Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan
Wildcats Succumb to Michigan in Regular Season Finale
11/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 30, 2002
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan prevented the Northwestern volleyball team from securing its first Big Ten winning season since 1988 Saturday night, defeating the Wildcats 30-23, 27-30, 30-25, 30-21 in the regular season finale for both teams.
Jill Buschur (New Bremen, Ohio/New Bremen) set a season-high and tied a career-high with 18 kills to lead Northwestern. Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./East) added 17 kills and 16 digs. Drew Robertson (Long Beach, Calif./Poly) set a career-high with 20 digs. Jennifer Gandolph led the Wolverines with 17 kills and 14 digs.
Michigan outhit the Wildcats .258-to-.175 and outblocked them 15-8. The loss drops the ?Cats to 17-15 overall and 10-10 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines improve to 16-14 and 10-10.
The Wildcats fell behind early in the opening game, 14-5, and were forced to burn both of their timeouts. The Wolverines scored four of their first 14 points on service aces, including three by Carrie Ritchie. Northwestern provided little challenge for Michigan the rest of the game as the ?Cats never got the deficit under six points.
Michigan outhit NU .367-to-.216 in the set. Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg), Gardner and Buschur led Northwestern with four kills apiece. The Wolverines had five blocks compared to none for the Wildcats.
Northwesten jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in Game 2, but Michigan quickly fought back to tie the game 6-6. The game was tied 13-13 when the ?Cats rattled off four straight points. The Wolverines then answered back with a 9-1 run to pull ahead 22-18.
Michigan?s lead was 25-21 when the ?Cats battled back to close out the game on a 9-2 run to even the match at a game apiece. Buschur led Northwestern with seven kills in the frame while Robertson contributed 17 assists.
Game 3 was tight throughout the early stages, as NU held a slim 14-13 lead. Michigan then surged ahead 17-14 behind the strength of a 4-0 run. Although the Wolverines? lead would never grow larger than the final margin, the Wildcats could never even the score or go ahead despite pulling within one on two occasions.
Michigan held a slight .182-to-.150 hitting advantage in the game with Buschur and Gardner posting four kills apiece for Northwestern.
The ?Cats trailed 7-6 in the preliminary stages of the fourth game when the Wolverines cushioned their lead with a 5-0 run. The lead would hold up throughout the remainder of the game as the Wildcats got no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Northwestern will find out its postseason fate at 8 p.m. Sunday night when the field for the NCAA Tournament is announced.
