EVANSTON, Ill. -- In the final contest of a nine-match home stand, Northwestern swept the 18th-ranked Minnesota Gophers in a convincing three-set victory (26-24, 29-27, 25-20) on Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Stifling defense, fundamentally sound passing and a career day from freshman outside hitter Symone Abbott led to the Wildcats' third in-conference win in four tries this season. Northwestern also improved to 8-1 at home and 13-2 overall.
"We just played really well tonight," Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan said. "We had a lot of composure and our passing really came through for us."
The teams traded points early during a sloppy first set, with neither side leading by more than two points until the Gophers gained a 13-10 edge. Northwestern kept the score close from there, and with Minnesota leading 23-20, the 'Cats grabbed three straight points before Minnesota junior outside hitter Daly Santana's seventh and final kill of the set gave the Gophers a 24-23 lead. NU sophomore middle blocker Maddie Slater responded by slamming home her third kill of the match before senior outside hitter Yewande Akanbi came up with back-to-back kills, giving Northwestern a 26-24 win.
The 'Cats started hot in the second set, riding their momentum to an early 5-1 lead behind three kills from Abbott. The scoring was even from there, and Northwestern held a 23-18 edge before Minnesota's 7-1 run gave the Gophers a 25-24 lead, their first since it was 1-0. Chan called a timeout, and after a few back-and-forth points, the 'Cats faced their third match point of the set, trailing 27-26. But it was Abbott who came up with two huge kills, and sophomore Kayla Morin who hammered home the set-winner to give Northwestern a 2-0 advantage in the match at the intermission.
"During that set, I think it was just key for us to stay relaxed and not freak out, which we practice all the time," junior libero Caroline Niedospial said. "When it gets to tight matches, we just need to focus on our fundamentals, and we did that today."
Northwestern started the third set slowly, going down 8-4 before mounting another steady comeback. Behind a few key Minnesota errors, solid serving by senior outside hitter Monica McGreal and a momentum-building block by Slater and Morin, the 'Cats used a 9-4 stretch to take a 13-12 lead. But the Gophers went on another run of their own, scoring three unanswered points before Abbott sent down back-to-back kills to put her at 20 on the day.
"[Freshman setter] Taylor [Tashima] and I were really in sync," Abbott said. "I had her timing down and the passing from the whole team was excellent today."
It was back and forth from there until the 'Cats broke away for a 24-20 lead on a steady diet of kills from Slater, Akanbi and Morin. It was only fitting that Abbott would send home the game-winner, and she did, slamming her career-high 21st kill just inside of Minnesota's back line to clinch a 3-0 victory.
Abbott led all players with 21 kills, while Morin and Katie Dutchman were also in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively. Taylor Tashima, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, handed out 49 assists, the most for any Big Ten player in a three-set match this season. The Wilmette, Ill., native also posted 11 digs to secure her sixth collegiate double-double.
Niedospial led all players with 25 of Northwestern's 69 team digs, which were one shy of team-high for any Big Ten side this season (Ohio State, 70, vs. IUPUI). In two conference matches this week against nationally-ranked Wisconsin and Minnesota, Niedospial averaged an eye-popping 6.83 digs per set. She is averaging 5.57 digs per set in Big Ten play and 5.59 on the just-completed homestand.
A four-match road trip begins Wednesday night in a nationally televised tilt against No. 3 Penn State. The first serve is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and Mike Wolf will handle the play-by-play with Liz Tortorello-Nelson providing her analysis.
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