Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcat Volleyball Makes Trek to Wisconsin Wednesday
11/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Every match becomes important as Big Ten foes continue to battle for position in the conference volleyball race. Northwestern hits the road Wednesday for a key mid-week meeting with No. 14 Wisconsin. The match begins at 7 p.m. at the UW Fieldhouse. The Badgers enter play Wednesday tied for second place in the Big Ten, while Northwestern is in a three-way tie for fourth along with Ohio State and Michigan. The 'Cats defeated Wisconsin 30-22, 43-41, 30-24 Oct. 23 in Evanston. The Badgers lead the all-time series with NU 31-24.
Scouting the Badgers
Wisconsin (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten) has won six of its last seven matches since falling to the Wildcats Oct. 23. The Badgers defeated Illinois last Friday 30-20, 30-18, 30-22. Bucky hit .385 in the match behind 20 kills and 10 digs by Erin Byrd. Wisconsin doubled-up Illinois in kills 64-32. The following night, UW had little trouble with Purdue, posting a 30-19, 30-16, 30-26 victory. Amy Hultgren led a balanced Badger attack with 12 kills, as Wisconsin limited the Boilermakers to .035 hitting. Byrd leads the Badgers with a 4.22 kills-per-game average. Morgan Shields, last week's Big Ten Player of the Week, leads the conference in assists, averaging 13.82 per game. Sheila Shaw is fifth in the Big Ten with a .332 hitting percentage. Pete Waite is 104-23 in four seasons as the head coach of Wisconsin and 370-125 in 15 seasons overall.
Head Coach Keylor Chan
Keylor Chan is in his third season as head coach of the Wildcats after spending one season as head coach at Furman University. Last season, Northwestern recorded its best Big Ten Conference finish in more than a decade and won more conference matches than any NU team since the 1993 season. Chan has compiled a 33-52 record in three seasons with the 'Cats and is 51-67 overall in four seasons as a head coach. Chan is assisted by Josh Grau and Meggan Kohnen, in their third and first seasons with the Wildcats, respectively.
Last Time Out
Northwestern earned its first nine-win Big Ten season since 1990 last weekend by virtue of defeating both Purdue and Illinois at home. Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) recorded 23 kills and seven blocks and Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./East) added a career-high 20 kills in the 30-21, 30-23, 30-32, 30-26 win over Purdue Friday night. Iwona Lodzik (Tarnobrzeg, Poland/Tarnobrzeg) totaled 19 digs and Drew Robertson (Long Beach, Calif./Poly) contributed 60 assists. The Wildcats held a 75-50 advantage in kills and a 72-54 edge in digs. NU completed its first season sweep of Illinois since 1984 the following night, defeating the Illini 30-17, 19-30, 30-23, 32-30. Lodzik led the 'Cats with match highs of 19 kills and 14 digs. Lange posted 18 kills and seven blocks and Gardner had 16 kills. Robertson added 60 assists, her third straight match with 60 or more. NU hit .265 and outkilled its opponent 75-50 for the second straight night.
Gardner Growing Up
So much for hitting the proverbial freshman wall. Christie Gardner has stepped up her play the past three matches, and not coincidentally, the Wildcats have a three-match winning streak. Gardner's season hitting percentage had dropped to .098 and she was averaging 2.11 kills per game following the Minnesota match Nov. 8. In the ensuing three matches, she hit .233, raising her season percentage 22 points to .120. Her kills-per-game average during the three-match stretch is 4.33, raising her season average to 2.37.
Not Since...
With the two victories last weekend, the Wildcats earned their first nine-win Big Ten season since 1990 when they went 9-9. The last time NU finished with a winning record in Big Ten play was 1988 when it posted an 11-7 record.
Lange Amongst the Leaders
Junior middle blocker Erika Lange continues to rank at or near the top of a number of Big Ten statistical categories. Lange's 1.53 blocks per game average ranks first in the Big Ten. Her .355 hitting percentage and 4.35 kills-per-game average each rank third.
Reaching Milestones
Drew Robertson recorded career dig No. 500 in the victory over Purdue. With her second block of the Purdue match, Sarah Ballog (Coto de Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) moved into fifth place on the school's all-time total blocks list. She is seven block assists away from third place in school history. Ballog also needs just 10 kills for No. 900 of her career. Erika Lange is 10 block assists away from becoming the second player in NU history to record 400 in her career.
