EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern volleyball (2-3) is set to open its home season on Tuesday evening inside Welsh-Ryan Arena, hosting the visiting Butler Bulldogs (5-1) at 7 p.m. CT. Action will be streamed on B1G+.
Tuesday’s match will be the first in Evanston for the ‘Cats after five straight on the road to open their 2026 campaign. The season began in Washington, D.C., with three true road matches, then Northwestern headed south to Starkville, Miss., where the Wildcats beat Alabama and fell to Mississippi State in the Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge last week.
Junior Mara Stiglic led the offense in both matches, totaling 36 kills across eight sets. She leads all Wildcats with 78 kills on the season so far, which ranks second in the Big Ten. Her 18 kills in both matches were the most by a Northwestern in a single game so far this season, and her four aces in the win over Alabama also marked a single-match high for the ‘Cats in 2026. She enters play against Butler averaging 3.90 kills per set, which ranks among the top 70 in the country.
Also continuing to impress in Mississippi was first-year setter Ellie Stiernagle, who increased her assist total to 198 through the first five matches, already ranking 11th in program history among first-year setters. Stiernagle tallied 42 assists, three aces and a kill to help lead the ‘Cats past the Crimson Tide on Thursday, then added 45 more assists on Friday against Mississippi State.