Northwestern University Athletics
Red-Hot Wildcats Host Spartans, Wolverines
11/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- While Penn State clinched the Big Ten title last weekend, the hottest team in the conference right now just might reside in Evanston, Ill.
The Wildcats are winners of four straight, including upsets of then-No. 15 Purdue and then-No. 17 Minnesota, their first four-match Big Ten winning streak since 1988.
The fact that three of the four teams NU has beaten during this stretch swept the Wildcats earlier in the season speaks to just how well Northwestern is playing at the moment.
Now, Northwestern returns home to host Michigan State at 7 p.m. Friday night before Michigan enters Welsh-Ryan Arena at 7 p.m. Saturday night for Senior Night.
The Wildcats will honor seniors Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) and Lizzie Carlson (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) against the Wolverines. While Gardner's recent record-breaking exploits have been well documented, Carlson herself just reached the 1,000 dig plateau, entering the weekend with 1,004 to her credit.
Both matches will be streamed on NUsports.com with live video and audio commentary via CSTV's All-Access. To sign up for All-Access, visit the audio/video page on NUsports.com.
Gardner continued to break records at a breakneck pace last week, bringing her total to four shattered standards in the last five matches.
Friday night at No. 17 Minnesota, Gardner made 37 digs to rewrite the Northwestern single-match record before the ink even had dried on her 36-dig performance the week before against No. 15 Purdue.
Saturday night at Iowa, Gardner dug 23 more balls to bring her season total to 464, besting her own single-season NU record of 460 set last season.
Friday night also was a special night for freshman Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) and junior Julie Purcell (Louisville, Ky./Assumption). Hyser notched a career-best 20 kills with a .486 hitting percentage and a career-high nine digs against the Gophers. The 20 kills rank as the second-best total for any Wildcat this year. Purcell had a season-best 17 kills and a career-high seven digs versus UM.
Friday night, Northwestern seeks to avenge a five-game loss to Michigan State from earlier this season. Katie Johnson leads the Spartans with 5.27 kills per game.
Saturday night, Michigan comes to town for a battle between the sixth-place squads in the Big Ten, with pecking order for an NCAA Tournament berth on the line. Northwestern swept the Wolverines in Ann Arbor earlier this season. UM is 13-12 overall on the season.
