Northwestern University Athletics
Women's Volleyball 1999 Season in Review
12/9/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 9, 1999
EVANSTON, Ill. - In a year that saw eight of the 11 teams in the Big Ten Conference advance to the NCAA Championships, the youth and inexperience of Northwestern?s women?s volleyball team proved to be a tough hurdle to overcome. In addition, a tough non-conference schedule steeled the Wildcats, and the result is likely to be success in 2000 after a 4-26 campaign (2-18 Big Ten) in 1999.
Momentum never really came Northwestern?s way this fall. The ?Cats fell, 3-0, to open the season, and then a trip to Notre Dame yielded losses to the Fighting Irish, traditional power Louisville and Pacific, who would be named the No. 1 team in the nation one day later. Two weekends later, NU hosted the Wildcat Invitational at Welsh-Ryan Arena, and the result was a 2-2 record when the ?Cats bested Louisiana State (3-2) and Oklahoma (3-0). Freshmen Kelli Meyer (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) and Sarah Ballog (Coto De Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) were named to the all-tournament team.
Illinois came to town the following Friday, and in front of a record crowd of 1,157 at Welsh-Ryan, the Wildcats gave the 25th-ranked Illini all they could handle before succumbing, 3-2. Unfortunately, Northwestern lost more than the match that night, as freshman Brandy Stohl ? who was coming along nicely as an outside hitter ? injured her knee and was lost for the season. Without her presence, the Wildcats dropped 12 straight before finally ending the skein with a 3-0 win over Iowa. On the season?s penultimate weekend, NU downed Purdue, 3-2, in West Lafayette for its other conference victory.
Senior Jennifer Zagorski (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) had a stellar season, recording 13 double-doubles in kills and digs, including 31 kills and 41 digs in the two meetings with Purdue. She placed third in the conference with 346 digs. Freshman setter Kelli Meyer (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) broke a 10-year-old record for first-year players with 1,101 assists. Carmen Burbach (Columbus, Neb./Scotus Central Catholic) finished 10th in the Big Ten with 289 digs and is on pace to reach the 1,000 kill-1,000 dig plateau for her career ? she has 945 kills and 807 digs.
