After a six-match skid to start the season, Northwestern pulled off a 3-0 win against Northern Illinois Wednesday. 

The Wildcats (1-6, 0-0 Big Ten) found a groove in their well-rounded sweep of the Huskies (2-7, 0-0 MAC), tallying 40 kills, 12 blocks and eight service aces as a team. 

“I feel like throughout the season, every single game we played, we’ve just been that much closer,” graduate student setter Alexa Rousseau said. “So to finally close it out and kind of have things in place, just feels really good.” 

Carrying NU to their first win of the season was junior outside hitter Buse Hazan, who led the team in kills and hitting percentage at 12 and .529, respectively. Hazan, a transfer from South Florida, leads the team in kills this season. 

Rousseau fell just shy of a double-double, recording 17 assists and nine digs, alongside seven of her own kills. Defensively, junior middle blocker Kennedy Hill tallied a season-high eight blocks.

NU started the match with a 7-0 run, punctuated by two kills apiece by Hazan and junior outside hitter Kathryn Randorf. The teams traded points mid-set as the ’Cats committed attack and service errors. But a well-rounded effort by Hazan, Hill, Rousseau, graduate student middle blocker Sophia Summers and junior outside hitter Rylen Reid, who combined to score NU’s last nine points, was enough for NU to take the set 25-16.

“I think the biggest takeaway is that we have multiple pieces that can help carry the load,” coach Tim Nollan said. “It doesn’t have to be one player.” 

The second set started close, with errors plaguing both sides of the net. The ’Cats got the offense going with kills from Hill, Rousseau and Hazan. NIU struggled to recover, tallying 11 attack errors throughout the set to NU’s six. Despite a couple more errors by the ’Cats, NU took the set 25-18.

The Huskies started the third set hot, leading 5-3 early, helped by three attack errors by the ’Cats. But NU clawed back with an 8-0 run, and with the help of three service aces by sophomore libero Drew Wright and two kills by Hill, the ’Cats sealed their first win of 2024.

Despite the win, NU is still adjusting to yet another change: the team’s rotational system. After four years with Rousseau as the team’s primary setter, the ’Cats are running a 6-2, a system where two setters are on the court at once — Rousseau with either junior setter Lauren Carter or redshirt sophomore setter Sienna Noordermeer. The player rotated in the back row acts as a setter, and the one in the front hits.

“It’s tough,” Nollan said. “You know, all of them are competitors. They want to play, but they also just want the team to win, so they’re great about it. I think it’s more stressful on the coaches, me in particular, trying to figure out how we’re going to do it and who’s going to go that night.” 

NU will have the chance to further settle into the season and defend its win against NIU Friday in DeKalb.

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