After a successful preseason and two heartbreaking conference losses, the Wildcats garnered their first Big Ten win against Illinois on Friday in an intense match. But, they couldn’t accomplish the perfect weekend they said they needed to stay competitive in the conference with a 3-0 loss to No. 21 Purdue on Sunday.

“(Sunday) we didn’t fight back when we needed to,” junior middle blocker Julie Purcell said. “(It wasn’t) at all how we hoped it would be.”

In its first five-game match of the season, Northwestern traded games with Illinois (10-5, 1-3 Big Ten), before the Cats were able to break through in the deciding game.

Coach Keylor Chan said the win put the Cats in a good position and served as a team motivator.

“It’s huge to come out and win on the road,” he said.

“We’re definitely back to the way we played during preseason,” senior libero Christie Gardner added. “All of our skills were on-point tonight.”

At Purdue’s Mackey Arena on Sunday, 8,512 fans watched NU fall to the Boilermakers. Purdue promoted the game as a “Pack Mackey” event in hopes of breaking the NCAA volleyball attendance record of 13,194. Although the crowd wasn’t one for the books, Chan said playing with so many fans present was exhilarating.

“This is why you play volleyball – in an arena with 7,000