Oct. 13, 2007

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Northwestern got several great individual performances Saturday night at Indiana, but could not put them together to snap its current seven-match skid in a 3-1 loss to the Hoosiers, 30-26, 30-26, 22-30, 30-27.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 10-9 overall on the year, 1-7 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers now are 13-7 on the season, 4-4 in the conference.

Game one was tight through the early going with neither team holding more than a three-point lead until an NU attack error gave IU a 21-17 advantage to force a Wildcats' timeout. Indiana continued to pull away, eventually building a seven-point lead, 27-20.

Northwestern then went on a 5-1 run to pull back within three, 28-25, after two kills each from Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) and Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) along with one kill from Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere), but it was not enough to pull off the comeback in a 30-26 game one loss.

Aldridge had six kills on eight swings for NU in game one.

Northwestern jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in game two thanks to a kill by Hyser and a block from Hyser and Anderson, but Indiana stormed back to take a 13-10 lead and force NU's first timeout of the game. The Wildcats immediately tied the score, 14-14, thanks to a block by Hyser and Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection), a kill from Glab and an ace by Hyser.

NU's run continued when an IU attack error gave the visitors an 18-15 lead. Both teams exchanged runs until Indiana knotted the score again, 25-25, then went on to win the second game, 30-26.

The Wildcats came out roaring in game three, getting kills from Aldridge, Hyser and Lindsay Kresch (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) during a 4-0 run to take a quick 9-4 lead and force an early Indiana timeout. Northwestern continued to push, making its advantage eight, 20-12, on another Kresch termination.

A trio of kills from Hyser accounted for three of NU's final four points in a 30-22 game-three win for the Wildcats.

Trailing 9-5 early in game four, Northwestern rocked out a 7-0 run to earn the lead for itself, 12-9. The run featured two kills and a solo block from Aldridge and a kill by Brittani Gray (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore). Indiana responded with a monster run of its own to claim a 19-15 lead, but NU again fought back to knot the score, 22-22.

Trailing by three, 26-23, several points later, NU got kills from Paulus and Hyser before the two combined on a block to again tie the score, 26-26, but Indiana scored three of the final four points to win game four, 30-27, and the match, 3-1.

Hyser finished with a season-best 18 kills and a fantastic .630 hitting percentage (18-1-27). She also led the 'Cats with six blocks. Fellow middle blocker Aldridge had a career-best 17 kills on a .400 percentage (17-3-35).

Libero Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) reached 30 digs for the fourth time in her career, finishing with an even 30 in the match.

Northwestern returns to action at 7 p.m. CT Friday, Oct. 19 against Minnesota at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

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