Playing its final two road games of the regular season, then-No. 25 Northwestern looked to fine tune its game and build momentum heading into December’s NCAA Tournament.
Instead, they found only frustration, losing to No. 7 Penn State on Friday before dropping their next match to Ohio State on Saturday in a weekend in which they failed to win a single set.
“It’s disappointing for everyone,” coach Keylor Chan said. “Obviously when you lose two, no one is happy.”
Opening the weekend against the Nittany Lions on Friday, the Wildcats hoped to crash Penn State’s senior night party and exact revenge after getting swept by the Nittany Lions earlier in the season.
In the opening set, Penn State built up a quick advantage, winning the first three points and expanding that into an 11-7 lead midway through the frame. NU fought back, however, going on a run of their own to pull within one point at 20-21. But the Nittany Lions were too much to overcome, and the Cats dropped the final four points and the frame 20-25.
The teams played to a tie early in the second before Penn State went on another run, establishing a 17-11 lead over NU. They did not take the pressure off the Cats, running the lead up to 24-16. Although NU attempted to rally, it was not enough to stop the Nittany Lions form securing the second 25-19.
The Cats fought off Penn State as best they could in the third frame, earning eight separate ties before finally falling to the Nittany Lions for good, 25-20.
In the loss, senior middle blocker Naomi Johnson posted nine kills and four blocks, while freshman outside hitter Stephanie Holthus (7 kills, 8 blocks) and senior outside hitter Sabel Moffett (5 kills, 7 blocks) also performed well offensively.
“On the road, it’s hard to win in the Big Ten,” Chan said. “Penn State is very good. We actually played them well. They’re the number one team in the conference.”
The Cats would fall to lesser competition the next night, however.
Playing its last road game of the season Saturday night, NU hoped to salvage the weekend and return to Evanston on a positive note.
Ohio State, playing on its senior night, gained the momentum early, winning the first eight points of the match. The Cats fought back but never came close enough to scare the Buckeyes, who eventually took the first set 25-17.
The second frame played out much like the first as the Buckeyes built up a 15-4 lead over NU and cruised to an easy 25-14 set victory.
The Cats staged a last-ditch effort in the third with Ohio State up 24-20. NU fought off three set points to tie the game at 24-24 before being edged out by the Buckeyes 28-26.
Senior outside hitter Christina Kaelin led the Cats with 11 kills, and Moffett aided the losing effort with nine of her own.
With the back-to-back losses, NU dropped out of the coaches’ poll for the first time since they gained a spot in October.
The Cats return to Welsh-Ryan Arena to finish off their regular season against No. 20 Michigan and Michigan State this weekend as they look to finish strong before postseason play.
“I don’t know how much we need to change,” Chan said. “We have a chance to make the tournament, we just need to play good volleyball.”
