Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Venture Downstate to Face No. 25 Illinois
10/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2012
Northwestern (13-6, 2-6 Big Ten) at No. 25 Illinois (9-9, 3-5 Big Ten)
Wednesday, Oct. 17
Huff Hall (4,500)
Champaign, Ill. • 7 p.m.
Streaming Video: NUsports.com
GameTracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Match Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern will travel to Champaign, Ill. Wednesday for its first midweek match of the season where it will take on No. 25 Illinois at historic George Huff Hall. The first serve is set for 7 p.m.
Road Warriors
After playing seven of nine matches at Welsh-Ryan Arena between Sept. 14-Oct. 6, Northwestern began a stretch where it plays five of six contests away from home. The Wildcats opened their long stretch away from home on Oct. 12 with a win at No. 25 Michigan State. NU returns to Evanston to face the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, Oct. 21. The segment ends at Minnesota and Wisconsin on Oct. 26 and Oct. 28, respectively. Northwestern is 10-2 away from home this season, with its only losses thus far coming at the hands of 13th-ranked Purdue on Sept. 28 and (rv) Michigan on Oct. 13.
Maddy's Milestones
Fifth-year senior setter Madalyn Shalter recorded the 1,000th dig of her career on Oct. 12 at No. 25 Michigan State, becoming the 14th player in program history to achieve the feat. The Ottawa, Ohio, native also entered the top-10 in program history in assists on Sept. 28 at Purdue and now owns 2,069 career helpers. Shalter needs 100 digs to join the all-time top-10 in that category and could become the first player in program history to rank in the top-10 in both digs and assists. She joins Liz Renius ('95-'98) as the only Wildcats to record more than 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
No More Than Four
Northwestern is the only team in the Big Ten that has yet to play a five-set match this season. The 11 other member schools have played at least two five-set matches each this season, while Illinois has played the most with eight, including four or its last five. The last time that the Wildcats went the full five sets with an opponent happened at Michigan State on Nov. 19, 2011. Entering the week, the Wildcats are one of six teams nationwide without a five-set match this season; from that group, only Northern Arizona has a higher winning percentage (.842) than Northwestern (.684). Yale, Morgan State, Savannah State and Alcorn State are the remaining four schools.
Chin Digs
Senior libero Julie Chin currently ranks sixth in Northwestern history with 1,263 digs, 72 behind fifth-place Jessica Holloway ('95-'98). After opening the season 11th on the list, Chin passed Lizzie Carlson ('02-'05) on Sept. 1 against Cincinnati, Carmen Burbach ('97-'00) on Sept. 7 against Brown, Stacey Kammes ('89-'92) on Sept. 29 at Indiana and both Kathy Burns ('84-'87) and Shelley Brzozowski ('86-'89) against Penn State on Oct. 5. Kate Nobilio ('06-'09), who played under current head coach Keylor Chan, is NU's all-time leader in digs with 2,194.
Best. Start. Ever.
Northwestern kicked off the 2012 campaign with the best start in program history. The Wildcats won their first 11 matches of the season, which included a clean sweep of all four nonconference tournaments they entered. Prior to the current group's streak, the best start open to a season belonged to the 1987 squad that won its first nine contests. The 11 victories this year also marked the longest winning streak completed since the 1983 Wildcats won 12 in a row between Oct. 19 and Nov. 19 that season.
Holthus Joins 1K Club
On Sept. 23 against Minnesota, junior outside hitter Stephanie Holthus buried the 1,000th kill of her career in a Northwestern uniform. The Burlington, Ill., native now ranks 17th on NU's all-time list with 1,106. Kathy Burns ('84-'97) is next in Holthus' sights with 1,111, while former teammate Sabel Moffett ('07-'10) is currently 15th with 1,132 and Pattijean McCahill ('80-'83) ranks 14th with 1,135. Janine Makar ('85-'88) is Northwestern's all-time leader with 1,666 kills. Holthus became the 20th player in program history to accomplish the feat and the first since Moffett ('07-'10), a 2010 All-American, did so on Oct. 29, 2010, also against Minnesota.
Scouting Illinois
2012: 9-9, 3-5 Big Ten; ranked No. 25 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
Last Week: L at Michigan (0-3); W at No. 25 Michigan State (3-2).
Head Coach: Kevin Hambly (BYU, '95). Fourth season at Illinois (91-29; .758) and fourth overall.
All-Time Series: Illinois leads, 47-27.
Notable: In three full seasons under the direction of head coach Kevin Hambly, Illinois has made three consecutive trips to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. In 2011, the Illini won the Gainesville Regional before taking down No. 1 USC in an epic five-set thriller to reach the national championship match. The final point of that match took more than one minute to decide and it found its way to be one of ESPN's top plays on SportsCenter that evening. Illinois lost to the final match to the UCLA Bruins, 3-1.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
