It’s been 18 seasons in the making, but the Northwestern volleyball team finally has a shot at the NCAA tournament.
Six more regular-season matches stand in the way of a postseason berth for the Wildcats (14-12, 7-7 Big Ten), including this weekend’s two home events. NU faces Purdue (11-16, 1-13) tonight and Illinois (11-12, 5-9) on Saturday.
“It’s an attainable goal to beat these two teams,” NU assistant coach Meggan Kohnen said. “Our goal is to win and get into the tournament.”
The Cats’ coaching staff has emphasized the importance of this weekend’s matches, but it hasn’t really been necessary.
The passionate NU players are already set on doing whatever it takes to get to the 32-team tournament for the first time since 1984.
“I’m not happy unless we make the tournament,” right-side hitter Kelli Meyer said.
Even if the Cats finish the year with a winning overall record, they’re not guaranteed a spot in the tournament.
“History shows that teams finishing above .500 typically make the tournament,” Kohnen said. “But that’s not a sure thing.”
As a senior, the dream of competing with the best in the nation is on Meyer’s mind. She doesn’t want her collegiate career to end in the regular season.
“Coming here when the team was at the bottom of the standings and leaving making the tournament — that would tie everything together for me,” Meyer said. “To leave the team having accomplished that, I would feel like I’ve left a good legend.”
NU battled Purdue and Illinois in its first conference road trip of the year and beat both teams in five-game matches. This time around, NU is expecting two more tough nights.
“Both teams really pushed us at the beginning of the season,” Kohnen said. “This season, they’ve gone up and down in the rankings, but their results don’t show how good they are.”
Although Purdue currently stands last in the Big Ten, the Cats remember how the Boilermakers took them to five games back in September.
Since the Boilermakers came so close to winning the last time, the Cats believe the underdogs think they can return to Indiana this weekend with the victory.
“Purdue is coming in thinking they’re going to win, too,” Meyer said. “That makes it that much harder for us.”
The Fighting Illini’s Shelly O’Bryan is hot off a great performance against Purdue last weekend. In the win, the middle blocker hit a .682 percentage and posted 15 kills.
Unfortunately for the Illini, their leading hitter and starting middle blocker, Lisa Argabright, has been suffering from mononucleosis. Argabright has missed Illinois’ last four matches and will probably not play this weekend.
NU plays in the familiar setting of Welsh-Ryan Arena this weekend, and the Cats are counting on playing with a homecourt advantage.
“The girls are very optimistic about the crowd support,” Kohnen said. “(Students) should say ‘Hey, let’s try out a volleyball game’ and check out our fast-paced games.”
