Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
No. 18 Ohio State Escapes Northwestern, 3-2
10/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern took a pair of games from Ohio State Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but could not take the match away from the No. 18-ranked Buckeyes in a 3-2 loss, 25-30, 30-21, 24-30, 30-21, 15-10.
Northwestern falls to 10-6 on the season with the loss, 1-5 in the Big Ten. Ohio State improves to 10-4 on the year, 3-3 in the conference.
The match was just NU's third of the year to go beyond three games, and the first of those matches the Wildcats have dropped. Previously, NU beat Loyola and Illinois in four and five game matches, respectively.
The Wildcats began the match strong, jumping out to a 10-5 lead in game one. A 6-2 run later in the game gave NU a 23-12 lead, propelled by two kills from Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) and single kills from Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and Cassie McLaughlin (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove).
NU withstood a late OSU run to win the first game, 30-25.
Game two saw the opposite start, with the Buckeyes holding a 14-8 advantage midway through the game. NU reeled off a 4-0 run to pull within two, 14-12.
Ohio State responded with a 4-0 and a 5-0 run to put NU away in the game, 30-21.
The Wildcats answered back against their ranked opponent in a much tighter game three. With the score knotted, 16-16, NU put together three consecutive points on an Aldridge kill, an ace from Lauren Greenwood (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) and an OSU attack error.
The Wildcats continued to apply the pressure and keep their lead, eventually ending the game on another 3-0 run capped by an Aldridge kill to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Game four saw OSU come back with an almost exact repeat of the second game of the match. The Buckeyes held a 19-12 lead before NU whittled the deficit to four, 21-17, on a Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) kill.
Ohio State then scored the next six points en route to a 30-21 win.
The Buckeyes came out in game five and scored five of the first six points, never really letting NU challenge in a 15-10 game five win to take the match, 3-2.
Anderson led NU with 16 kills, while Aldridge hit a match-high .562 with 10 kills on 16 attempts with just one error. McLaughlin also found double-digits with 10 kills for the Wildcats.
Greenwood finished with 10 digs and 27 assists for the first double-double of her career.
Senior Lizzie Carlson (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) also reached double-digit digs for NU with 10.
Northwestern returns to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at No. 8 Wisconsin.
