Sept. 3, 2005
TUCSON, Ariz. -- In three games much closer than the scores would indicate (and the scores were pretty close to begin with), Northwestern fell to No. 17 Arizona, 30-25, 30-26, 30-25, Saturday night in Tucson, Ariz., to take second place at the Four Points University Plaza Wildcat Classic.
The host Wildcats won the championship with a 3-0 record. NU finished 2-1, while Georgia Tech (1-2) was third and Winthrop (0-3) rounded out the field in fourth.
Northwestern's overall record falls to 3-1 with the loss.
All three games were back-and-forth affairs with Arizona putting together mini-spurts at the end to win. Trailing 17-14 in the first game, junior Julie Purcell (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) killed two balls before a Cassie McLaughlin (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) ace knotted the score, 17-17.
A Purcell kill later in the game made the score 26-25 in UA's favor before the host Wildcats ran off four straight points for the win.
Game two was more of the same, with neither team holding more than a three-point advantage until the very end. With the score tied, 23-23, Arizona again put up three quick points to take a 26-23 lead before holding off NU for the 30-26 win.
Northwestern held the early lead in game three after a Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) kill gave NU a 10-7 edge. Arizona pushed back to knot the score, 13-13, before the teams alternated scores for the next 11 points. A Purcell kill ended the see-saw scoring to put NU up, 20-18.
An Arizona spurt after the score was tied yet again, 22-22, gave the hosts the momentum to ride out a 30-25 final game win and earn the three-game sweep.
Paulus finished with a team-high 15 kills on .458 hitting. Purcell also notched double-digit kills with 12. Senior Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) dug 10 balls to pace NU.
Purcell was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts on the weekend. She joined Mary Hock of Winthrop, Lindsey Laband of Georgia Tech, and Bre Ladd and Kim Glass of Arizona on the squad. Arizona's Jennifer Abernathy was named tourney MVP.
Northwestern returns to action next weekend at the Chicago Challenge hosted by DePaul.