Maddie Slater Reaches Milestone With Career Block No. 300

10/28/2016 9:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – Senior middle blocker Maddie Slater's 300th career block highlighted Northwestern's trip to Iowa City on Friday night. Slater entered the night with 299 for her career and got the milestone block early in the first set.

The Wildcats teamed up for a ridiculous 14 blocks overall, six of which came from Slater. Gabrielle Hazen and Taylor Tashima each had seven. Tashima set a new career record with her mark.

Iowa won the match in four sets at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Northwestern battled back from down 2-0 to win a decisive third set and then instant replay took over in the fourth. The 'Cats scored to go up 23-22, but video review gave that point to Iowa instead. Three straight kills from Symone Abbott seemingly tied the match at two but another video review took away set point from NU and tied it at 24. The Hawkeyes then scored the next two points to win the match.

"I am proud of the fight our team showed tonight," head coach Shane Davis said. "We bounced back well in the third and fourth sets but credit to Iowa for making plays down the stretch. We have to put this behind us and get ready for Nebraska."

The result was not from a lack of balance in the Northwestern offense. Six players registered kills, including three who reached double digits. Abbott led the way with 12 and was followed by Hazen and Sofia Lavin with 10. Slater had nine on a team-high .400 hitting.

Tashima handed out 44 assists, besting her season average per set by nearly three.

The Wildcats blocking ability helped limit Iowa to just .230 hitting as did the back row play of freshman libero Sarah Johnson, who had 14 digs. Rafae Strobos added 11.

Northwestern held a 22-18 lead in the first set, but Iowa came out of its final timeout and ran off seven straight points to take the frame. The Hawkeyes used that momentum and jumped out to a big lead in the second, winning it 25-18.

The Wildcats came out the locker room firing after intermission and led for the duration of the third set. A 6-0 run behind the serving of Lavin sealed the set win for the 'Cats, 25-16. Then the crazy ending to the fourth set happened, and the Hawkeyes walked away with a 3-1 win.

Chicago's Big Ten Team heads to Lincoln, Neb. tomorrow night to take on the nation's No. 1 ranked team, Nebraska, at 7 p.m.