Don’t expect a TV camera lens to give the Northwestern volleyball team stage fright.
The Wildcats’ 7 p.m. home game against Indiana on Saturday will be taped by Fox Sports Net and aired on Sunday at 3 p.m. Although the team may be tired from its Friday match against Ohio State, the Cats are ready to show the regional audience how far they have come this season.
“It’s a motivating factor to be on TV,” NU assistant coach Josh Grau said. “It’s a chance to publicize the team to recruits, the community and the general public.”
The broadcast comes at a perfect time for the Cats. This week, NU received 23 votes from the American Volleyball Coaches Association/USA Today poll for the first time since 1998. The weekly voting by Division I coaches determines the top-25 rankings.
The Cats didn’t collect enough votes to break into the top 25, but simply garnering any means they’re on their way to being a nationally ranked team.
“It’s nice, but we don’t put a whole lot of weight on it,” Grau said. “But it shows that the volleyball world thinks we’re legitimate and that we’re making noise in the conference.”
In the middle of its best season in four years, NU has been on the fringe of the AVCA poll all fall. Junior outside hitter Iwona Lodzik attributes this week’s votes to the Cats’ sweep of then-No. 15 Wisconsin on Oct. 23.
“We’re not surprised (about the votes), but we’re not going to settle,” Lodzik said.
As for Friday’s untelevised match against Ohio State, the Buckeyes are a perennially tough opponent for the Cats. Ohio State swept NU on Oct. 12, breaking the Buckeyes’ five-game conference losing streak and beginning a 4-1 run in Big Ten play.
“Now they’ve found their game,” Lodzik said. “But we’re still going to show them that we’re better.”
Indiana, on the other hand, comes to Evanston intent on revenge. The Cats beat the Hoosiers 3-2 in a lengthy battle in Bloomington, Ind., on Oct. 11. Adding to Indiana’s fury, the team lost a televised home match 3-1 to NU last year.
“They have the ammunition to avenge the home TV loss last year,” Grau said.
Lodzik said the two opponents this weekend play very different offenses and that NU will have to adapt to both. She added that Ohio State bases its entire offense around Stacey Gordon, the Big Ten leader in kills, while Indiana’s offense is spread out among its entire back line.
Saturday’s match is the only NU contest scheduled to be televised this season, but if the ratings are high, more games may be seen in living rooms around Chicago in the future.
“The more fans we get, the more we can convince the network that volleyball needs to be on TV,” Grau said.
Although the Cats have the fourth-largest volleyball venue in the Big Ten — with a capacity of 8,117 people — only a few hundred fans attend each match at Welsh-Ryan Arena. With Fox Sports televising NU’s home match, the team hopes to pack the stands with purple.
“We’re getting more fans than we used to,” Lodzik said. “I just hope (the TV cameras) show only the one section that’s full.”
Ohio St. (10-9, 4-6 Big Ten) at NU (13-9, 6-4)
7 p.m., today
Welsh-Ryan Arena
Indiana (15-7, 5-5) at NU
7 p.m., Saturday
Welsh-Ryan Arena
