After a hard-fought battle against No. 3 Penn State, Northwestern finally emerged victorious against Iowa.
For the first time in nearly a month, the Northwestern Wildcats are back in the win column.
The ‘Cats (5-17, 3-11 B1G) completed a relatively productive week amid what has been a tough conference stretch this year. They took No. 3 Penn State to four sets in a loss on Friday, and they followed that up by defeating Iowa 3-1 on Sunday. In doing so, Northwestern snapped its six-game losing streak, completing its season sweep of the Hawkeyes.
Welsh-Ryan Arena was jumping on Friday night against the Nittany Lions, and the ‘Cats gave Penn State a run for its money. Buse Hazan led the way for NU — appearing unstoppable with a whopping 19 kills — and Alexa Rousseau added 23 assists in a match where Northwestern’s chemistry seemed better than it had for quite some time.
For the No. 3 Nittany Lions, Jess Mruzik had 21 kills, providing a dominant performance throughout the match. Ava Falduto and Gillian Grimes held down the back row, combining for 47 of the team’s 69 digs.
The ‘Cats kept things close for quite a while on Friday, and although they trailed for most of the first set, they took their first lead by a margin of 20-19 after a kill from Kennedy Hill. Still, Penn State had the edge at 23-22, but Northwestern rallied from there, taking advantage of a Gillian Grimes service error and subsequently securing the set with a kill from Hill and a double block from Hill and Kathryn Randorf.
In set two, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, firing up the crowd after back-to-back aces from Hill. Penn State rebounded with a 12-4 scoring run, and it kept pulling away from there. Despite a couple of points in a row for the ‘Cats at the end of the set, the Nittany Lions coasted to a 25-18 victory, tying things up at one apiece.
With the match in a deadlock, the third set was one of NU’s hardest-fought frames of the season. Penn State initially led 5-3, but the combinations of Hill/Randorf and Randorf/Sara Griffith were too strong at the net, knotting things up at five apiece after a couple of double blocks. Set three was all square again at 10-10, but the ‘Cats went on a quick 4-0 run shortly after to take a 17-13 lead. Penn State came all the way back to tie things at 22, and the Nittany Lions had a number of chances to end it. However, the Wildcats valiantly fought off three set points before finally succumbing to a Jess Mruzik kill that secured a 29-27 Penn State win. Hazan had seven kills in the third frame, but it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat.
The Wildcat players and fans were not giving up, still smelling an upset possibility heading into the fourth set. Once again, NU kept it close, and late in the set, back-to-back kills from Buse Hazan had tied it up at 19. However, the ‘Cats were quickly tiring, and Penn State went on a 6-2 run to secure the win, finishing off a gritty NU squad on a Rylen Reid attack error. With that, the Nittany Lions picked up their 23rd win on the season, but their unexpected fatigue from Friday’s affair may have been too much to handle. They picked up their second loss all season less than 24 hours later, falling to Wisconsin in straight sets.
Northwestern — having posed a legitimate challenge to one of the best teams in the nation on Friday — went to Coralville, IA on Sunday with palpable momentum as it sought its third conference win of the campaign. The ‘Cats were successful with a four-set victory, as they were led by double-digit kills from Rousseau, Hill, and Hazan. Rousseau added 20 assists, but stunningly, Iowa freshman Jenna Meitzler absolutely dominated the category overall, accounting for 40 of the 41 Hawkeye assists in Sunday’s contest.
Things were close in set one, and deep into the frame, the ‘Cats were trailing 23-20. However, Northwestern rallied, securing five straight points capped off by a Hill/Randorf double block to secure a 1-0 edge.
The Hawkeyes flipped the script entirely in set two, giving the home fans a reason to cheer with a dominating 25-15 win. The Hawkeyes broke a 9-9 deadlock with a 14-3 run, and they did not look back, evening up the match after a Kathryn Randorf service error ended the frame.
With its hopes revived, Iowa entered set three intent on securing additional momentum. However, the last two frames were all Northwestern, as the ‘Cats took back-to-back 25-18 victories to secure the win. The Wildcats were in the lead for almost the entire time, and the ease of victory was a welcome sight for a team that had been struggling entering Sunday’s matchup.
Sunday’s win was Northwestern’s first since October 16th, also against Iowa, and the win was much-needed with a tough matchup at No. 12 Oregon on the way. Northwestern will face the Ducks on Friday at 8 PM CST, and they’ll have six more Big Ten matchups in all as they try to create a positive ending for what has been a rocky season.