With a four-point deficit in Saturday’s fourth set, graduate student setter Alexa Rousseau jumped to meet the ball.

Instead of dispatching it cleanly to one of her hitters, she took one hand and swatted the ball over the net, ambushing Rutgers’ defenders and tallying her fourth kill of the night. 

“I think I’ve been an offensive setter, and that was my identity for a while,” Rousseau said after Northwestern’s Oct. 4 loss to then-No. 10 Purdue. “So it’s something that I can see, and I kind of have an eye for now.” 

The surprise attack, besides being a Rousseau signature play, was part of the Wildcats’ (5-21, 3-15 Big Ten) comeback attempt against the Scarlet Knights (6-23, 1-17 Big Ten) Saturday. In her Welsh-Ryan Arena finale, Rousseau dished out assist after assist, with the ’Cats just falling short of pushing the match to five.

Despite a season of transition and a projected sub-.200 finish, Rousseau has acted as the central cog in NU’s lineup this year. The Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, native leads the ’Cats in assists with 561. She is second on the team in kills (179) and in digs (222). 

“Alexa has been a staple in this program for five years,” coach Tim Nollan said. “You know her statistics … She’s just been a loyal, tireless worker that has dedicated her collegiate career to Northwestern athletics.” 

Rousseau’s impact was first felt in Evanston in the abbreviated 2020-21 season.

The 6-foot-3-inch setter chose NU over Stanford, UCLA, Michigan, Florida and USC and immediately made her mark as a freshman. Five matches into her collegiate career, Rousseau tallied 55 assists and finished the season with a team-leading 260.

Rousseau only improved in her sophomore campaign. Not only did she lead the team in assists again, but she tallied her career-best 1,181 throughout the season. Her emerging offensive prowess also revealed itself through a .379 hitting percentage.

Although she missed 10 games due to injury as a junior, Rousseau still led the team in assists. She repeated this feat in her senior season, ending fifth in the conference. 

In that fourth year with the ’Cats, Rousseau started all 30 matches, tallying 11 double-doubles and eclipsing 40 assists in 10 matches.

While Rousseau’s final season in Evanston intersected with the first year of Nollan’s NU rebuild, the program-building coach has frequently cited his starting setter’s cruciality to the ’Cats. 

“Alexa is statistically our best setter,” Nollan said in October. “We had the best connection off of her, but she’s also one of our better point scorers. So trying to find ways to maximize her.” 

This season, Rousseau climbed to fifth place in program history in assists and is seventh in career assists per set with 8.61. She also has a career .280 hitting percentage, slotting her in at ninth all-time.

But after five years as the ’Cats playmaker, Rousseau has begun to prepare the next generation. She worked closely with her fellow setters junior Lauren Carter and redshirt sophomore Sienna Noordermeer this year.

The two will look to fill Rousseau’s lofty shoes come fall 2025.

“She’s taken me under her wing, and I think we learn from each other,” Carter said. “I think that’s very rare, especially with the competition that comes in the same position group. So she’s amazing.” 

Despite the loss, Rousseau was instrumental in Saturday’s match. She tallied her 11th double-double of the season on 30 assists and a season-high 18 digs. Rousseau also added another four kills.

Rousseau will wrap up her collegiate career in her home state with matches at Michigan State and Michigan. 

But her legacy at NU, something Rousseau said she has pondered since the start of her final season, will endure. 

“Hopefully, when I leave here at the end of this they all are in the best version of themselves,” she said on Sept. 18. “And I can say that I had a piece of that.” 

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