SAN DIEGO -- Northwestern won its first five matches of the young 2014 season, but the Wildcats fell for the first time on Saturday night when they dropped a 3-0 decision to the 15th-ranked San Diego Toreros (25-17, 25-21, 25-21).
Del Mar, Calif., native Katie Dutchman led the Wildcats offensively as she played near her hometown. The redshirt senior sent down a match-best 13 digs on 20 swings with only one error. She hit .600 for the match. Freshman setter Taylor Tashima recorded her second collegiate double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs Saturday night.
The first set was tied at 12-12 following a kill from Dutchman off a feed from Tashima, but the Toreros responded to that play by stringing together a 6-2 run that resulted in NU head coach Keylor Chan calling a timeout. After the break, San Diego scored two more times in succession to extend its lead to 20-14, prompting Chan to use his second timeout.
Northwestern's Kayla Morin notched a kill to end the run, but San Diego was able to close on a 5-2 run to win the set 25-17.
The Wildcats never led in the second set as the 15th-ranked Toreros worked their way to a 25-21 triumph. Northwestern hit a respectable .389 in the second, its highest mark of the night, but the team was hampered by two blocking errors and three serving errors that helped San Diego win its second set in a row.
The third set, which proved to be the final stanza of the evening, was evenly fought early on. The sides were not separated by more than two points until San Diego went on a 5-0 run with the score tied at 13. The Toreros run extended to 10-3 to give them a 23-16 lead and they did not look back. NU scored four unanswered points late to pull within three thanks to a kill from Savannah Paffen and a block from Paffen and Yewande Akanbi, but USD hung on and eventually finished off the 'Cats, 25-21.
The 'Cats finished 2-1 at the USD-SDSU 2014 Challenge with wins against both Cal State Fullerton (3-1) and Brown (3-0). Dutchman led the purple and white with 3.2 kills per set and an attacking percentage of .410 (32-7-61). She also averaged 1.10 blocks per set. Tashima handed out 11 assists per set. As a team Northwestern hit .240 for the tournament, while holding its three opponents to a clip of .155.
Northwestern returns home to make its 2014 debut at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday, Sept. 12 when it begins play in the Wildcat Classic. The Wildcats host Youngstown State at noon on Friday before welcoming crosstown rival Loyola at 7 p.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday, Sept. 13 when Northwestern meets Virginia at 7 p.m.
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