If you walk down the halls of Welsh-Ryan Arena, ignoring the men’s basketball team practicing on the main court, open a few doors, curtains and pirouette past a few oddly placed racks of basketball uniforms, you’ll see coach Keylor Chan preparing his team to run the volleyball gauntlet: playing two road games against two Big Ten teams in two states.
“We play back-to-back in Big Ten the whole year,” Chan said. “Playing in the Big Ten on the road is always tough.”
After practice, it is a bus, and then off on a three-day whirlwind of buses, gyms and volleyball.
First, NU plays No. 20 Michigan (18-6, 6-6 Big Ten) and then the team is off to Columbus on Saturday to face Ohio State (10-14, 1-11), whose only Big Ten win this season came at NU’s expense.
“If you can get a split, it’s a good Big Ten weekend,” Chan said. “If you can win both, it’s a great Big Ten weekend.”
Getting both wins would double the Cats’ conference total for the season, as it currently stands at 2-10 in conference play. But NU’s play has been on the upswing entering the second half of the Big Ten season. Coming off a three-set sweep of Michigan State last Saturday, the Cats are optimistic about their chances the rest of the way.
“We can go undefeated this second half, there’s no doubt,” said senior middle blocker Chelsy Hyser. “We’re a great team.”
With eight games remaining in the season, the Cats are confident in their chances to run the table to earn a postseason berth.
“The second half of the Big Ten is good for us because we know what these teams like to do and their tendencies,” Chan said. “We can build on last week by trying to maintain the same level of volleyball execution and continuing to play good volleyball.”
Specifically, Chan hopes to keep up the strong defense they have been playing recently – something Hyser contributed to with her team-high six blocks in the Michigan State game.
“We’ve always been kind of a team that’s driven defensively,” Chan said. “Blocking and defense behind the blocker are two things we’ve always emphasized, but are kind of overemphasizing now.”
The team is looking to the end of the season as a time to showcase this skill, and hopefully, make up for lost time – and losses – with a strong finish.
“The improvements we’ve made have shown,” Hyser said. “We just have to go out there and give our all every game and have no regrets.”
