Brittney Aldridge’s 13th kill was a little more special than usual Friday night.
The sophomore middle blockerdrove home the spike to secure Northwestern’s 3-2 upset win against No. 15 Purdue in the fifth and final game before a crowd of 787.
The point ended an especially intense tiebreaker game, and the excitement in the players and spectators reflected the relief in the win.
The Wildcats went on to finish the weekend 2-0 and jumped from ninth place to sixth in the Big Ten.
NU (14-10, 5-9 Big Ten) still has a long way to go to qualify for the NCAA tournament, but the win provides the team with a wave of positive energy.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” coach Keylor Chan said. “Even if we win four more, there are no guarantees. We just have to do the best we can each match and worry about what the (selection) committee thinks at the end of the year. If we can perform like this the rest of the year, we might have a good shot.”
According to Chan, the Cats need to win at least four of their last six matches in order to have a good chance of going to the NCAA tournament. Winning three could get the Cats a bid and five would almost promise NU a spot.
Northwestern beat Purdue (21-4, 10-4 Big Ten) 3-2 on Friday and Illinois (13-12, 4-10 Big Ten) 3-1 on Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena, improving to .
The Cats lost their first two games to Purdue (21-4, 10-4) but came back and won the last three. NU was especially energetic in the third game, recording almost as many digs and kills in the third game than in games one and two combined.
“We started off a little shaky, but in games three, four and five, we just came out and played with a lot of heart – the hardest we’ve played all year,” sophomore outside hitter Courtnie Paulus said. “If we want to go to the tournament, then that’s the kind of team we need to be during the season.”
The fifth game was especially intense as the score remained very close until the Cats led 13-11, eventually winning 15-12.
“Finally, it’s all together. We’re finally there,” Aldridge said. “We can beat anybody now.”
Chan said well-roundedness was crucial to the Cats’ second win against a ranked opponent this season. Although NU isn’t particularly strong in any one area, they were able to combine solid efforts of blocking and passing on defense and hitting and setting on offense.
“We’re a team that has to have all skills,” Chan said. “We’re not good enough with any one, but when we put them all together, we’re pretty good.”
The Cats kept their momentum going with a 3-1 win against Illinois (13-12, 4-10) on Saturday. NU came out especially strong, recording 18 kills in the first game alone. The Cats lost the second game but bounced back to take the third and fourth.
Juniors Lauren Greenwood and Julie Purcell agreed it was improvement in the mental aspects of volleyball rather than actual skills that allowed the Cats to win this weekend.
“I really think our skills are there every time,” Greenwood said. “It’s staying focused, staying consistent. That’s a huge part of it. We did that this weekend, which is a huge step for us.”
The team’s focus is evidenced through the minimal errors committed during the match. The Cats had no blocking errors and just three serve-receive errors. NU did have 12 serving errors, but four were from sophomore Lindsay Anderson. Anderson made up for the mistakes. though, with her 23 kills.
Chan stressed the need to enjoy the wins but said NU still has a lot of things to work on before next weekend’s road games against Minnesota and Iowa.
“I think we’re going to work on some tactical things that we struggled with tonight and continue to improve at the net. Our passing and defense has been pretty consistent all year. When we play well at the net we have a chance to really play at a high level and beat some really good teams,” Chan said. “Our setting was very good this weekend, too. Our setters made some excellent decisions.”
Despite the difficult road ahead, Greenwood is optimistic about her team’s chances.
“I think we’ll win all of (the last six games),” Greenwood said. “I have confidence that we will come out, and we will win every game because we know we’re good enough to. We believe in ourselves, we believe in each other and that’s huge. I really think that we have a really, really good shot.”
Reach Annie Martin at [email protected].
