Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan State
Wildcats Sweep Spartans, 3-0
11/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern ran its current winning streak to five and claimed sole possession of sixth place in the Big Ten with a 3-0 sweep of Michigan State Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 33-31, 30-21, 31-29.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 17-10 overall, 8-9 in the conference. Michigan State falls to 12-15, 5-12 in the league.
Northwestern's five-match Big Ten winning streak is its best since a nine-gamer in 1983.
Game one of the match was close all the way to the end. With the score tied, 29-29, Michigan State earned a game point, but sophomore Stephanie Jurivich (LaGrange, Ill./St. Ignatius) got a kill to knot the game, 30-30.
Again MSU won the next point, but three-consecutive Spartan attack errors gave Northwestern a 33-31 game one win.
The Wildcats sprinted away from the Spartans in game two. With the score tied, 14-14, NU began to pull away, eventually making the score 21-18. From there, a 9-3 Northwestern run put the game away for a 2-0 match lead.
Game three was more a carbon copy of game one. Again, neither team held more than a four-point advantage, and Michigan State earned the game-point try at 29-28. Sophomore Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) killed a ball to take back the serve, then aced the Spartans twice to finish the game, 31-29, and the match, 3-0.
Anderson finished with a match-best 15 kills and three aces. Sophomore Courtnie Paulus (Beligum, Wis./Ozaukee) added 13 kills for NU. Jurivich finished with a match- and career-high .636 hitting percentage (7-0-11).
Seniors Lizzie Carlson (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) and Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) opened their final homestand with a team-best 11 digs each.
The Wildcats had a field day at the net, totalling 13.5 team blocks. Sophomore Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and freshman Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) each had a team-best six blocks.
In other Big Ten action Friday night, Michigan lost at Wisconsin to fall out of its sixth-place tie with Northwestern.
The Wildcats return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, when they host the Wolverines at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
