It was two sets to two as Northwestern and Maryland headed into the fifth and final set on Saturday. College Park was on its feet as two of the Big Ten’s basement dwellers traded haymakers, trying anything to improve their chances of making the postseason conference tournament. The Terrapins dominated the first and third sets, while the Wildcats took the second and fourth. Heading into the final set, NU held all the momentum and desperately wanted to eke out its first Big Ten win.
However, Maryland
wasn’t going to lay down on the mat. Neither team gained separation early on in the deciding set, as the Terrapins led 6-5 through the first 11 points. Every person in the arena was on the edge of their seat. That is, until the Wildcats ran.
Down by one, Northwestern urgently recovered from an errant serve reception by Bella Bullington and got the ball back over the net; a Bullington bullet then went right through Maryland’s setter’s hands to tie the score.
6-6.
Maryland hit the ball into the back of its own net, and then Ellie Stiernagle’s long arms swallowed up the ball on the very next Terrapin hitting attempt. Northwestern went up two.
8-6.
Bullington’s erratic swing glanced off the fingertips of a Maryland blocker to tumble into the stands; then, the ‘Cats dropped a long-lasting point when Gigi Navarrete backed into the net.
9-7.
Maya Stillwell and Paris Campbell found holes in the Maryland defense on back-to-back plays, putting NU up four and oh so close to the win it so badly wanted.
11-7.
The two desperate teams traded blows, with Mara Štiglic anchoring the Wildcat attack. Northwestern fought its way to the brink of victory.
14-11.
Match point number one saw the ball carom off Bullington’s right arm out of bounds. Match point number two saw Štiglic’s attack dribble off the Maryland block onto the NU side of the net. Match point number three saw Štiglic’s hit aggressively rebound off the block and nestle back into the heart of the Wildcat defense.
14-14.
After another Štiglic hit and another Maryland block, the Terrapins had flipped the script and were on the precipice of victory.
14-15.
The ‘Cats grinded from there and went on to win three more points despite the surrounding gym erupting with screams of support for the Terrapins. Bullington took over as the offensive alpha and added two angry kills, bringing her total to 22 for the day.
Yet, as is the new standard with Northwestern volleyball, the ‘Cats ultimately lost 19-17 and moved to 7-10 on the year and 0-6 in the Big Ten.
It was an excruciating loss representative of how things have gone this season. Štiglic recorded 20 kills, Campbell added 14 and Stillwell finished with five as Northwestern accumulated 63 kills on the day. It was 26 hitting errors that were ultimately too much to overcome, as Northwestern’s 0.219 hitting percentage was dwarfed by Maryland’s 0.278.
In total, it was more of the same for the Wildcats in yet another 0-2 weekend. The ‘Cats are uncontrollably racing down a slip and slide with nothing to hold onto – as things stand, they might not win another game this season. With No. 1 Nebraska and No. 22 Michigan State next up for NU, it won’t get any easier.
Northwestern still has seven teams ranked in the top 25 of the AVCA Rankings on its schedule (eight if you include Illinois, the first unranked team). The ‘Cats have already played, and lost to, a majority of the bottom half of the conference, putting them in a tough position to finish in the top 15 of the Big Ten standings and qualify for the postseason.
To avoid the bottom three, NU likely has to win four or five of its remaining eleven games. Over the next month, the Wildcats host Michigan, Rutgers, and Iowa, all of which are must-win games. Northwestern’s matches against the top-ranked teams in the conference can almost certainly be marked down as losses waiting to happen, meaning it has to win out against similarly talented teams. In addition to the three teams I already mentioned, NU needs to pull off an upset against Illinois, Michigan State or Washington. Northwestern will likely lose three sets to none in a majority of its games for the rest of the season, but it must pick off the sleeping giants if it wants to compete past the regular season.
Nebraska and Harper Murray will come to town on Thursday at 7:00 pm CT, as the ‘Cats look to break their losing streak against the best team in the country.
