It was a weekend of progress – and heartbreak – for the Northwestern volleyball team.
The Wildcats couldn’t get some of their best players to perform, and as a result they dropped matches to Indiana and No. 25 Illinois, extending their losing streak to six.
Performance problems forced coach Keylor Chan to shuffle the lineup, a tactic that has become commonplace during the current skid. The experiment had mixed results — although the Cats lost both matches, they played increasingly better on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the Cats’ main lineup change came because of a subpar performance from junior right side hitter Kelli Meyer, who is having back problems. Meyer was quickly replaced by Brandy Stohl, who played the rest of the match.
Sophomore middle blocker Erika Lange, one of the Big Ten’s leading blockers, didn’t play up to Chan’s expectations.
“Erika is not attacking well,” Chan said on Friday. “She’s in a slump and losing her confidence. We can’t continue to have Erika have nights like this.”
While Meyer bounced back with 17 kills on Saturday, Lange’s slump persisted. She was benched after the first game, replaced by junior Adrianna Ruhl for most of the match.
“If you don’t perform, you won’t play,” Chan said of the ever-changing Cats lineup. “Erika’s got to show up to play. The last three weeks have been unacceptable.”
NU (8-13, 4-10 Big Ten) had lost 12 consecutive games before Friday’s match against Indiana. Despite returning to their home court for the first time in three weeks, the Cats came out flat against the Hoosiers (7-15, 4-10).
The Cats took Indiana to a fifth game, winning Games 2 and 4, but they were unable to pull out the match (21-30, 30-25, 30-27, 28-30, 15-9).
Game 2 was a close battle, with sophomore outside hitter Molly Kamp carrying the Cats. Kamp was impressive all night, leading NU with nine digs to go with her team-high 17 kills.
“I always think team first,” a frustrated Kamp said after the match. “Right now we really needed a win, so how we play individually doesn’t really matter.”
The Hoosiers capitalized on an unequal matchup at the net. NU freshman setter Drew Robertson had to go up against Indiana’s star freshman, outside hitter Christina Archibald.
Archibald had 8 kills in the game and 23 in the match.
“Drew, being the setter, is our weakest block,” Chan said.
Archibald attributed the Hoosiers’ win to good preparation.
“We worked all week on attacking from the outside and hitting around Erika Lange in the middle,” Archibald said. “And we just never gave up. We pushed a little harder.”
Junior Jill Fantozzi, a defensive specialist, was replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Erica Knavel, allowing Chan to bring in Fantozzi when Jill Buschur needed a break.
“(The defensive specialist position) is always competitive,” Fantozzi said. “So (starting) is based a lot on how you perform during the week at practice. (Not starting) gets you to play better, and it always works. It’s how I get my fire.”
One highlight for NU was its serving. The Cats had 15 aces, including five from sophomore Cassie McKnight. McKnight finished the weekend with an impressive nine aces.
Saturday’s match against Illinois (15-6, 9-5) was closer than the score would make it seem. Although Illinois took the match in three straight games (30-20, 33-31, 30-23), NU played more competitively than it had in several weeks.
“The scorebox won’t show it, but our team lifted a cloud,” Chan said. “It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we had the feeling of actually competing.”
Particularly competitive was Game 2, in which NU showed flashes of brilliance, leading 16-11 at one point. But the Cats could not hit around the strong Illinois block well enough to take the game.
Robertson quarterbacked the Cats better than she had in weeks, recording 32 assists and 10 digs in an emotional performance. Meyer’s 17 kills led the offense with junior middle blocker Sarah Ballog, who had 13 kills and only 2 attacking errors.
It is likely that the Cats will have to win all of their remaining matches to meet their goal of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. This is a daunting task — the Cats’ remaining schedule includes six Big Ten foes, including No. 7 Wisconsin on Nov. 21.
