Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Wildcats Drop Match to Wisconsin
9/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
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Sept. 29, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After playing a tight first game, Northwestern fell 3-0 (28-30, 20-30, 16-30) to Wisconsin Wednesday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats dropped to 5-8 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten, while the Badgers recorded their first Big Ten win and improved to 7-4 overall.
"It's really frustrating because I know we're such a better team than how we're playing right now," junior Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis/West Bend East) said.
The `Cats came out of the gates in the first game to the tune of a 6-1 lead, dominating the Badgers early and looked as though they were well on their way to notching Big Ten win number one. But the Badgers climbed back, cutting the lead to 16-13.
A devastating solo block that ricocheted out of bounds by freshman Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) brought the home crowd to life as it knotted the teams at 20-20. Anderson later added one of her seven kills on the night to pull NU to within one point, 27-28. But the Badgers eventually finished the close game on the strength of some precision hitting from Sheila Shaw and Aubrey Meierotto.
NU dropped the second game, 20-30, and the third game by a score of 16-30.
Freshman Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) led the `Cats with nine kills, while Gardner and freshman Stephanie Jurivich (LaGrange, Ill./St. Ignatius) anchored the defensive end with 10 and 11 digs, respectively. Jurivich also added five block assists.
NU will seek its first Big Ten win when it takes on intra-state rival Illinois at 7 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 1 in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
