When Northwestern volleyball head coach Keylor Chan signed three recruits for the class of 2006, he knew the trio was talented. What Chan didn’t know was just how much it would impact the team.

The three NU newcomers “It’s great having (the new recruits) on the team,” senior middle blocker Sarah Ballog said. “They help with our passing.”

At last weekend’s Wildcat Classic in Evanston, NU finished 2-1, beating DePaul and Harvard and losing to Loyola-Chicago.

But the Cats’ loss to Loyola-Chicago (7-3) wasn’t as significant as the loss of junior middle blocker Erika Lange, the team’s leading hitter. Lange sprained her knee in a collision during the first game against DePaul (2-9), and the injury kept her on the sidelines for the next two matches.

Chan said that Lange will not play for one to two weeks and may miss this weekend’s Big Ten opener at Illinois.

“(Erika’s) been a staple in our program for two-and-a-half years now,” Chan said. “But we need to be a team, and good teams find a way to win.”

Against Harvard (1-6), the Cats found a way to win without Lange, though the match was more exciting than they would have liked. NU won the first two games and cruised to a 16-7 lead in the third, but the Crimson rallied to win 32-30 and force a fourth game.

“We were very disappointed we didn’t put it away,” Chan said. “We got relaxed and Harvard, as a team, has heart.”

Finding someone to fill Lange’s shoes is a daunting task for the Cats, even if it’s only for a week or two. The middle blocker boasts a .366 hitting percentage this season, and her 4.23 kills-per-game average ranks fourth in the Big Ten.

“Erika’s a presence,” Chan said after the victory over Harvard. “The (other) girls have to step up, and we saw glimmers of that tonight.”

On Saturday, NU got its strongest performances from Ballog and Gardner, who each had 17 kills in the match against Harvard. Both made the all-tournament team.

Ballog, who also contributed six assists against the Crimson, praised sophomore middle blocker Leah Delcourt and senior right-side hitter Brandy Stohl.

“Our team can’t rest on one player,” Ballog said. “We needed to pick it up and Brandy and Leah came in.”

Besides Gardner’s all-tournament performance, Lodzik posted 16 kills and 19 digs against Harvard. Chan is pleased that his new recruits are proving worthy of their starting positions.

“We felt that they were going to give us our best shot,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

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Newcomers push Cats to best start in four years; leader Lange hurt over weekend