Though the Wildcats are on their longest winning streak since 1988 and in a good position to snag a spot in the NCAA tournament, they aren’t letting their four consecutive wins distract them from this weekend’s matches.

“We’re all really excited about how well we’ve been doing, but the wins this weekend are just as important,” sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Anderson said.

The Cats play Michigan (13-12, 7-9 Big Ten) on Friday and Michigan State (12-14, 5-11 Big Ten) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena. In the first half of the conference season, Northwestern defeated Michigan 3-0 but lost to Michigan State 3-2.

“Both the teams we’re playing this weekend are good, and it will probably come down to who’s fighting the hardest,” Anderson said.

Middle blocker Julie Purcell said the midseason turnaround is mainly due to mindset rather than major changes in strategy.

“We just knew we needed to go out and start playing,” Purcell said. “We knew we could do a lot better than in the first half of the Big Ten.”

Anderson agreed that persistence has been a large part of their success in the last couple of weeks.

“We didn’t let up,” Anderson said. “We played hard in a lot of close games. Our momentum has carried us through.”

Just three weeks ago, NU’s tournament hopes seemed grim, but now the Cats are optimistic that if they keep playing well, they’ll make it.

“(We’re focusing on) a strong finish to the Big Ten season and getting ready for the NCAA (tournament). (We want to) secure a spot in the tournament,” Purcell said. “I think we have a great shot.”

The Cats feel that to finish strong, they need to keep their focus and play exactly as they have in the past four matches.

“We need to stay consistent with ball control and keep swinging hard,” Anderson said.

Reach Annie Martin at [email protected]