Wildcats Travel to the Mitten for Two Matches

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern heads to the Mitten to take on Michigan on Friday and Michigan State on Saturday. Both matches will start at 6 p.m. CT,  and streamed live on B1G+.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Wildcats (17-9, 6-8 B1G) dropped two hard-fought contests against top-10 teams last weekend, falling to No. 6 Ohio State 3-0 and No. 4 Nebraska in five sets. 

In front of a program-record 4,019 fans, Northwestern took the first and third sets in Sunday’s match against Nebraska, but fell 25-23 in the fourth set and eventually dropped the fifth set. Temi Thomas-Ailara posted a season-high 26 kills on a .333 hitting percentage to lead Northwestern’s attack. Hannah Lesiak posted 15 kills and Desiree Becker had 10 to join her in double figures. On the defensive end, Ellee Stinson chipped in with 13 digs to go with five blocks from Becker.

 

‘Cat Facts

• The Wildcats lead the conference with 1297 kills on the season.
• Northwestern ranks second in Big Ten in assists per set (12.95) and kills per set (13.80).
• Thomas-Ailara is third in the conference averaging 4.27 kills per set. Her 1,445 career kills are the second-most among active B1G players, trailing only Penn State’s Kashauna Williams (1,465). Thomas-Ailara passed Liz Douglass (1,420 kills, 1980-83) and Stacey Kammes (1,408 kills, 1989-92) in career kills to move into eighth place in program history. She is 36 kills away from tying Dawn Reig (1980-83) for the seventh most in program history. 
• NU moved up to 29th in the nation in RPI this weekend.
• Northwestern is 13-1 when hitting above .200. and 8-1 when recording nine or more blocks.
• The Wildcats 16 wins this season are the most in a year since 2018 (16-16).
• Northwestern’s loss against Nebraska was its first five-set loss of the season, moving the ‘Cats to 3-1 in five-set matches.

Opposition Position
 
Northwestern is…