Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
UC Santa Barbara
Wildcats Rope Gauchos, 3-1
9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 1, 2007
Box Score
LOS ANGELES -- Northwestern ended its Loyola Marymount Four Points Sheraton LAX Classic with an entertaining and raucous win Saturday night against UC Santa Barbara, thrilling a rowdy contingent of Wildcats' fans, 3-1 (30-23, 30-26, 27-30, 30-20).
The win improves Northwestern to 3-2 on the season, 1-2 at the Four Points Sheraton LAX Classic. UC Santa Barbara falls to 2-4 on the year, 0-3 in the event with the loss.
UCSB, an NCAA Tournament participant a year ago, worked itself an early 8-3 lead, but a 7-0 Northwestern run including two Brittani Gray (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) kills and an ace from Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) gave the Wildcats a 10-8 advantage.
Later in the game, with UCSB holding a 16-14 lead thanks in part to an NU substitution violation, the Wildcats mounted a 5-0 run featuring a pair of Anderson kills and a Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) termination, forcing a Gaucho timeout with the 'Cats' lead at three, 19-16.
Northwestern expanded its lead from there, taking game one, 30-23. Both Paulus and Gray led the Wildcats with seven kills in the game.
Santa Barbara raced out to a 5-0 lead in game two, and Northwestern did well to whittle into the cushion, coming back to within one, 13-12. When the Gauchos got a little spurt together to take a 16-12 lead, the 'Cats called a timeout. Northwestern countered to force a UCSB TO after a Paulus ace and an Anderson solo block again brought the deficit back down to one, 18-17.
The Wildcats finally knotted the score, 19-19, then it was off to the races, building a 27-24 advantage before the Gauchos used their second timeout of the game. Paulus had three kills, while Gray, Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) and Sabel Moffett (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) all contributed single kills during that span. Anderson finished off the game with a trio of kills for NU's final points in a 30-26 victory.
Paulus added nine kills in game two to bring her match total to 16.
Game three saw the Wildcats pull out to a 10-7 lead thanks to a scrambling kill by Glab and an emphatic slam from Moffett, causing the Gauchos to circle the wagons with a timeout. Out of the break, Moffett became an impenetrable force at the net, getting a pair of solo blocks in addition to several null blocks to push NU out to a five-point advantage, 15-10.
A pair of Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) kills along with two from Anderson helped NU build its lead out to six, 23-17, to force UCSB to use its second timeout. The Gauchos then galloped back to take the lead in the game, 26-25, and Keylor Chan used a timeout of his own, but it did not squash the UCSB stampede in a 30-27 game three win for the Gauchos.
As happened in every game of the match, UCSB took the early lead in game four, eventually causing an NU timeout when the point-gap reached five, 12-7. The Wildcats roared back with a 5-0 run including two kills from Moffett and a Gray ace to knot the score, 12-12, and force a UCSB break. The run would reach 9-0 (and the score 16-12) before the Gauchos scored their next point.
UCSB used its final timeout after a block by Moffett and Paulus made the score 25-19. Northwestern then ran away with the game, ending the match on another Paulus kill to win game four, 30-20, and the match, 3-1.
Paulus finished with a match-best 26 kills, the most since a career-high 28-kill performance on Oct. 8, 2004, against Iowa. Her 26 kills were the most for any Wildcat since Anderson had 28 on Nov. 26, 2004, against Indiana. Paulus also had a 20-20 double-double, compiling 20 digs as well, one shy of her career-best of 21.
Anderson contributed a double-double with 15 kills and a career-best 18 digs, while Glab had 54 assists and 13 digs for a double-double of her own. Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) had a match-best 25 digs for the 'Cats, while Gray also had a double-double with 10 kills and 22 digs.
Hyser finished with 11 kills and a match-best .526 hitting percentage (11-1-19). Moffett hit .471 (8-0-17) and had four solo blocks for the 'Cats.
Northwestern's next match is at 6 p.m. CT Friday, Sept. 7, at Georgetown to open the Georgetown Classic.
