The Northwestern women's volleyball team overcame a heartbreaking loss in Game 3 to win the last two games Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. As a result, the Wildcats gained a 3-2 (21-30, 30-23, 32-34, 30-16, 15-13) win over Michigan in the Big Ten opener for both schools.
The Wildcats (4-3, 1-0) were led by another double-double performance from sophomore outside hitter Molly Kamp (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore), who posted 11 kills and 12 digs. Freshman setter Drew Robertson (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) had her third double-double of the season with 52 assists and 10 digs.
Junior middle blocker Sarah Ballog (Coto de Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita) had a team-high 16 kills, while freshman outside hitter Jill Buschur kicked in 15. Michigan's Erin Moore had a double-double of her own with a game-high 18 kills and 11 digs.
Tension was high in the tight match, as the first three games were played as closely as the 34-32 score indicated. By Game 4 the `Cats were ready to take control of the match and pull away with a decisive 30-16 victory. Robertson added the exclamation point to that game with a game-point service ace.
Northwestern is now 4-3 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten action. This marks the first time the Wildcats have been over .500 since 1998. The last time NU defeated Michigan was Sept. 23, 1994. The Wolverines fall to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten.
Northwestern will next be in action Saturday night, hosting Michigan State at 7 p.m.