Ariel Baxterbeck Class: Senior Hometown: Menlo Park, Calif. High School: Castilleja Height: 6-0 Position: OH

Chan's Outlook: "I'm extremely excited to watch Ariel this season. She has been plagued by injuries her entire career, and this is the first time she has truly been pain-free. She's got some training and some conditioning back under her belt now, and I really think this will be a year of redemption for her. Ariel has been a great teammate, and along with Kate they are really focused on taking this program to where they envisioned it would be when they first walked in the doors."

2008: Had a breakthrough season for Northwestern, appearing in all 31 matches with 22 starts ... Registered personal season-bests in every statistical category ... One of only two Wildcats to record triple-digit kill (133) and dig (207) totals ... Put together arguably the best night of her career against Indiana (10/24), killing a career-high 16 balls on 41 attempts, tied her season-high with 16 digs and notched a career-high four blocks ... Had another big outing against Michigan (10/4), killing 10 balls on 20 attempts with no errors for a hitting percentage of .500 ... Also tallied five digs and a block ... Tallied 10 kills in the Wildcats' upset of 17th-ranked Illinois (10/17) while adding 15 digs and a career-high three assists ... Blocked a career-high three attempts against Ohio State (10/3) ... Started off the year with six kills on 20 attempts at Loyola Chicago (8/30) to go along with eight digs ... Notched a pair of kils as well as a pair of service aces and five digs vs. Illinois-Chicago (8/29) ... Recorded her first career block against Montana State (9/12)... Saw action in all three matches of the Wildcat Classic, with her most extensive against fourth-ranked UCLA (9/20) ... Tied a career-high with a pair of assists against the Bruins while setting a new season-high in digs with 16 ... Recorded her 100th career kill against Iowa (11/14) ... Had 11 kills, eight digs and a pair of services at Indiana (11/22) ... Notched six kills and added 11 digs against Purdue (11/28) ... Recorded double-digit kill totals in five matches ... Academic All-Big Ten.

2007: Appeared in 23 matches with three starts ... Served up a pair of aces along with seven digs against Illinois-Chicago (8/25) ... Compiled a season-high 11 digs at Loyola Marymount (8/31) ... Earned a start against No. 1 Penn State, then took over the libero position in game three to finish with 10 digs (11/9) ... Had 10 digs again in a four-game win over Ohio State (11/10) ... Academic All-Big Ten.

2006: Appeared in 26 matches, primarily substituting in to serve ... Had aces in all three matches at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Volleyball Challenge, and again served up aces in all three matches at the Wildcat Classic to ace in every one of her first six collegiate appearances ... Had two aces against Illinois (9/27) ... Reached double-digits in digs for the first time in her career with 10 at Michigan (10/6) ... Served up a pair of aces against No. 16 Ohio State (10/14) ... Raised season-high to three aces against Michigan (10/28) ... Started the first match of her career on Nov. 4 at Iowa, recording a career-best 17 digs ... Had 12 digs against No. 23 Purdue (11/17).

High School: Named to all-tournament team in 17-Open division at the 2005 Junior Olympics ... WBAL MVP in 2004 and 2005 ... Named team MVP in 2004 and 2005 ... First-team All-Central Coast Section in 2005 ... Second-team All-Central Coast Section in 2004 ... All-league in 2003 ... Ranked No. 53 on prepvolleyball.com "Senior Aces" list ... Volleyball Magazine "Fab 50" selection for the class of 2006 ... High school team won the Division 5 Central Coast-Section and NorCal championships and were finalists at the state level ... Named to state championship all-tournament team ... Four-time Palo Alto Weekly Player of the Week, two-time Palo Alto Daily News Player of the Week, two-time San Jose Mercury News Player of the Week and one-time San Francisco Chronicle Player of the Week ... Led high school team to NorCal semifinals in 2004 ... Posted 24 kills and hit .523 in 2004 NorCal semifinals ... High school team compiled a 134-25 record in four years, including a 47-1 WBAL record ... Named Castilleja High School Athlete of the Year in 2005-06 ... Club team claimed silver medal in 17-Open Division at the 2005 Junior Olympics and placed fifth in the 18-Open Division at the 2006 Junior Olympics ... Club team won SoCal and Far Western Qualifiers in 2005, and the Colorado Crossroads and Far Western qualifiers in 2006 ... National Merit Finalist and Cum Laude graduate.

Personal: Born Ariel Nicole Baxterbeck ... Daughter of Jane Baxter and Steve Beck ... Chose Northwestern over Rice, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgetown ... Sister Allison recently graduated from Northwestern ... Mother swam at UC Santa Barbara ... Major is environmental sciences.

Baxterbeck's Career Statistics

Baxterbeck's Career Highs