Sept. 24, 2010
Northwestern 3, Indiana 1
Site: Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Ill.
Records: Northwestern (11-1, 1-0 Big Ten); Indiana (12-2, 0-2 Big Ten)
Up Next: vs. Purdue Saturday, Sept. 25 7 p.m.
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Northwestern vs. Indiana Box Score 
2010 Northwestern Volleyball Statistics
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After dropping the opening set to Indiana, Northwestern roared back, defeating the Hoosiers 21-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 in its Big Ten opener at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The middle blocking duo of Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) and Sabel Moffett (Temecula, Calif./Chapparal) once again came up big for the Wildcats at the nets, combining for 33 kills and nine blocks in the victory.
"We knew this would be a tough match coming in, and it lived up to it," said head coach Keylor Chan. "Indiana is a great team and we knew they would come in looking to avenge their loss Wednesday (to Purdue). They caught us early, but I'm proud of the way the girls responded. Any victory in the Big Ten is never easy, and it's a great way for these girls to start off the conference schedule."
Johnson, fresh off her Wildcat Classic MVP honor, continued her stellar play, finishing with 18 kills, a .382 hitting percentage and four blocks on the night. Moffett added 15 kills of her own with five blocks. Christina Kaelin (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) was the third Wildcat to reach double-digit kills, finishing with 11 on the night and becoming the fourth 'Cat to surpass 100 kills on the year.
Stephanie Holthus (Burlington, Ill./Central) just missed posting a double-double against the Hoosiers, finishing with nine kills and 13 digs. Julie Chin (Naperville, Ill./North) paced the Wildcat back row with a career-best 24 digs on the evening, with Madalyn Shalter (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf) also setting a career-best with 15 to complement three kills. Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) dished out 56 assists for the 'Cats, becoming just the third Wildcat to eclipse 4,000 for her career.
Northwestern fell behind early in set one, trailing by as many as seven at 22-17. The Wildcats made it interesting, rallying to within two at 23-21, but couldn't overcome the hurdle as Indiana took the final two points to clinch the opening stanza.
The Wildcats led for the majority of set two, but was unable to pull away from the Hoosiers, who responded from an early four-point deficit to tie the set at 17, and again at 20. But four straight points from Northwestern following a timeout proved to be too much for Indiana as the 'Cats took set two 25-21 to even things up at the intermission.
The momentum gained at the end of set two seemed to carry over into the third for Northwestern, who built a comfortable 20-15 advantage. But in an NU-IU match, no lead is ever safe as the Hoosiers rallied to within two at 22-20. A pair of kills from Moffett pushed the lead to 24-20, then Moffett and Glab combined for the set-clinching block to end it.
With the match on the line, Indiana gained the early edge in set four, building a four-point cushion early. But NU fought back once again, taking its first lead of the set at 21-20 off a kill from Johnson. The Wildcats would then outscore the Hoosiers 4-3 down the stretch to notch their first Big Ten victory of the season.
Winners of seven-straight, Northwestern returns to the court at Welsh-Ryan Saturday evening, tangling with Purdue. The Boilermakers come in with a 10-2 record on the year and are also 1-0 on the year after taking down Indiana in four Wednesday evening. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
Northwestern improved to 30-28 all-time against Indiana and has won three straight in the series. The Wildcats have won five of the last six meetings against the Hoosiers at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Glab upped her career assist total to 4,018, becoming just the third player in program history to surpass 4,000 helpers. She currently sits 725 assists back of Liz Renius for second all-time.
Moffett's five blocks on the night upped her career total to 409, moving past Mary Stack into seventh-place all-time in program history.
Chin (24 digs) and Shalter (15) both set career-bests for digs in a match.
Chan was on the Wildcat sideline just 36 hours following the birth of his daughter, Elinor, Thursday morning.
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