Coach Tim Nollan has something brewing in Evanston.
After winning all three games of the weekend’s Buffalo Classic, Northwestern looked to finish off a sweep of the road trip as it faced Rhode Island on Monday.
The Wildcats (9-1, 0-0 Big Ten) handily defeated the Rams (2-8, 0-0 A10), winning 25-15, 25-16, 25-20. This is NU’s best start since 2022, when it went 11-1 to begin the season.
The first set started in a back-and-forth affair with the ’Cats holding a narrow 12-10 lead. Then the Rylen Reid takeover began. The senior outside hitter notched a kill and a block assist on the following two points, paving the way for a 12-3 NU scoring run in which Reid tallied a service ace and another kill. The run set up set point, and two points later, the ’Cats claimed the first set 25-15.
Rhode Island took control to start set two, claiming an early 4-2 lead. NU bounced back with Reid igniting a dominant 10-1 scoring run with two kills and capping it off with a service ace. Junior outside hitter Campbell Paris tallied two kills and two block assists during the run. After the ’Cats took a 14-7 lead, the Rams were unable to cut the deficit to fewer than seven.
Late in the set, Rhode Island had a 3-1 run to bring the score to 23-16. Looking to finish the set before the deficit got too small, senior outside hitter Kathryn Randorf recorded a kill and Rams’ setter Ema Stermenska set the ball into the net, sealing a 25-16 set for the ’Cats.
Despite a strong performance from the visitors in the first two sets, Rhode Island came out fighting hard in the third. The Rams didn’t allow NU to score more than two points consecutively throughout the first half of the set, and similarly to the first set, the ’Cats held a 12-10 lead. But benefiting from a string of service and attack errors, NU extended its lead to five.
Down the stretch, Rhode Island kept the score closer than it had the previous sets, but the ’Cats crept closer to the 25-point mark. Kills from Reid and Randorf brought NU to match point, holding just a four-point lead. On match point, Randorf set the ball to graduate student outside hitter Ayah Elnady, whose spike proved too powerful for the digging Rams. The ’Cats took the third and final set by a score of 25-20.
Reid notched a team-leading 11 kills, along with two aces and five digs. Paris finished the game with nine kills and three block assists, her fourth game with at least three blocks this season. As a team, NU posted a .405 hitting percentage, the squad’s highest in a game this season.
The ’Cats return home to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Thursday when they take on St. Thomas at 7 p.m.
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