The Northwestern volleyball team will face intimidating but familiar opponents this weekend as it travels to No. 14 Penn State and No. 10 Ohio State to start the second round of Big Ten play.
The Wildcats (8-9, 4-6 Big Ten) dropped matches to both teams at home – losing to the Buckeyes (17-1, 9-1) on Oct. 5 in four games and to the Nittany Lions (14-4, 7-3) on Oct. 6 in a three-game sweep.
NU is currently in eighth place in the Big Ten. It is likely that the Cats will have to go at least .500 on the season if they are to meet their goal of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. This would require at least two more wins in the second half of the season than NU managed during the first half.
Tournament pressure aside, entering the second round of conference play has both negative and positive implications for NU on the court.
“We understand what both teams do, but they also understand what we do,” coach Keylor Chan said. “It’s better for our blockers, but it makes things much more difficult on our attackers.”
According to sophomore middle blocker Erika Lange, playing opponents that they have played before simply means that the Cats have to execute better than their competition.
“Now there aren’t any surprises,” Lange said. “I really just think you have to be prepared. You have to bring your A-game to win every time in the Big Ten.”
The Cats failed to bring their A-game on the road with them last weekend when they dropped matches to lowly Iowa (3-14, 1-8) and No. 21 Minnesota (11-7, 5-5).
In the course of the frustrating weekend, NU’s lineup changed more than usual, with several starters spending time on the bench.
Chan said the Cats will return to their usual starting lineup today.
“We all chalked it up to a bad weekend, and I was pleased with how they bounced back,” he said.
As usual, NU will rely heavily on its strong block, anchored by Lange and fellow middle blocker Sarah Ballog. The duo is the main reason why the Cats are the best blocking team in the league, and Lange and Ballog are No. 1 and No. 3 on the conference blocking charts.
“I really focused on blocking,” Lange said of practices this week. “The block is the basis of our whole defense, so if that’s off, things don’t go well.”
The Cats will have to defend Buckeyes’ freshman standout Stacey Gordon at the net along with the Nittany Lions’ Cara Smith and Katie Schumaker. In their last meetings, Gordon had 20 kills against the Cats and Schumaker had 17.
Additionally, Chan said the team will need solid play and leadership from Ballog, sophomore captain Molly Kamp and junior right side hitter Kelli Meyer. The three combine to form the closest thing to senior leadership that this young team has.
This weekend will be another grueling three days of travel for the Cats, who will fly three times, just like they did last weekend.
“It’s rough and it takes a toll on our kids, but we have to get used to it,” Chan said. “Everyone in the league has to do it, and we can’t use it an an excuse.”
