EVANSTON, Ill. -- In the second match of a three-game homestand, Northwestern used its most efficient attacking performance since Aug. 30 to cruise to a three-set victory over the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night, the team's sixth Big Ten win of the season and the 10th overall at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
In addition to their .371 attacking clip, the Wildcats held Iowa to a mark of .120 with the help of seven team blocks. Savannah Paffen and Katie Dutchman each recorded 12 kills, and Paffen needed only 14 attempts to do so. Setters Caleigh Ryan and Taylor Tashima added 21 assists each, and the team combined for 39 digs, led by libero Caroline Niedospial's game-high 15.
"They were leaving me a lot of line, which is my favorite shot," Paffen said, "and my setter [Tashima] gave me a perfect ball pretty much every time."
Northwestern was in command from the beginning. A well-placed shot into the back corner by Dutchman, Northwestern's most efficient attacker, tied the game early at two apiece. Symone Abbott followed up with a kill of her own two plays later, giving the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.
Northwestern continued its efficient hitting from there, riding a .643 hitting percentage to a 13-6 lead, which forced Iowa coach Bond Shymansky to burn his first timeout. By that point in the set, four different Wildcats had multiple kills.
Though Northwestern ultimately was unable maintaining the peak of their early attacking success, the defense remained strong thanks to 18 team digs in the first set, six of which came from Niedospial. The Hawkeyes staged a comeback with a 6-1 run to pull within a point, but off a Northwestern timeout, the 'Cats scored five of the next six points to take a commanding 21-16 lead.
Iowa fought back again, as the Hawkeyes came alive on offense and pulled to within one point. Leading 23-22, Chan used his second timeout of the set, and Northwestern won each of the next two rallies--capped off by Abbott's fifth kill--to clinch the first set.
"It was just about some execution," Chan said regarding his message for the team during that pivotal timeout. "We were getting a little bit sloppy technically blocking, and blocking against a team like Iowa is really important. We've got to put pressure up by the net to get their hitters to do things that we want them to do, and I think that was a real turning point when we called that timeout."
The Wildcats held Iowa to just a .132 hitting percentage in the set, which they actually improved upon as the match went on.
"I think what we did well was blocking," Paffen said. "We made them use their middle and right-side hitters a lot."
Tashima and Dutchman combined for a huge block early in the second set to give Northwestern a 2-1 edge, and it was back-and-forth from there, until the 'Cats won three straight points to take an 11-7 lead. Iowa used its first timeout a few points later with Northwestern leading 14-9, but the Wildcats were in control for the rest of the set, dominating on defense thanks to Niedospial's steady play and more efficient swings from the attacking trio of Abbott, Paffen and Dutchman, each of whom had at least seven kills by the end of the second set.
Leading 21-13, Kayla Morin and Dutchman combined for a killer block, and the Wildcats cruised to an easy 25-14 win. Dutchman hammered home a strong kill to close out the set, putting an exclamation point on Northwestern's dominant start. Chan's squad also committed only one attacking error after putting up seven in the first set, and the 'Cats hit .583 in the second frame.
After controlling the first two sets, Northwestern had trouble gaining separation early in the third frame. With the score knotted up at six, Yewande Akanbi registered her first kill of the match, and Paffen followed up with yet another kill--her ninth in 10 attempts.
After another Paffen kill, Dutchman got one of her own to put the Wildcats ahead, 12-8. Iowa fought back, however, taking an 18-17 lead that forced Chan to use his first timeout.
Northwestern responded with three straight points, including another combined block by Tashima and Dutchman, to put the 'Cats five points from victory. After a service error by NU, Dutchman hit home another convincing kill--her 11th of the match. From there, the redshirt senior forced match point with another kill, and Iowa's final attempt sailed out of bounds to clinch the three-set sweep.
The Wildcats will close out the home portion of their schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 26 when they host the defending national champions at Welsh-Ryan Arena. No. 4 Penn State will be in town for Northwestern's Senior Night match, which will feature tributes to five of Northwestern's soon-to-be graduates - Dutchman, Akanbi, Paffen, Maggie Burnham and Monica McGreal. The quintet will be honored shortly before the start of the 7 p.m. match.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter and Instagram, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!