Northwestern Rallies By Duquesne, 3-1

9/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Sept. 16, 2011

Box Score

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Welsh-Ryan Arena)
Score: Northwestern 3, Duquesne 1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-18, 25-17)
Records: NU (7-2), Duquesne (8-4)
Next NU Event: Sept. 17 -- vs. Colgate (Wildcat Classic), Noon CT

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern got the best of the rallies Friday night in a sometimes brilliant, sometimes frantic match against Duquesne in the opening session of the Wildcat Classic, defeating the Dukes, 3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-18, 25-17).

Helped by a trio of Katie Dutchman aces, Northwestern launched itself out to a 14-5 lead midway through the first set. The two teams battled through several long rallies that led to Wildcats' libero Julie Chin racking up 11 digs in the first set alone. Kills from Stephanie Holthus and Kathryn Chrystal concluded the first set with a 25-16 NU win.

Northwestern was hampered by overpasses, several service errors and a couple of mistakes in set two. NU fell behind 12-4 early in the set and never recovered while Duquesne evened the match with a 25-17 win.

Set three was a tight affair throughout until the very end when Northwestern turned an 18-17 lead into a 25-18 set victory with a 7-1 surge. Holthus racked up three kills during the run, including the set-winner, while Dutchman added two more and a pair of blocks.

Northwestern ran away with set four and the match from the very beginning, forcing two early timeouts after taking a 10-point, 16-6 lead. Freshman Yewande Akanbi closed out the match with the final two kills for the `Cats.

In a match of many rallies with the two teams combining for 153 digs, Chin ended up with a match-best 25 for the Wildcats while Holthus had 15, Mary Grace Gallagher finished with a career-high 13 in a strong senior performance and Alex Ayers added 11.

Holthus terminated a match-high 19 balls and hit .364 for a double-double. Hannah Crippen added 11 kills and Akanbi earned 10 kills. Madalyn Shalter contributed 43 assists to an offense that hit .364 in set three, .344 in set four and .264 overall in the match.

Northwestern returns to action at noon CT tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 17 against Colgate before rounding out its 30th Wildcat Classic schedule at 7 p.m. CT Saturday versus New Mexico State.

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