Sept. 7, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- From the opening point of the match, Northwestern dominated its opener at the Georgetown Classic Friday night, sweeping past the host Hoyas, 30-14, 30-15, 30-17, to give head coach Keylor Chan his 100th victory as a Wildcat.
Chan, in his eighth season at Northwestern, took over the program after a four-win campaign in 1999. He has turned NU around, leading the Wildcats to three NCAA Tournaments in the last five years. Overall, Chan has 118 wins in his career after coming to Northwestern following one year as the head coach at Furman.
The win improves Northwestern to 4-2 on the season, 1-0 at the Georgetown Classic. Playing their first home match of the year, the host Hoyas fall to 1-7 overall, 0-1 in the event with their loss.
The 46 total points the Wildcats surrendered were the least since giving up 44 in a sweep of Mississippi on Sept. 6, 2003. That match also was the last time an opponent failed to reach 20 points in any game against NU.
Northwestern came out firing hard, earning the first point on an Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) ace before going on an 8-1 run to start the match, forcing an early Georgetown timeout. Courtnie Paulus (Belgium, Wis./Ozaukee) and Sabel Moffett (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) combined on a pair of blocks during the run.
Later with the NU lead at six, 10-4, the Wildcats ripped off a 9-1 run to take a 19-5 advantage and cause the second Hoya timeout. Brittani Gray (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) had two kills and a block to account for the final three points before the Georgetown TO.
Northwestern cruised from there for a 30-14 game one win.
Game two was much tighter at the beginning until a quick 4-0 spurt gave the Wildcats a 14-11 advantage, leading to the Hoyas' first timeout of the game. Moffett and Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) both had kills, while Paulus and Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) combined on a block during the spurt.
The Wildcats were only getting warmed up at that point, eventually extending that run to 20-4 to win the game, 30-15. Anderson had seven kills during the runaway, Gray had three and Moffett and Gray got together on a block for the final point of the game.
Game three began almost as a carbon-copy of the second. With Georgetown holding a one-point lead, 11-10, Northwestern came unhinged during an 11-1 run that burned both of the Hoyas' timeouts and put NU up nine, 21-12. Three Anderson kills, a Paulus kill and ace and a pair of blocks involving Hyser all contributed to the run.
The Wildcats cruised the rest of the way, getting a block from Brittney Aldridge (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and Kelly Keporos (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) to end the game, 30-17, and the match, 3-0.
Anderson finished with a match-best 17 kills, while Gray added 12 on a career-best .524 hitting percentage (12-1-21). Glab had 25 assists in two games of play, while Stephanie Jurivich (LaGrange, Ill./St. Ignatius) had 15 in the third game.
Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) had a match-high 13 digs for the 'Cats, and Moffett had a season-best and match-high five blocks.
Northwestern returns to action at 10 a.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 8, against Iona before concluding its Georgetown Classic schedule at 6 p.m. CT Saturday versus Towson.