Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats On The Road Again
10/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern takes on Michigan and Michigan State on the road this weekend, looking to string together some wins after last weekend's split with Ohio State and Penn State. The Wildcats, 2-4 in the Big Ten, relied on stellar play from key players last weekend and are looking for more great performances through balanced team play.
Junior setter Drew Robertson (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) was named the Hilton Garden Northwestern Female Athlete of the Week after last weekend's outings. Robertson, currently ranked third all-time on the school's career assists list, added 107 assists vs. the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions, bringing her career total to 3,253. Robertson also led the 'Cats with 18 digs in Friday's 3-2 win.
Iwona Lodzik (Tarnobrzeg, Poland/Tarnobrzeg) also had a career night on Saturday, registering seven service aces in the four-game match. Lodzik's previous high was five, and she is the first Wildcat since 1994 to notch that number. It also puts her in a tie for third all-time. Lodzik added a team-high 21 digs in the match.
Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) and Jill Buschur (New Bremen, Ohio/New Bremen) had a .333 and .289 hitting percentage on Friday, with Buschur leading the way on Saturday with her .308 attak percent. Lange currently leads the team with a .308 percentage in 18 matches, averaging 4.16 kills/game, while Buschur is third with a .253. Lodzik is second with .258.
Michigan comes into the weekend with a 12-5 overall mark, 4-2 in the Big Ten. They recently defeated Purdue and Indiana on the road, but have lost their last two home matches to Penn State and Wisconsin.
Leading the Wolverines is Erin Moore, averaging 4.24 kills/game and Jennifer Gandolph follows with 3.97 kills/game. Setter Lisa Gamalski averages 12.81 assists/game with 807 assists this season.
Michigan State is currently ranked No. 18 in the country and have a 3-3 conference mark, 11-5 overall. The Spartans recently split on the road, dropping a match to Purdue in three before taking a win over Indiana in four.
Jenny Rood has a season hitting percentage of .372 to lead the Spartans, while Megan Wallin is hitting .423 in Big Ten games. Nikki Colson contributed 101 assists in Michigan State's road split last weekend.
Saturday's match is scheduled to be aired by ESPN2 on Sunday, October 19 at 1:30 p.m. CST.
