Friday, October 9
Evanston, Ill.
7 p.m. CT
Northwestern
vs
Ohio State
#B1GCats Welcome Two Top-10 Teams to Welsh-Ryan this Weekend
10/8/2015 4:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
| NORTHWESTERN VOLLEYBALL: MATCH INFORMATION | |||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | BROADCAST | LIVE STATS |
| Friday, October 9 | #9 Ohio State | 7 p.m. | Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, Ill.) | BTN Plus | Sidearm |
| Saturday, October 10 | #3 Penn State | 7 p.m. | Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, Ill.) | BTN Plus | Sidearm |
| Social: Twitter (@NUVBall and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (NUVBall) | Facebook Wildcats Weekly Release | |||||
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern has a big weekend coming up with a pair of top-10 conference foes visiting Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats play host to No. 9 Ohio State on Friday night at 7 p.m. and No. 3 Penn State at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Both matches will be streamed live via BTN Plus, and Friday's match will be a radio broadcast by WNUR.
Saturday night's match against the Nittany Lions marks Northwestern's "Serve's Up Beach Bash" promotion, in which fans will receive free leis, students will get a free "Serve's Up" tank and groups will receive special Northwestern volleyball sunglasses. Beach-themed concessions will also be served.
Serve's Up
Abbie Kraus tallied at least one service ace in six straight matches from Sept. 12 to Sept. 30. Her season high is four in the Wildcats' win vs. Milwaukee to cap the Wildcat Challenge. Kraus has served an ace in 12 of 15 matches this year and has a total of 20 on the season. She is tied for first in the Big Ten in aces and is first in aces per set.
Fara Makes Immediate Impact
True freshman Rachael Fara earned her first career start at Minnesota last Wednesday night and turned in a solid performance. Fara hit .375 over the course of the match with nine kills. Her .375 mark was a match high. She led Northwestern with seven kills through the first two sets. Fara added five kills, three digs and an assist in her second start at Wisconsin on Sunday.
Where They Rank
Caroline Niedospial leads the Big Ten with 5.16 digs per set. Niedospial holds a sizeable advantage over Annika Olsen of Iowa, who averages 4.70 per game. Niedospial is the only player in the conference to average five or more digs per game. The Northwestern senior ranks 19th among all D1 student-athletes in that category. Taylor Tashima is also among the best in the conference with
11.31 assists per set, good for third in that category. Tashima is also 19th in the NCAA. Abbie Kraus leads the Big Ten in service aces per game following her six-match streak with at least one, and Maddie Slater recently moved into the top-five in the conference in hitting percentage with her .406 mark.
Don't Attack These Wildcats
Northwestern's defense at the net has been dominant so far in 2015. The Wildcats rank eighth in the Big Ten with opponents hitting only .176 against them. Eight times Northwestern has held the opposition to a less than .200 hitting clip. Minnesota was the latest team to struggle on the attack against the Wildcats, hitting only .180 over the course of the match, including a measly .095 in the third set.
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Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
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