Sept. 6, 2009
Box Score
Northwestern vs. Western Kentucky Box Score 
2009 Northwestern Volleyball Statistics
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Northwestern dropped its final match of the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational, falling to Western Kentucky 20-25, 19-25, 25-16, 18-25 Sunday morning. Juniors Sabel Moffett (Temecula, Calif./Chapparal) and Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) paced the Wildcat attack, tallying a dozen kills and four blocks each.
Northwestern (3-3) looked to build on its pair of victories Saturday at the Invitational, but Western Kentucky (4-3) responded quickly, taking the opening two sets 25-20 and 25-19 to head into the intermission with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats answered back in the third set, slowly distancing themselves from the Hilltoppers to build a six-point cushion at 13-7. NU was able to put more breathing room between itself and WKU, extending its lead to 10 at 23-13 thanks to a kill from Moffett before closing out the 25-16 victory.
Senior Ariel Baxterbeck (Menlo Park, Calif./Castilleja) led all players with four kills in the set, with the duo of Moffett and Johnson each adding three for Northwestern. Freshman Susan Oxnard (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) notched the first two kills of her Wildcat career, including the match-sealer, and added a pair of digs.
But the Northwestern rally would come up short as the Hilltoppers once again took an early lead in set four and never looked back, holding off the Wildcats 25-18 to take the match.
Because Northwestern, IUPUI and Western Kentucky all finished the IUPUI Invitational with 2-1 records, the three-way tiebreaker was the highest set winning percentage, giving the tournament title to the Wildcats. NU posted a .636 winning percentage (seven victories in 11 sets), followed by Western Kentucky (.615) and IUPUI (.500).
Moffett was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, posting 36 kills and 16 blocks to compliment a .586 hitting percentage. Johnson and senior Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) were also named to the all-tournament team.
Along with the 12 kills from Mofett and Johnson, Baxterbeck added seven with sophomore Madalyn Shalter (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf) contributing five to the NU attack. Junior Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) finished with three kills, 35 assists and nine digs, with Nobilio recording 13 digs on the morning.
Northwestern now returns to Evanston to prepare for the final road preseason tournament of the 2009 campaign, as the 'Cats will travel to Charlotte, N.C., next weekend for the Comfort Suites 49er Tournament. NU opens up with a match against Presbyterian College at 3:30 p.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 11. The Wildcats will once again face a Saturday double-header, beginning with James Madison at 9 a.m. CT before closing out the tournament against host Charlotte at 6 p.m. CT.