Sept. 20, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Iwona Lodzik (Tarnobrzeg, Poland) led four players in double-figure kills with 18 as the Northwestern women's volleyball team (6-4) overcame an injury to junior middle blocker Erika Lange to record a 30-19, 26-30, 30-20, 34-32 victory over DePaul (2-9) on the opening night of the Wildcat Classic.
Lange went down with a knee injury in the first game of the match, but the Wildcats fought to pull out he victory over a determined Blue Demon squad. Lange's status for Northwestern's two matches on Saturday is questionable
Sarah Ballog (Coto de Caza, Calif.) recorded 16 kills and posted a .462 hitting percentage, while Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis.) and Kelli Meyer (Madision, Wis.) added 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Drew Robertson (Long Beach, Calif.) chipped in with 53 assists for Northwestern and Gardner added six service aces.
The Wildcats also got strong contributions off the bench from Lindsay Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Leah Delcourt (Rock Island, Ill.) in Lange's absence.
Katie Engel led DePaul with 14 kills while Lara Marks added 13 in a losing effort.
Northwestern will return to action in the Wildcat Classic on Saturday when it takes on Loyola-Chicago at 10 a.m. and Harvard at 7 p.m.