With its first home win since Sept. 17, Northwestern got a much-needed bode of confidence and reason to celebrate last weekend.
The Wildcats bested Indiana 3-1 on Saturday, improving their record to 11-7, 2-6 Big Ten.
Coach Keylor Chan said the win was “a breath of fresh air” for the team, which had previously lost four games in a row to ranked opponents.
“What we worked on in practice this last week really transferred over into our playing,” junior setter Lauren Greenwood said. “We worked really hard in practice this week, and it showed. We didn’t let a ball drop that normally we would.”
The Cats won games one, two and four 30-21, 30-20, and 30-21. NU executed 69 kills during the match, compared to Indiana’s 49. The Cats also had the edge on defense, recording 57 digs, while Indiana only had 48.
Junior middle blocker Julie Purcell led NU’s offense with 16 kills, while junior middle blocker Cassie McLaughlin recorded 15 kills and a hitting percentage of .619. Senior libero Christie Gardner had 16 digs to lead NU’s defense. Indiana topped the Cats only in serving errors and blocking.
“We worked a lot on covering, which we executed very well tonight,” McLaughlin said. “We hit high shots against a big blocking team, and it worked out well.”
The low point of the match for NU occurred in the third game. The Cats recorded just 11 kills, while Indiana executed 18. The Hoosiers also took six of their 10 blocks during game three.
“In games one, two and four, we were executing at a pretty high level. In game three, we didn’t pass very well. And that’s the difference – we’re a team where everything’s based on our ball control,” Chan said. “When we have good ball control, we’re pretty good. If we don’t, we struggle. Tonight we got a win because we had better ball control than Indiana.”
The Cats feel in order to win against Michigan and Michigan State this weekend, they can’t afford to have any “slow” moments.
“We need to eliminate the lull, like in game three. We can’t have a slip-up (like that),” McLaughlin said. “We just need to take them and put them away.”
The Cats are currently tied with Illinois and Michigan State for second-to-last place in the Big Ten, but Chan feels the Cats could still turn their season around.
“(Indiana’s) not as good as the top-three teams in the league – Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin – no one is, I don’t think.” Chan said. “But any of the teams in the five-to-eleven range can win on any night. We’re one of those teams right now and we’re working to get better.”
Reach Annie Martin at [email protected]
