After a convincing win over Purdue Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, Northwestern volleyball coach Keylor Chan said he was “very concerned” about a let down in Saturday’s match against Indiana.
Turns out, he had reason to be.
Despite beating Indiana in almost every statistical category, the Wildcats lost in the only column that mattered — the score. NU fell 3-2 (29-31, 30-22, 30-28, 27-30, 15-17) in front of a crowd of 648 enthused by the NU band and Fox Sports Chicago television cameras.
The loss came on the heels of one of the team’s better all-around performances the night before, when it defeated Purdue 30-22, 30-27, 18-30, 30-24.
“There’s not a word that can describe how we’re feeling right now,” senior Leah Delcourt said after the Indiana match. “It’s awful, I never want to play like that again. We definitely let one get away.”
The Cats were led by freshman Lindsay Anderson, who drilled four of her team-leading 19 kills in a 9-2 run to begin the match. When Indiana (7-12, 1-7 Big Ten) tried to rally late in the first game, the Cats turned to their most consistent hitter all weekend, freshman Stephanie Jurivich, who hammered one of her 13 kills to give NU a 29-22 advantage.
After winning the first and third games, NU (7-11, 2-6) seemed to have control. But the only consistent thing the team did after that was give the Hoosiers opportunities to get back in the game.
“I hope our team hurts after this,” Chan said. “It should hurt because emotionally you put so much into it, so when you come so close and then lose, it’s important to learn from it. But at the same time, you can’t let it linger for a week.
“The only thing we can do is learn from it and move on, but it should sting. It should definitely sting.”
NU lost the fourth game on a botched play between the team’s two seniors. Co-captain Drew Robertson set the ball for Delcourt, but Delcourt jumped a bit early and watched the ball fall to the ground, tying the match at two.
“We just didn’t really connect,” said Robertson, who had an otherwise great match, recording her first triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 57 assists and 27 digs.
The Cats fell apart at the start of game five. NU dug itself into a 6-1 hole as four players committed a total of five errors.
But after using its second timeout while trailing 11-6, NU mounted a furious rally to bring the count to 14-11. At 14-12, the Cats trusted the serve to junior co-captain Christie Gardner, who propelled the team to a 15-14 lead.
At that count, NU’s Anderson drilled a ball that barely sailed over the end line, prompting Chan to leap off the bench.
After two and a half hours of nerve-wracking volleyball, the decisive game was knotted at 15.
Indiana then recorded two straight service aces — the second one hit the top of the net and plopped in front of freshman Courtnie Paulus — to win the game and match.
“We didn’t do the little things right. Indiana did when it mattered, and that’s why they won,” Chan said. “We definitely didn’t have the composure and confidence that we had (against Purdue), and there’s really no explanation for that. Each player has to find that within themselves.”
Although the match against Purdue (10-7, 3-4) was less dramatic, the Cats got a breakout performance from Jurivich. The freshman blasted 17 kills while earning a .483 hitting percentage.
The Cats erased several Purdue leads in the match with a spread attack and a solid defensive performance. Four NU players recorded at least 10 digs.
The match ended on a kill from Paulus, who recorded nine total. Fellow freshman Anderson had 13 kills.
