Oct. 8, 2010
No. 24 Northwestern 3, Iowa 0
Site: Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Ill.
Records: Northwestern (14-2, 4-1 Big Ten), Iowa (6-9, 1-5 Big Ten)
Up Next: vs. No. 16 Minnesota Sunday, Oct. 10 1 p.m.
Box Score 
Photo Gallery (Buy Photos!)
Northwestern vs. Iowa Box Score 
2010 Northwestern Volleyball Statistics
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Sparked by double-doubles from Stephanie Holthus (Burlington, Ill./Central) and Madalyn Shalter (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf), 24th-ranked Northwestern shook off a slow start to take a three-set sweep over Iowa 25-20, 25-14, 25-18 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Holthus finished with a match-best 14 kills and added 13 digs while Shalter tied her career-best with 11 kills.
"This year, any win is hard to get in the Big Ten, and this was an important one for us to get tonight," said head coach Keylor Chan. "We were a little out of sync early, but I thought the girls responded well and played much better in the final two sets. It was a good win moving forward, and now it's time to focus on the next task at hand, which is Minnesota Sunday."
Holthus, coming off a career-best 19-kill, 20-dig performance at Illinois last Saturday, hit a career-best .480 in the victory, registering only two errors on 25 attempts. She also added a service ace and a block for the Wildcats. Shalter's 11 kills came on 22 swings with just one error, good enough for a .455 hitting percentage. She added 11 digs, two blocks and a service ace in arguably her best match of the season.
Sabel Moffett (Temecula, Calif./Chapparal) added nine kills and a pair of blocks to the Wildcat attack with Brittani Gray (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) notching a season-high five kills off the bench for Northwestern. Elyse Glab (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) dished out 43 of Northwestern's 44 assists on the night, averaging 14.33 per set.
Defensively, four different Wildcats recorded double-digit dig totals, led by the 13 from Holthus and 11 from Shalter. Alex Ayers (Playa del Rey, Calif./Marymount) and Julie Chin (Naperville, Ill./North) each added 10 for Northwestern while Moffett, Shalter and Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) each had a pair of blocks.
Early in set one, it was the Hawkeyes that found the early momentum, matching the Wildcats point-for-point before building a late 20-18 lead. But Northwestern seemed to find its groove late in the set, rattling off the final seven points to take the opening set 25-20 off four kills from both Holthus and Johnson.
From that point on, Northwestern remained in control of the match, as the Wildcats trailed only once for the remainder of the night, that coming at 1-0 in set three. NU pounced out to an early 12-4 lead in set two before cruising to the 25-14 victory, then followed that up with a 6-0 run early in set three to gain control of the final set. Iowa would pull to within three at 18-15 in set three, but a 7-3 run down the stretch sealed it for the 'Cats.
Northwestern improves to 14-2, its best start since posting an identical record through the first 16 matches of the 1987 season. The Wildcats have won four of their first five Big Ten Conference matches for the first time since starting out 4-1 in 2002.
After a rare Saturday off, Northwestern turns its sights to the toughest home match of the season to date as the Wildcats welcome 16th-ranked Minnesota to Welsh-Ryan Arena for a Sunday matinee. The match against the Gophers begins at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast tape delayed on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Northwestern fans are asked to wear purple and help pack Welsh-Ryan Arena for the Wildcats' season debut on the Network.
********************
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats! -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter and become a fan of Northwestern Volleyball on Facebook! Get the latest news, schedule updates, video and interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!