The last time Northwestern failed to win a Big Ten game in a regular season was in 1996, when sets were played to 15 points. The ‘96 Wildcats went 9-24 overall and 0-20 in conference play, beating teams like NC State and Marquette early on in the year before losing their final 20 matches of the season.
Now, Northwestern might celebrate the 30th anniversary of its first winless Big Ten slate by doing so once more, the second time in program history.
NU dropped games to No. 18 Washington and No. 12 Oregon
over the weekend, falling to 0-14 in conference play and 7-18 on the year. The Huskies knocked off the Wildcats in straight sets on Friday, while the Ducks needed four to put them down on Sunday. Northwestern has three more chances to get a win in conference play, but with each game, the light at the end of the tunnel grows dimmer and dimmer.
I listed NU’s frightening statistics in an earlier edition of this column, but I’m going to do it again just to provide an update on how bad things are. This time, I’ll compare Northwestern to the middle of the Big Ten in all major categories.
The ninth highest-scoring offense in the conference, Michigan, is averaging 17.43 points per set, while the worst-scoring offense, Northwestern, is at 14.66. Washington’s middling 12.51 assists per set dwarfs Northwestern’s 11.20, ranked 18th once more. Northwestern places last in service aces and opponent service aces, with 0.89 and 1.71 per set, while the ninth-best Big Ten team in those categories averages 1.39 and 1.16 per set. The service disparity is important to note, as it’s typical to record more service aces than errors in a set. 13 of the other 17 Big Ten teams have more aces than errors on the season, reflecting a team-wide failure rippling throughout Northwestern. The ‘Cats also rank last in the conference in blocks, kills, opponent kills, opponent assists and opponent hitting percentage. NU stands alone at the bottom of the chart in 9 of the 13 statistical categories present on theBig Ten website. There’s not one player or area of the game to point a finger at and list as the reason for the ‘Cats losing because the answer to all the questions is simple: Northwestern isn’t on the same level as any of the other teams in its conference.
The ‘Cats lost to the Huskies by a total score of 75-55, plagued by an inefficient offense and sputtering defense. NU hit .213 on the day and allowed Washington to hit .402. Senior outside hitter Campbell Paris led the team with 10 kills, and sophomore libero Lauren Dignan contributed nine digs, but, stop me if you’ve heard this before: it was complete and utter domination in every aspect of the game.
NU put up more of a fight against Oregon, winning the third set 25-18 to avoid the sweep. Sophomore outside hitter Bella Bullington had one of her best games of the season, recording 20 kills while hitting .326 and adding eight digs, but the rest of the Wildcat attack lacked aggression and efficiency. No other ‘Cat hit above .100 as 25 hitting errors plagued the team. NU also had seven service errors compared to three aces and finished with 18 fewer digs than Oregon. Bullington artfully mixed tips and kills all game long, but in the end she couldn’t carry the ‘Cats to victory as the only threatening attacker.
After another 0-2 weekend I’m left feeling like I’ve been writing the same dreary article for several weeks in a row. It’s hard to come up with anything nice to say about Northwestern as it hasn’t provided much positive content this season. The last chance for hope is on Thursday when the ‘Cats host an Iowa team that is 2-12 in the Big Ten. The first serve is at 7:00 p.m. CST at Welsh-Ryan Arena and is likely NU’s last chance at a conference win.
