Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Florida
Wildcats Fall to No. 4 Florida
9/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. - After opening the season with a pair of wins against IPFW and Bowling Green, Northwestern fell to No. 4 Florida Sunday evening in the closing match of the NU Labor Day Invite, 3-0.
The Wildcats' starting rotation -- featuring four freshmen -- went up against an extremely experienced Gators squad that features all-America Candidate Jane Collymore after making it to the NCAA finals last year.
Other than senior leaders Drew Robertson and Leah Delcourt, the young 'Cats are working to build on their experience with each match they play.
"With such a young team, I think we have a lot to learn," Chan said. "Going up against a great program like Florida is an excellent experience to learn and grown from."
Even though NU dropped three straight games to Florida, the `Cats gave the Gators all they could handle for much of the match. In the opening frame, sophomore Julie Purcell and Robertson sparked a few key runs that knotted the two teams or saw the `Cats trailing by only a few points for most of the game.
Robertson particularly gave the team some extra juice with an energetic pep talk during an early NU timeout as the `Cats were falling behind. After the timeout, the `Cats came out playing with much more confidence and made a nice run to tie the game at 11-11.
Robertson and Purcell finished the match with a team-high 8 kills apiece.
On the defensive end, NU had their hands full with an impressive Gator lineup. But junior libero Christie Gardner played well in the back row, successfully digging a number of Collymore's 30 ferocious attack attempts.
With the loss, NU's record dropped to 2-1 on the year, while Florida improved to 4-0.
"Overall I'm pleased with the way our team performed this weekend," Chan said. "We lost to a very good team that's always contending for a national title, but if we want to get there we need to continue to work and strive to work better as a team."
The `Cats are next in action when they travel to Loyola (Ill.) next weekend, Sept. 10 and 11, for the Chicago Classic Tournament where they will face Loyola (Ill.), DePaul and Illinois-Chicago.
