daylight in their scoring advantage, but three unanswered points to push the score to 18-13 gave NU the momentum they needed to carry the match to victory. Northwestern finished the game, 25-19, on a Nia Robinson kill.

Hitting percentage was a notable difference-maker in the contest, as Northwestern's team .261 mark was able to outlast the .206 percentage for South Florida.

Northwestern will play a double-dip on Saturday, starting with LSU at 1 p.m. and Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 4 p.m. Live updates can be found on the @NUVball Twitter account.