Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Indiana
Milestones Fall as Wildcats Sweep Hoosiers
11/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 23, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Several Wildcats notched season and career milestones Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena as Northwestern opened Senior Weekend with a sweep over Indiana, 30-23, 30-26, 30-25.
With the win, Northwestern improves to 18-12 overall on the season, 9-10 in the Big Ten. Indiana's loss drops it to 15-16 on the year, 6-13 in the conference.
Senior Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) had 12 kills and eight digs in the match, giving her 1,003 digs for her career to become the seventh Wildcat in program history to join the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig club. Paulus ranks No. 12 in school history with 1,185 kills.
Senior Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) had a match-high 17 kills for the 'Cats, giving her 1,497 for her career to pass 1985 U.S. National Team member and Wildcat legend Madelyn Meneghetti for No. 4 on Northwestern's career chart.
Sophomore libero Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) gave one of her best performances of the year, making a match-high 23 digs in the three-game contest (7.67 per game). The total gives her 583 for the season, breaking the school single-season digs record of 572 set in 2005 by Christie Gardner.
Northwestern's win coupled with Purdue's loss at Michigan State Friday night leaves four teams jockeying for important position in the conference race entering Saturday's final matches. Michigan and Purdue both are 10-9, while NU and MSU both are 9-10. Michigan plays No. 1 Penn State Saturday, Michigan State will take on Indiana and the Wildcats face the Boilermakers in a huge contest at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
PSU has clinched the Big Ten title with a 19-0 record, Wisconsin has clinched second at 16-3 and Minnesota (11-8) will finish in at least a tie for third by virtue of its five-game win at Illinois Friday night.
In game one Friday night, with the score tied at 16, Northwestern went on an 8-1 run capped by a block from Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) and Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) to take a commanding 24-17 lead. The Wildcats maintained that seven-point cushion the rest of the way, finishing game one, 30-23, on a kill by Anderson.
Game two was close from beginning to end. NU held a brief three-point lead, 14-11, after a block by Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and Johnson, but IU quickly came back to tie the score at 15. With the score still knotted, 25-25, later in the game, two kills by Paulus, one from Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) and another Aldridge-Johnson block propelled the 'Cats to a 30-26 win.
Northwestern went on a 9-2 run midway through game three to take an 18-12 lead, thanks in part to three Anderson kills and one each from Paulus and Aldridge. Indiana came all the way back to within one, 24-23, but NU closed the Hoosiers out with a 6-2 spurt capped by an Anderson kill, winning the third game, 30-25.
Anderson had nine digs to go with her 17 kills, falling one dig shy of her 10th-straight double-double. Glab finished with 44 assists for the 'Cats, her second-best total of the year in a three-game match (the best effort was a 47-assist outing against Western Michigan on September 14).
Hyser hit a team-best .476 with 10 kills on 21 swings and no errors. Johnson had a team-best six blocks.
Northwestern returns to action at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, Saturday, Nov. 24, against Purdue in its Senior Day match at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
