Julie Chin has been a critical part of Northwestern’s accomplishments the past four seasons.
With 1,360 digs over the course of her career, the senior libero from Naperville, Ill., is ranked fifth in school history and will be remembered long after she leaves the Wildcats. Even though nostalgia is slowly starting to creep up on her with NU’s regular season coming to a close, Chin’s main concern right now is for the Cats to win this weekend and take advantage of their chance to make the NCAA tournament.
“I am just excited because this is a great opportunity,” Chin said. “Our goal is to make the NCAA (tournament), and this is just another way to do so. That is how I am looking at it.”
After losing to No. 2 Penn State (25-2, 15-1 Big Ten) 3-0 on the road last weekend, NU will return to Welsh-Ryan Arena to take on Michigan (21-9, 9-7) Friday before playing Michigan State (21-7, 9-7) Saturday.
“Our expectation is to play the best volleyball we’ve played and to beat Michigan and Michigan State,” freshman defensive specialist Abbie Kraus said.
The Cats had mixed results against both teams when they played earlier in the year, taking down the then-No. 25 Spartans, 3-1, in East Lansing, Mich., and losing to the Wolverines 3-0 in three closely contested sets.
NU’s past play against both opponents gives the team some confidence heading into the upcoming matches, but the Cats understand they cannot just rely on past success to win this weekend, several players said.
“You know it’s hard to beat a team twice,” Kraus said. “Were going to have to go out there and execute just like we did last time.”
Once again the Cats face a critical weekend for their season with a must-win mindset. Currently ninth in the Big Ten, NU needs two or three wins to be a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. And with only four games left in the regular season including the season-finale against No. 9 Nebraska (20-5, 12-4), getting a sweep at home this weekend is vital.
Coach Keylor Chan said the best way for the team to pick up wins in these matches is to not worry about the implications of each match.
“We know it (the opportunity) exists so there’s no point in talking about it,” Chan said. “Really we just need to cut loose and play care free and know that we’re good enough. If we can do the things that we know we’re capable of doing, we’ll live with the results that happen.”
Unfortunately for the Cats, Welsh-Ryan Arena has been one of the team’s biggest nemeses this season. While NU has been able to split every road trip this season excluding last week’s losses to No.15 Ohio State (20-8, 11-5) and Penn State, the Cats home record is 4-6, including a 1-6 home record during Big Ten play.
But the Cats said they aren’t concerned about their home record this weekend. Instead they’re focusing on simply playing their game of volleyball and letting the results speak for themselves.
“I feel great.” Chan said. “We’re due. We’ll just play the percentages.”
