Dec. 1, 2010
2010 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship First Round
Northwestern (19-12) vs. No. 20 Arizona (20-11)
Friday, December 3 McLeod Center (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 6 p.m.
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NCAA Tournament Central - First and Second Rounds
Northwestern Volleyball Match Notes
Opening Serve
Northwestern makes its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005, traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to face 20th-ranked Arizona at 6 p.m. Friday, December 3 at the McLeod Center on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa. Should Northwestern prevail, it will face the winner of Northern Iowa-Missouri on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Scouting the Wildcats
2010: 20-11 overall, 9-9 Pac-10 (6th). Ranked 20th in this week's AVCA poll.
Last Three Matches: W vs. Washington (3-1), L at Stanford (0-3), L at California (1-3).
Head Coach: Dave Rubio (Cal State Northridge, 1982). 19th season at Arizona (360-211, .630), 24th season overall (482-277, .635).
Key Players: Tiffany Owens (Sr., OH): All-Pac-10 selection, 473 kills, .262 hitting pct., 21 service aces, 402 digs, 33 total blocks; Whitney Dosty (R-Sr., OH): 340 kills, .219 hitting pct., 124 digs, 69 total blocks; Courtney Karst (Jr., OH): 317 kills, .201 hitting pct., 21 service aces, 162 digs, 57 total blocks; Cursty Jackson (Jr., MB): All-Pac-10 honorable mention, 289 kills, .350 hitting pct., 133 total blocks; Paige Weber (Sr., S): All-Pac-10 honorable mention, 1,305 assists, 83 kills, .333 hitting pct., 24 service aces, 53 total blocks; Candace Nicholson (Fr., LIB): All-Pac-10 freshman honorable mention, 353 digs, nine service aces.
Series Information
Northwestern and Arizona meet for the fourth time Friday evening with Arizona winning two of the previous three meetings. The first match up came in 1989 when Arizona prevailed 3-1 in Baton Rouge, La., before defeating NU 3-0 in Tucson in 2005. Northwestern won the last meeting between the two, taking a 3-2 decision in Evanston in 2006.
Three Wildcats Earn All-Big Ten Accolades
The Big Ten Conference has announced its year-end honors, with three Wildcats being tabbed among the conference's best, voted on by the Big Ten coaches. Sabel Moffett was a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten team, while her middle blocking counterpart Naomi Johnson was an honorable mention selection with Stephanie Holthus being named to the All-Freshman Team. Moffett becomes the first Wildcat since Erika Lange in 2002 and 2003, and the second all-time, to earn back-to-back All-Big Ten first team honors, as she was one of nine players listed on every ballot. The three All-Big Ten selections from Northwestern is the most for the program since four Wildcats were honored following the 1984 season. NU has now had 18 players receive 23 conference postseason honors with Holthus becoming the first to be named to the All-Freshman Team. Additionally, Elyse Glab was tabbed as Northwestern's Sportsmanship Honoree.
Northwestern Makes First NCAA Tournament Appearance Since 2005
Northwestern's goal from the start of the season was realized Sunday when the Wildcats were announced as one of the 64 teams invited to the 2010 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. The trip to the postseason marks the eighth time the Wildcats have qualified for the NCAA tournament and the fourth under coach Keylor Chan. Northwestern's last appearance in the tournament was in 2005 when the Wildcats defeated Texas A&M 3-2 for the program's first-ever postseason victory before falling to Notre Dame 3-0 on its home court.
Wildcats Finish Tied For Seventh in Big Ten Standings
Competing in arguably the nation's toughest conference, Northwestern held its own in the Big Ten, finishing tied for seventh with Indiana in the final conference standings. The Wildcats, who improved on their 7-13 record in 2009, capped the Big Ten season by upsetting 19th-ranked Michigan 3-1 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. It was one of many memorable conference victories, including a sweep of sixth-ranked Illinois, a 3-1 victory over 15th-ranked Minnesota and a 3-0 win at Wisconsin, the program's first in Madison since the 1985 season.
Moffett Notches 500th Career Block
Senior Sabel Moffett continues to establish herself among the Wildcats' all-time greats, as she became just the fourth player in program history to surpass 500 career blocks, sitting at 502 currently. Moffett has rewritten the Wildcat record books, sitting third all-time in block assists (415), fourth in total blocks (502) and eighth in solo blocks (87). Moffett, who holds the program single-season record for hitting percentage with .349 in 2009, has nearly matched that performance with a .340 percentage this year, the third-best single-season total in program history, and sits first in the Northwestern record books with a career .312 hitting percentage, eight points higher than second-place Erika Lange (2000-03). She also checks in at 16th all-time in career kills with 1,109. Moffett was a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten team, making her just the second player in program history to be a two-time first team honoree.
Glab Moves Into Second Among Program Assist Leaders
Senior Elyse Glab has been a constant in the Northwestern lineup since her freshman season, solidifying her place among the best setters in program history. Glab moved into second-place in program history for career assists against Michigan State last Friday, sitting at 4,795 for her career and moving past Liz Renius (1995-98) on the all-time list. Glab became just the third player in program history to surpass 1,000 assists in four consecutive seasons as her 1,289 for the year is the fifth-highest single-season total in Northwestern history. Glab, who also holds the eighth and ninth-highest yearly assist totals, ranks third in the Big Ten with 11.02 assists per set and was recognized as the Wildcats' sportsmanship honoree.
Holthus Making Her Mark As A Freshman
Freshman Stephanie Holthus has made quite an impact as a freshman for Northwestern, starting every set of the season at outside hitter. A Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection, Holthus currently ranks third on the Wildcats with 306 kills, which is the most by a freshman since Lindsay Anderson's 299 and Courtnie Paulus' 281 in 2004. She became just the 11th player in program history to eclipse the 300-kill mark as a freshman, and is seven kills shy of Jessica Holloway (1995) to crack the top-10 freshman kill performances. The Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Oct. 11, Holthus also ranks second on the team in digs (303), fourth in service aces (17) and fifth in blocks (66) heading into the weekend.
Record Watch
With the Wildcats now getting set to head into the 2010 NCAA tournament, a handful of team and individual records remain in jeopardy of falling. Northwestern's .229 hitting percentage currently ranks third in program history, seven points shy of the .236 hit by the 1984 team. The Wildcats have committed 576 hitting errors on the season, which is threatening the program's single-season low of 613 set last year. Individually, Sabel Moffett enters the weekend hitting .340, which is the third-best single-season total in the Wildcat record books, while Naomi Johnson's .310 attack percentage currently sits seventh. Moffett's 136 block assists is the fourth-highest single-season total, one shy of her career-best 137 set in 2009, while her 163 total blocks is also the fourth-best single-season performance. Elyse Glab, who already owns the seventh and eighth-best assist performances in program history, is back into the top-10 for a third time as her 1,289 assists is the fifth-best season showing in Northwestern history. Julie Chin has also etched her name into the record books for the first time, sitting 10th in digs with 410.
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