In Battle of Wildcats, Northwestern Sweeps Weber State

8/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Aug. 27, 2011

Box Score

Site: Salt Lake City, Utah (Utah Classic)
Score: Northwestern 3, Weber State 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-20)
Records: NU (2-0), Weber State (0-2)
Next NU Event: Aug. 27, 2011 -- at Utah (Utah Classic), 8 p.m. CT

SALT LAKE CITY -- Northwestern remained perfect early on in the 2011 season with a Saturday morning sweep (25-19, 25-22, 25-20) of Weber State in the Wildcats' second game of the Utah Classic hosted by Utah.

For the second-straight match, sophomore preseason All-Big Ten choice Stephanie Holthus paced NU's attack with a match-best 16 kills on a .268 hitting percentage. Redshirt freshman Katie Dutchman had a strong match in the middle, recording eight kills with no errors on 16 swings for a .500 percentage to go along with a match-best six blocks.

"We got great efforts from Julie Chin and Alex Ayers in the back row this morning," head coach Keylor Chan said. "Katie Dutchman stepped up in the middle and had the type of performance we know she is capable of. It also is good to see Holthus off to a good start to the year. We have a tough match coming up tonight against Utah that will be a good test of our abilities right now."

Chin made 16 digs for NU while Ayers added 14, helping hold Weber State to just 28 kills and a .109 hitting percentage for the entire three-set match. Setter Madalyn Shalter contributed 39 assists, good for a 13-per-set average.

Early on in the first set Saturday morning, Weber State jumped out to a 14-9 advantage before a Chan timeout. The break did the trick, kick starting a 16-5 run helped by eight kills from the duo of Dutchman and Holthus to give NU the first set, 25-19.

Northwestern built a 13-8 edge in set two after back-to-back kills by freshman Yewande Akanbi. The Wildcats largely maintained their cushion the rest of the way to a three-point victory and a 2-0 lead in the match. A 6-0 run midway through the third set gave Northwestern a commanding 18-10 lead that it did not surrender in closing out its second sweep of the year.

Northwestern returns to action tonight at 8 p.m. CT in its final game of the Utah Classic, taking on the host Utes.

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