'Cats Close Out Season at Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Northwestern volleyball is set to close out their 2024 season on Friday evening in Ann Arbor as they take on Michigan (17-13, 7-12 B1G) at the Crisler Center. First serve between the 'Cats (5-22, 3-16 B1G) and the Wolverines is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on B1G+.

STORYLINES:

Alexa Rousseau became the first Big Ten player to record two triple-doubles this season with 15 kills, 16 assists and ten digs on Wednesday at Michigan State. It was Rousseau's fourth career triple-double, and 2024 is the first season to see the graduate student accomplish the feat more than once. The achievement puts an exclamation point on what has been a standout season in a standout career for Rousseau, who will close out her time in Evanston with her name in the Wildcat record books. Her 3,892 career assists rank fifth in Northwestern program history, and her .281 career attack percentage ranks ninth.
Over the last three weeks, Rylen Reid has reached double-digits in kills four times - a feat she had achieved just once in her career prior to this month. Her ten kills against Michigan State, combined with 19 in a team-leading effort against Rutgers, gave her the first back-to-back double-digit kills games of her career, and she has now led the Wildcat attack in three-of-nine matches in November. All of that has added up to 82 kills this calendar month, which works out to 9.1-per-match and 2.5-per-set.
Since returning to the lineup two weekends ago at Oregon, Sophia Summers has slotted right back in for the 'Cats, racking up 25 kills, three service aces, and 23 blocks over her last five matches. On Wednesday, Summers matched a career high with nine blocks against the Spartans. That came just one match after she tied her career high with nine kills against Rutgers - her first time recording that many since August 31 against Pacific.

THE MATCH-UP:

Michigan leads the all-time series 50-29 after the programs split last year's home-and-home meetings. Prior to the 'Cats' five-set victory over the Wolverines at Welsh-Ryan Arena last season, Michigan had won each of the last seven. The last time Northwestern won in Ann Arbor was 2017, when they won in five sets on Nov. 10.

The Wolverines received votes in the AVCA Top-25 poll as late as the end of October this year, but they enter Friday's match after losing nine of their most recent ten matches. Their sole victory this month came against Maryland in three sets on November 21, and all of their Big Ten wins on the season came over unranked teams. They'll finish this season in the middle third of the conference standings.

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Players Mentioned

Rylen Reid

Alexa Rousseau

Sophia Summers

Northwestern University Athletics