Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Face Washington In First Round of NCAA's
12/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 5, 2003
NCAA Rounds 1 and 2 Game Notes
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EVANSTON, Ill.--After a split last weekend to close out the regular season, Northwestern women's volleyball team (18-14, 9-11 Big Ten) was unsure of its playoff destiny. Sunday night those concerns were laid to rest, as the Wildcats earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year.
The 'Cats will face No. 14 Washington (20-8, 10-8 Pac-10) in this weekend's sub-regional in Seattle. The host Huskies were selected as the 12th seed in the NCAA Division I tournament and will entertain Northwestern, Santa Clara and Utah at their own Bank of America Arena.
Northwestern is led by All-Big Ten Team member and All-America candidate Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg), who is hitting .334 (444-151-877) while leading the team with 1.38 blocks/gm. The senior middle blocker holds the all-time record at Northwestern in career kills per game (3.72), career hitting percentage (.306), career blocks (642), career block assists (532), single-season hitting percentage (.343), single-season block assists (146), individual-match block assists (13) and individual-match total blocks (14).
Iwona Lodzik (Tarnobrzeg, Poland/Tarnobrzeg) tops three season categories for the Wildcats, including kills (4.49/gm), service aces (0.44/gm) and digs (2.97/gm). The outside hitter is second in hitting percentage (.232).
Drew Robertson (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) quarterbacks the 'Cats; she is averaging 13.20 assists/gm. The junior has ten matches with more than 50 assists this season, as well as nine double-doubles. Robertson holds the NU record for single-season assists (1,515) and is currently in second with career assists (3,898).
Jill Buschur (New Bremen, Ohio/New Bremen) and Leah Delcourt (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island) round out the attack leaders. Buschur is hitting .231 while Delcourt has come on strong in the second half of the season, hitting .210 overall and .269 since Oct. 24.
Lizzie Carlson (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto), Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) and Erica Knavel (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) anchor the defense for Northwestern. Carlson, NU's starting libero, is averaging 2.31 digs/gm, while Gardner has 2.81 with 2.55 kills/gm. Knavel averages 1.97 digs/gm after moving from setter last season.
Head coach Keylor Chan is in his fifth season at the helm of NU volleyball and holds a 52-70 record with the 'Cats. In the last two seasons, Chan is 35-30.
