Oct. 4, 2002

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) recorded 20 kills and hit a career-high .607 as the Northwestern women's volleyball team improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten with a 30-24, 30-23, 30-21 victory over Iowa. The win gives the Wildcats their first 3-0 start in conference play since 1988.

NU (10-5 overall) hit .398 as a team, the sixth-highest single-game mark since 1985. Iwona Lodzik (Tarnobrzeg, Poland/Tarnobrzeg) posted 10 kills and Sarah Ballog (Coto de Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) added eight while hitting .500. The Hawkeyes (6-7, 0-3 Big Ten) hit .118 as a team.

Northwestern trailed 3-2 in the opening game, but scored the next five points to take a 7-3 lead. The Cats' lead was 18-12, but Iowa rallied with four straight points to make it 18-16. However, the Hawkeyes never got any closer, as NU scored five the game's final seven points.

The Wildcats held a 16-13 lead in the second game when they slowly pulled away from the Hawkeyes with a 6-3 run to lead 22-16. Iowa was never able to cut the deficit to under five the rest of the way. Northwestern hit .455 in the game compared to .000 for the Hawkeys.

Lange recorded seven kills in each of the first two games, while hitting .684.

NU used the momentum to finish off the sweep in Game 3. Iowa jumped out to an early 8-5 lead, but the Wildcats went on a 7-1 run to take a 12-9 lead. Leading 17-14, the Cats distanced themselves from the visitors by scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 26-16 lead.

Northwestern will return to action at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon when it hosts fellow Big Ten leader and No. 6 ranked Minnesota.