Sept. 9, 2011
Site: Oxford, Miss. (Gillom Sports Center)
Score: Central Arkansas 3, Northwestern 2
Records: NU (5-1), Central Arkansas (2-5)
Next NU Event: Sept. 9, 2011 -- at Ole Miss (Oxford, Miss.), 7 p.m. CT
OXFORD, Miss. -- Northwestern dropped its first sets and match of the season Friday morning against Central Arkansas, 3-2 (27-29, 25-14, 25-11, 21-25, 8-15), in the opening contest of the Magnolia Invitational hosted by Ole Miss.
Central Arkansas came away with a hard-fought victory in the first set before Northwestern turned it on and allowed just 25 combined points in the next two sets. UCA fired back, however, to win a close fourth set before shutting the door in set number five.
The Sugar Bears held a large 21-16 advantage late in the first set before the duo of Hannah Crippen and Kathryn Chrystal took over at the net. After a Madalyn Shalter kill and ace out of a Northwestern timeout, Crippen and Chrystal made four blocks in the span of five plays to give the Wildcats a 23-21 edge and force a UCA timeout.
Central Arkansas stormed back to earn the first set point, 24-23, but NU got a Crippen kill to even the score. A Katie Dutchman kill eventually gave Northwestern its own set point at 27-26, but the Sugar Bears won the next three points in a row to take a 1-0 victory, 29-27.
Northwestern responded in set two, roaring to an 11-2 lead right out of the gate. NU got blocks on each of the first two points, then kills from four different Wildcats helped send Northwestern on its way to an eventual 25-14 win to even the match. The third set was more of the same, with Holthus terminating seven attacks en route to an enormous 20-5 Northwestern lead that ended up in a 25-11 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
NU hit .333 as a team in the second set and .467 in the third set as opposed to .125 in the first.
The Sugar Bears got their groove back in the fourth set, however, building a big 14-7 lead of their own. NU climbed all the way back to within one point on two different occasions, first making the score 16-15 on a Holthus kill and again pulling within 21-20 on a Shalter kill. From there, Central Arkansas scored four of the next five points to even the match again, 2-2.
The fifth set was all Central Arkansas from the start. Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan used his two timeouts with the score 5-2 and 9-3, but the Sugar Bears kept pushing to an eventual 15-8 win and a 3-2 match victory.
Holthus set career-best totals for kills (26) and digs (15) in earning her second double-double of the season. She was nearly unstoppable while collecting 20 kills through three sets, but struggled to terminate later in the match. Senior Alex Ayers blew away her previous career high of 14 digs with 23 Friday morning while libero Julie Chin matched her career-best with 26 digs.
Redshirt-freshman middle Katie Dutchman had season-best totals in kills (11), aces (4) and blocks (9) for NU. Shalter's 45 assists and 10 digs gave her a second double-double this year. Chrystal and Crippen both had season- and career-best block totals with eight.
Northwestern has the opportunity for an immediate bounce back tonight at 7 p.m. CT against host Ole Miss at the Magnolia Invitational.
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