Northwestern Wins Hard-Fought Five-Set Thriller Over Iowa

10/24/2018 10:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Northwestern got its revenge on national television on Wednesday night, downing the Iowa Hawkeyes in five sets at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Wildcats are back in action on Sunday afternoon in their finale at historic Beardsley Gym. Chicago's Big Ten Team will host Ohio State at 1 p.m. for NU's Halloween celebration featuring a special t-shirt giveaway!

NORTHWESTERN 3, IOWA 2 (25-13, 30-32, 25-18, 17-25, 15-8)

TEAM NOTES:

Northwestern hit at a .321 clip, their second-highest of the season and their highest mark in a Big Ten match ... The next-highest was a .204 hitting percentage against Michigan State.
NU also set a team season high with 71 assists.
The Wildcats split the season series with the Hawkeyes after dropping their Sept. 30 match against Iowa, also in five sets … Northwestern improves to 44-31-1 against Iowa all-time and the Wildcats have now won 11 of their last 16 matches against the Hawkeyes.
Northwestern has won two of their last three matches overall.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

Sophomore Nia Robinson paced the effective Wildcat offensive, setting a career high with 26 kills … She hit at a .370 clip, adding one ace, six digs, and two blocks
Sophomore Alana Walker posted a career high with 15 kills … Her .636 hitting percentage was the second-best in Northwestern history in a five-set match, trailing only Savannah Paffen's .692 clip vs. Indiana on Oct. 11, 2013.
Sophomore Britt Bommer set a career high in assists, finishing with 69 … The output was tied for the eighth-most in NU history … No Wildcat has had more than 69 assists since Liz Renius posted 77 on Nov. 28, 1997 vs. Purdue … Northwestern's first 60-plus assist performance since Taylor Tashima amassed 62 vs. Maryland (Oct. 13, 2017) … She also had nine digs, two blocks, and an ace
First-year Abryanna Cannon also was a main contributor for the NU offensive attack, finishing with 12 kills … First-year Ella Grbac also added 12 kills.
First-year Michelle Lee paced Northwestern with 25 digs.
Junior Olivia Viscuso stuffed the stat sheet with five blocks and set a career high with four aces … Her previous career high was three against Loyola-Chicago on Sept. 15, 2018.
Junior Allie Lindroth tied her career high with eight digs.

MATCH NOTES:

S1 | Northwestern hit at a blistering, .429 clip to easily down Iowa, 25-15 … Alana Walker had three kills on seven attacks with no errors.
S2 | Back and forth it went in the second set, but the Hawkeyes pulled through, 32-30 … Was NU's first extra-points set since the last time the Wildcats played Iowa (Sept. 30), a 28-26 second set that Iowa also won.
S3 | Northwestern got off to a fiery-hot start and kept the foot on the gas, downing Iowa, 25-18, to take a two-sets-to-one advantage.
S4 | Iowa came out strong out of the gates and beat Northwestern, 25-17.
S5 | A tremendous fifth set by Nia Robinson helped the Wildcats finish off the Hawkeyes with a 15-8 set win.

••••••

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, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!