Nov. 25, 2006
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Needing a win to finish the season with NCAA Tournament eligibility and facing a No. 5-ranked Penn State team that already had clinched the Big Ten title, Northwestern fought PSU tooth and nail before falling in a sweep, 30-21, 30-27, 30-22.
Northwestern concludes its season with a 14-15 overall record, 8-12 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats finished in a tie for seventh in the conference with Michigan. The win improves Penn State's overall record to 29-2, and gives the Nittany Lions the outright conference title with an 18-2 mark.
The match marked the final competition as Wildcats for seniors Lauren Greenwood (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood), Cassie McLaughlin (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) and Julie Purcell (Louisville, Ky./Assumption).
Northwestern scored three of the match's first four points, including a service ace by junior Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier). The squads played back and forth until a 4-0 Nittany Lion run gave the hosts an 11-7 advantage. NU head coach Keylor Chan used a timeout when that lead hit five, 14-9.
The Wildcats used two kills from Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) and a kill by Purcell to get back within two, 16-14, but the Nittany Lions again pushed their lead to five, 20-15, and Chan used his second timeout. From there, Penn State pulled away for a 30-21 game one win.
Game two was tight for the first half, with Anderson recording four kills in the early going before a brief PSU spurt created a two-point deficit, 15-13, for NU and caused Chan to use a timeout. The Nittany Lion run continued, and Chan used his second timeout with the score 20-14.
Not giving up, the Wildcats began to surge back into the game. Kills from Stephanie Jurivich (LaGrange, Ill./St. Ignatius) and Purcell and a block by Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and McLaughlin pulled NU to within two, 24-22, and forced a Penn State timeout.
Not stopping there, Anderson rocked home two kills to knot the score, 26-26, to bring NU all the way back, but Penn State scored three of the next four points to escape game two with a 30-27 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Penn State got the better of the momentum coming out of the break, taking an early 9-3 lead in game three to force a Northwestern timeout.
Trailing later in the game by 10, 22-12, the Wildcats reeled off a 4-0 run featuring a McLaughlin kill and a block by Hyser and McLaughlin. Chan used his final timeout with NU down by seven, 24-17. A Purcell kill two points later drew the 'Cats back to within five, 24-19.
That was all the closer Northwestern could get, however, falling in game three, 30-22, and in the match, 3-0.
Anderson led the Wildcats with 12 kills, while Purcell had 10 kills and a team-high .348 hitting percentage in her final match as a 'Cat. Jurivich finished with 29 assists and seven blocks, one shy of her career high.