When asked what expectations he has for this season, Northwestern volleyball coach Keylor Chan didn’t hesitate for a second.
“We want to win the Big Ten,” the fourth-year coach said.
“And we want to at least get to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.”
The quest to bring a Big Ten title to Evanston begins tonight when the Wildcats take on Illinois at Welsh-Ryan Arena. On paper, the goals Chan has set for his team may seem a bit lofty.
Last year NU had a 10-10 conference mark and finished in sixth place. This year the team was picked to finish eighth on the Big Ten coaches poll.
But in the last three years Chan transformed the Cats from a five-win team to a 17-win team that received a berth in the NCAA tournament.
After having their nine-match winning streak snapped Saturday against Florida, the Cats (9-3) will have the opportunity to play spoilers when it opens up conference play against Illinois (9-3).
Illinois started last season ranked No. 19, but early losses — including two to the Cats — dropped them from the polls. The Fighting Illini finished the season 7-13 in the Big Ten and in ninth place.
This season Illinois has gotten off to a very good start, and will be eyeing to exact revenge on NU.
The Illini’s most recent match was a five game cat fight with Butler on Saturday. Illinois came out on top, extending its winning streak to eight matches.
With Saturday’s loss, the Wildcats relquenshed the Big Ten’s longest win streak to Illinois. This, along with the fact that the two teams are in-state rivals, has some NU players placing extra signifigace on the match.
“We really want the win,” senior Iwona Ludzik said. “Not only is it our first home conference game, but the the outcome can help predict how well we do this year.”
But not everyone on the team is as discrimantory about beating opponents.
“I wanna beat them just as bad as any other team we play this season,” junior Drew Robertson said. “We just want to take care of businessand do what we do. Hopefully we can just go out and kill them.”
For NU to be sucessful, Chan said it’s important for the Cats to play their game and not let the size of Illinois dominate.
“We have to have good ball control on our side,” he said. “If we want to win, we’ll have to utilize our speed.”
The Cats might be speedy, but size could be an issue as well. Minnesota is the preseason favorite to win the conference, and it is no surprise that it boasts five starters over six foot.
Only three NU starters are 6-footers.
“We have a great team,” Chan said. “But potential and execution are two completely different things.”
