It’s not over yet.
The Northwestern volleyball team, still on cloud nine after Saturday’s victory over then-No. 17 Penn State, has two regular-season matches remaining on its schedule.
The Wildcats (17-13, 10-8 Big Ten) already have clinched a winning overall record and at least a .500 conference mark, but they aren’t finished refuting their critics, who, in the preseason poll, picked NU to finish eighth in the Big Ten.
“We have to prove that we’re an elite team,” NU head coach Keylor Chan said. “And elite teams can’t take days off.”
While their classmates head home for Thanksgiving break, the Cats will spend their holiday on the road. NU faces Michigan State on Friday and Michigan on Saturday.
What’s weighing on the Cats’ minds even more than their final two matches is the prospect of making the NCAA tournament.
The tournament invitations, which go to 32 squads, will be announced live on ESPNews at 6 p.m. Sunday, and the Cats plan on watching it together in Evanston.
The Big Ten traditionally has sent six of 11 teams to the NCAA tournament. With NU currently tied with Michigan State for fifth place, the Cats are in good position for their first invitation since 1984 — if history repeats itself.
For the second time this season, NU received votes this week in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 poll.
The Cats’ 16 votes might be a good sign that others in the volleyball world are taking note of NU’s progress before the tournament invitations are announced.
Because the Cats are in a dead heat in the standings with their Friday opponent, that match is particularly important.
“We definitely need to play hard in our last two games,” senior middle blocker Sarah Ballog said. “We don’t want to be worried come Sunday.”
Michigan State — which outranks NU in average kills, assists, blocks, digs and hitting percentage — should prove to be the more challenging opponent of the weekend.
The Spartans (18-10, 10-8) also accumulated seven more votes than the Cats in the AVCA poll this week and boast one of this week’s Big Ten Players of the Week in sophomore outside hitter Kim Schram.
Schram broke her personal record for kills last weekend — twice. She recorded 26 in the Spartans’ win against Illinois and 32 in their victory over Purdue.
As for Michigan (15-13, 9-9), the Wolverines are coming off an unsuccessful road trip, in which they lost two matches against teams lower in the standings.
The Wolverines fell to Purdue and Illinois last weekend, dropping to seventh place in the conference.
But Michigan has a definite asset in senior Katrina Lehman, who averages 1.41 blocks per game, not far behind NU junior Erika Lange, who tops the conference with 1.47.
Michigan also ranks fourth in Big Ten hitting percentage with .241, marginally better than NU’s .206.
Although the Cats still have to get past Michigan and Michigan State before they can celebrate a chance at the postseason, securing their winning record has brought them new confidence.
“We played with a lot of heart and passion to get to where we are,” senior right-side hitter Brandy Stohl said. “We’re definitely more relaxed now.”
