Oct. 10, 2009
Box Score
Northwestern vs. Purdue Box Score 
2009 Northwestern Volleyball Statistics
Wildcats vs. Boilermakers Photo Gallery
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Behind 15 kills apiece from juniors Sabel Moffett (Temecula, Calif./Chapparal) and Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy), Northwestern knocked off Purdue 25-18, 17-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-6 at Welsh-Ryan Arena for its first Big Ten Conference victory of the season. The Wildcats improve to 10-7 on the year and 1-4 in conference play while notching their first win against the Boilermakers (9-8, 1-5 Big Ten) since 2005.
Moffett's 15 kills came on 23 attempts with just two errors for a .565 hitting percentage, while Johnson had just four errors on 34 attempts, hitting .324 for the match. Both came up big defensively as well, with Moffett tying a season-best eight blocks and Johnson adding four to go along with a match-high two service aces. Junior Brittani Gray (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) joined the double-digit kill club, knocking down a season-high 12 on 49 attempts with two blocks as well.
Redshirt freshman Kathryn Chrystal (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) joined the block party, adding five to compliment her four kills, while senior Ariel Baxterbeck (Menlo Park, Calif./Castilleja) had six kills, four blocks and 12 digs on the night for Northwestern.
Junior Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) finished with 44 assists on the night, upping her career total to 2,919 and making her just the fourth Wildcat to record 2,900 assists in a career. Senior Kate Nobilio (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) had 15 digs on the night, giving her 1,920 for her career and moving into a tie for eighth-place all-time in Big Ten history.
Head coach Keylor Chan also reached an impressive milestone with the win, recording the 150th victory of his 11-year coaching career. Chan has an overall record of 150-176, and is the second-winningest coach in NU history with a 132-161 mark since arriving in Evanston in 2000.
Northwestern took control early, as with the opening set tied at five, the Wildcats would outscore the Boilermakers 15-7 to take a 20-12 advantage. The `Cats would keep the Boilers at bay down the stretch, taking the convincing 25-18 opening set decision as Johnson and Moffett each had a kill hat trick.
Purdue, however strike in set two, jumping out to an early 14-6 advantage. The Boilermakers would maintain that advantage throughout the set and headed into the break with the match tied at one with a 25-17 victory.
Set three would prove to be the turning point of the showdown, as it looked like Purdue would maintain that momentum. Leading 13-9 early, the Wildcats never gave up and finally took the lead at 19-18 off a kill from Johnson. Three ties and two lead changes later and the set knotted at 23-23, Moffett made sure NU would not be denied, knocking down a powerful kill then teaming up with Chrystal for a set-clinching block and giving the 'Cats a 2-1 lead.
Looking to close out the match, Northwestern was unable to maintain a lead on Purdue in set four before the Boilermakers used a 7-2 run late to take control at 23-18, then held on for the 25-20 to force the decisive fifth set.
But with an energized Welsh-Ryan crowd behind them, the Wildcats came out with authority, notching the first six points of the final set and never looked back. Leading 12-6, a kill from Baxterbeck and a pair of Boilermaker attack errors sealed Northwestern's first conference win of the season and ended a six-match losing streak to Purdue.
Tiffany Fisher led all players with 17 kills for the Boilermakers in defeat, with Carrie Gurnell and Ariel Turner each adding 13. Jaclyn Hart had 55 assists for Purdue while Blair Bashen had a match-high 33 digs.
Northwestern looks to add to its Big Ten win streak when Indiana comes to town for a rare Sunday afternoon meeting. The Hoosiers are 13-6 on the year and 2-3 in Big Ten play after falling to Illinois 3-0 Saturday evening in Champaign. Opening serve between Northwestern and Indiana is set for 5 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena.