Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Hosts Boilers, Illini This Weekend
11/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 2, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- After two weeks on the road, Northwestern returns to the purple confines of Welsh-Ryan Arena for a pivotal weekend in the Wildcats' push for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Northwestern welcomes No. 15 Purdue to Evanston at 7 p.m. Friday night before Illinois comes to town for a 7 p.m. Saturday night match following the football game against Iowa.
The matches can be viewed LIVE on the internet at NUSports.com through CSTV's All-Access. To watch the video stream with audio play-by-play, log on to NUSports.com and navigate to the audio/video page to subscribe.
For the Wildcats to qualify for their third NCAA Tournament in the last four years, Northwestern needs to put together as strong as finish to the season as the campaign's 9-1 beginning.
NU showed some signs of impressive play in losses last weekend at No. 19 Ohio State and No. 3 Penn State.
Sophomore Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) had back-to-back double-doubles on the weekend, including a season-high 13 digs against OSU.
Also against the Buckeyes, freshman Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) notched a career-best eight kills with a .538 hitting percentage in her most extensive court action of the year. The effort was good enough to earn Hyser her first-career start the following night at PSU.
In University Park, junior Julie Purcell (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) played her best match of the year against the nation's No. 3-ranked team. Purcell had a match-high 14 kills on a career-best .591 hitting percentage (14-1-22).
Senior Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) dug 18 balls against the Nittany Lions to push her past Janine Makar for the top spot on NU's career digs list.
Against Purdue, the 'Cats must neutralize the Big Ten's most efficient hitter. Renata Dargan leads the Boilers and the conference with a .408 attack percentage. Anne Mastandrea ranks fourth in the Big Ten with a 5.10 digs per game average.
After facing Dargan, the league's leader in kills visits Welsh-Ryan with Illinois. Rachel VanMeter averages 5.70 kills per game as the main outlet for the Illini offense.
