More than 4,000 fans watched in awe as the Northwestern volleyball team took the first two games of Friday night’s conference showdown against No. 23 Wisconsin. The Badgers second-largest home crowd this season watched helplessly as its team committed 15 service errors, including both game winners.
But the Badger faithful would breathe a collective sigh of relief as Wisconsin (10-3, 2-0 Big Ten) did an about-face and took the final three games to win the match 3-2 (27-30, 27-30, 30-26, 30-15, 15-12).
The Badgers built up early leads in the first two games, only to watch the Wildcats claw back and eventually win both 30-27. Despite evntually earning the win, Wisconsin coach Pete Waite said he was surprised at how badly his team played at the outset, calling the performance “some of the worst volleyball I’ve seen from [them] in a long time”.
Senior Iwona Ludzik led NU in the losing effort with 22 kills and 23 digs. Classmate Erica Lange added 13 kills, but as a team the Cats were held to a .133 hitting percentage.
“I feel like we matched up with Wisconsin,” head coach Keylor Chan said. “But obviously they were better that night. The loss speaks for itself.”
The match began to slip away from NU late in the third game. Wisconsin built up a six point lead four times, and eventually won the game 30-26.
Wisconsin played strong both offensively and defensively, and gained momentum as the match wore on. The Badgers held NU to a mere 15 points in the fourth game. Anchored by junior Aubrey Meierotta, Wisconsin built an early lead and never looked back.
Meierotta, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, recorded 24 kills and six blocks. As a team, the Badgers were able to shut down NU’s attack, netting a season high 13 blocks.
“Everyone is disappointed,” Chan said. “We’ve worked really hard, but we still haven’t gotten to the point where we can beat a team like Wisconsin. We’re in the exact same scenario we were in last season.”
The Cats will try to regroup for this weekend as they go on the road to face Iowa and defending Big Ten champion Minnesota. All three teams are playing pivotal matches after each losing their first two conference games.
Even though it is still very early in the season, this weekend could make or break NU. Two wins could get the Cats back in the running, but two losses would land it in last place.
