Sept. 16, 2006
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern came out on its home floor and defended it well against No. 24 Arizona Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena to capture the 25th annual Wildcat Classic championship in five-game fashion, 30-26, 30-21, 27-30, 20-30, 15-12.
With the win, Northwestern improves to 6-3 overall on the season and 3-0 in the tournament. Arizona finishes second in the Wildcat Classic with a 2-1 record and drops to 9-3 overall with the loss. The NU win avenges a loss at the hands of Arizona at last season's Four Points Sheraton Wildcat Classic in Tucson, Ariz.
Northwestern now is 6-0 in its last two home tournaments, capturing the crowns in each and improving its record to 47-22 after 25 years of the event. The win also is NU's first in three tries in program history against perennial Pac-10 power Arizona.
Junior Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) began the first game with four kills on her first four attempts to help Northwestern take a 12-8 lead and force an early Arizona timeout. Coming out of the break, NU scored the next pair of points with a Julie Purcell (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) kill giving the host Wildcats a 14-8 lead and extending their run to 8-0. Arizona then used its second timeout of the match before breaking the NU run on the next point.
Later in the game, a Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) kill extended the Northwestern lead to 10, 26-16. From there, NU cruised in to a game one win, 30-26.
The home Wildcats again took the early lead in game two, clawing to a three-point lead, 13-10, on an ace by senior Lauren Greenwood (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) that caused an Arizona timeout.
With the score 14-13 in favor of NU, junior Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) served up three-consecutive aces to push that lead to four, 17-13. When a Stephanie Jurivich (LaGrange, Ill./St. Ignatius) free ball found its way to the court for a 20-15 Northwestern lead, Arizona used its second timeout but NU continued to pull away and won game two, 30-21.
Game three was much, much closer, with both teams trading ties the majority of the way. Arizona took a 15-14 lead, then Northwestern went on a 4-1 spurt to take an 18-16 lead capped by an Aldridge annihilation of an overpass and Arizona opted for a timeout.
The visiting Wildcats then went on a spurt of their own to regain the lead, 24-20, and Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan used both of his timeouts during the run. NU then battled back to within one, 26-25, but Arizona took game three, 30-27.
Arizona began game four with four-consecutive aces, lipping and rolling the ball over the net on three on them. A block gave the visitors a 5-0 lead, and Chan called timeout. He would use his second timeout when that lead became eight, 17-9. Northwestern never was able to recover from the early aces, falling in game four, 30-20.
Northwestern earned the early advantage in game five, using a kill from Aldridge to go up three, 6-3, and cause an Arizona timeout. A block by Aldridge and Jurivich coupled with an Arizona attack error gave NU an 8-3 lead going into the side switch. The visitors fought back, however, to knot the score, 11-11, to cause a Northwestern timeout.
Out of the timeout, Aldridge nailed a solo block followed by an ace from freshman Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) to give Northwestern a 13-11 lead it would hold until Paulus pounded down NU's 15th point for a 15-12 win and a 3-2 match victory.
Paulus led the purple 'Cats with 15 kills, also notching 16 digs for a double-double. Anderson had her third-consecutive double-double of the event, digging 15 balls to compliment 11 kills. Aldridge (13) and Purcell (11) also reached double-digits in kills for Northwestern.
Also double-doubling in the match was Jurivich, who had 50 assists and 10 digs. Nobilio led NU with 18 digs.
Sophomore Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) led NU with a .538 hitting percentage, banging out nine kills on 13 attempts with two errors.
The Wildcats had 12 service aces in the match, with Paulus leading the pack with four.
Anderson and Jurivich were named to the all-tournament team, while Paulus was tabbed as the MVP.
Northwestern will return to action in its Big Ten opener at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22, against Minnesota at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Wildcat Classic Order of Finish
1. Northwestern (3-0)
2. No. 24 Arizona (2-1)
3. Pittsburgh (1-2)
4. Eastern Illinois (0-3)
Wildcat Classic All-Tournament Team
Maren Crabtree, Eastern Illinois
Diana Andreyko, Pittsburgh
Dominique Lamb, Arizona
Stephanie Butkus, Arizona
Lindsay Anderson, Northwestern
Stephanie Jurivich, Northwestern
Tournament MVP: Courtnie Paulus, Northwestern