DEKALB, Ill. -- Northwestern surrendered a few early leads, but it clawed back when it mattered most to win three straight frames en route to an exciting season-opening victory over Colorado, 3-2 (20-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-17, 17-15).
"I'm very proud of the way that the team battled through adversity early in the match and kept fighting until it was all over," said Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan. "We had a lot of players step up and doing great things in critical situations and we were able to outlast a very talented Colorado team tonight."
Senior Yewande Akanbi and sophomore Kayla Morin carried the bulk of the offensive load for the Wildcats on opening night. Akanbi led all players in the match with 18 kills, while Morin chipped in with 14 at a clip of .433. Freshman setter Taylor Tashima handed out a match-high 46 assists in her collegiate debut, which happened to fall on her birthday.
As a team, Northwestern hit .331 with 56 kills to only 15 errors to begin the NIU Invitational. In the three sets that the Wildcats won at Victor E. Court, the group hit .365 with only nine combined errors.
Northwestern faced a two-set deficit at the intermission, but the Wildcats came out of the locker room with a renewed energy and determination after the respite. Most of the set was back-and-forth until NU grabbed the lead for good, 24-23, on a Colorado attacking error. The black and gold called a quick timeout, but Morin responded with her fourth termination of the frame to put the 'Cats ahead for good. Simpson then committed an error that gave the Wildcats their first set victory of the night, 26-24.
Chicago's Big Ten Team then came out firing on all cylinders to open the fourth. The 'Cats opened up a solid nine-point lead at 13-4 behind a balanced attack from Morin, Akanbi and another newcomer, Symone Abbott, up front. Colorado got as close as five points after an NU serving error, but Northwestern used a late 7-4 push to notch the 25-17 victory and even the match at two sets apiece. Morin buried five kills on six swings without an error in the fourth, while redshirt senior Katie Dutchman added three kills on four attempts in the fourth.
Colorado won the coin toss and elected to serve to start the fifth set. After two quick CU points, a kill by Dutchman and an ace by Morin evened the ledger. The Buffaloes later grabbed an 8-5 lead as the teams switched sides, but Northwestern still had plenty of fight left in the tank.
The lead was later 13-10, but the Wildcats used a huge 7-2 run to push all the way back to win the set, and the match. Akanbi notched three big kills at the end. The first fought off Colorado's first shot at match point, while the second evened the score, 14-14, for the first time in the fifth. The Houston, Texas native later tied the score at 15 points apiece before back-to-back CU errors sent the Wildcats into a frenzy.
Earlier in the match the Wildcats held a slim one-point advantage late in the first set at 20-19, but Colorado was able to snatch the early lead. With Gabby Simpson serving, the Buffaloes rattled off six unanswered points to win the first set. Northwestern and Colorado were tied at 21, 22 and 23, but the Buffaloes scored consecutive kills to take their 2-0 lead into the break.
Northwestern played eight five-set matches in 2013, including one on the first night of the season. NU was victorious in six of those eight contests a year ago. Chan improved to 11-4 in season openers at Northwestern. The Wildcats have won four of their last five such matches.
The Wildcats continue their stay at the NIU Invitational with a pair of matches on Saturday. Northwestern will take Presbyterian for the first time in program history at 10 a.m. before returning to Victor E. Court for the final match of the tournament against the host Huskies at 7 p.m. It will be the first meeting between those two squads since 1997.
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