Leah Delcourt can’t seem to catch a break.
The sophomore middle blocker recently aggravated a stress fracture in her left leg and will be unable to play for at least two weeks, Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan said.
Delcourt’s leg injury is the third in a series of ailments that have plagued her career. She was forced to redshirt her freshman year due to a stress fracture in her left fibula that she sustained in the summer of 2000. Last season, Delcourt separated her shoulder in a collision with teammate Cassie McKnight and had to sit on the sideline for a few weeks.
Because this was supposed to be her first healthy season, Delcourt said she was especially disappointed about her latest leg trouble. She attributes the stress fracture to hard practices and the normal wear-and-tear on her leg.
“I’ve been thrown in the middle lately and have had a lot of playing time,” Delcourt said. “And I’ve been walking around on it a lot.”
Chan said he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get Delcourt back on the court.
“We’ll have to watch (her leg),” Chan said. “We’ll make changes where we have to.”
LEADER OF THE PACK: Even though the Wildcats (13-11, 6-6 Big Ten) have dropped their last three games and slipped to sixth place in the conference, they are excited about the strong performance of junior Erika Lange this season.
“Erika led our team,” Chan said, after Lange posted 24 kills in Friday’s loss to Ohio State. “She’s been playing really well lately.”
In NU’s home loss to Indiana on Saturday, Lange recorded her 1,000th career kill. She is only the 16th person in school history to reach the milestone. The last NU player to accumulate 1,000 kills was Carmen Burbach in 2000.
Lange’s kills-per-game average of 4.27 puts her in third place in the conference.
But this isn’t her only area of expertise. She also posts a consistently high number of blocks in each match, with a 1.51 blocks-per-game average — a number good enough for second in the Big Ten and No. 15 in the nation.
Hitting is another aspect of the game in which Lange has been impressive. Her .365 hitting percentage ranks fourth in the conference and No. 29 nationally. If she keeps up these numbers, Lange is in a good position to break the school single-season hitting percentage record of .306.
MISSING IN ACTION: Don’t look for junior Molly Kamp at volleyball practice — she’s not there. Don’t bother checking for her name on the roster — it’s not there either.
So where is she?
Chan had no comment regarding Kamp’s status on the team and would only say that her situation is pending.
Kamp, an outside hitter, was team captain and started in all but one of the Cats’ games last year. This season, she has been restricted to the bench and has seen only limited play.
