Both of the Wildcats’ first two Big Ten wins were five-set nail biters at Welsh-Ryan Arena this weekend. What Northwestern’s wins really had in common was a whole lot of Sabel Moffett.
“Sabel Moffett was really the turning point for us,” said coach Keylor Chan of the junior middle blocker. “Everyone really fulfilled their role to let her score points for us and be successful out on the court.”
Moffett knocked down 15 kills in the win over Purdue on Saturday and followed that up with a career-high 24 kills in the win over Indiana on Sunday. But Moffett wouldn’t take all of the credit for the team’s consecutive five-set wins.
“Overall, we’re beginning to get everybody involved, which make it harder for other teams to judge us,” Moffett said.
Losing 13-10 in the second set against Indiana, Moffett added five of her nine kills in the set to turn the momentum and help NU (11-7, 2-4 Big Ten) clinch its first set of the game.
“This year, you are really seeing the culmination of Sabel’s three years of hard work,” Chain said. “You are getting to see her raw ability and her volleyball ability come through.”Fellow junior middle blocker Naomi Johnson also came up with big kills on the weekend, notching 13 kills against Indiana (13-7, 2-4) and matching Moffett’s 15 against Purdue (9-8, 1-5).
“It’s no secret that our middles make our team go,” said Chan, who notched his 150th career win Saturday. “Getting the ball to them all weekend was really important to our wins.”
The team’s ball control was aided by a mix of freshmen and seniors. Senior libero Kate Nobilio notched 43 digs on the weekend, and Ariel Baxterbeck added 27 digs on top of 11 kills on the weekend. New to the mix was freshman Julie Chin, who helped steer the third set of the match against Purdue in the Cats’ favor thanks to a string of strong serves, including her first ace of the season.
“We took Julie out of a potential redshirt year because we needed her ability,” Chan said. “She played really well, and was one of the young kids who helped the older kids to do their best.”
Redshirt freshman Kathryn Chrystal added nine blocks and eight kills on the weekend and freshman outside hitter Susan Oxnard contributed some back row play for the Cats.
“We really had so much better ball control,” junior setter and floor captain Elyse Glab said. “And that sort of passing just made my job really fun.”
The team’s first two conference wins lifted NU out of the last spot in the Big Ten standings.”This could definitely be a big turning point for us,” Glab said. “We came out and really showed both skill and confidence, and now we will have even more confidence heading into this week’s games.”
Chan said this weekend’s wins were not only important for the standings, but also provided good lessons that the team can take into the gym and practice.
“You can’t grow as much when you win in three sets,” Chan said. “Five sets give you plenty of experience.”
