Northwestern beats Purdue - Report

[VBCOACH]

Yes, a rare and enjoyable Northwestern victory! Northwestern upsets Purdue in four games in Evanston.

For Northwestern, their defense has always been solid...their passing too. Since their loss to Loyola early in the season (their low point,) the starting line-up has changed 33%. That's a lot, and I think that it is makng a difference. They are playing their best players now (in my opinion.)

Leah Delcourt, a 6'1" Senior, has recoverd from a broken right (hitting) hand and has replaced 6'1" Freshman Stefanie Alde. Leah is not a great or dominating player, but is a better player than Stefanie. Also, a senior on the court must be a stabilizing influnce for a team playing 3 Freshmen.

Julie Purcell has found a seat on the bench with Courtnie Paulus and Lindsay Andrson playing at outside hitter and Stephanie Jurivich at opposite.

For Purdue, they could not terminate from the outside...a must to win at any level. They started out with Kim McConaha and Leah Wischmeir at outside hitter. Kim is listed as a middle on the roster, and was the MVP at the tournament in Madision earlier this year (as a middle.) Anyone know when she was switched to outside? Well, anyway, Kim isn't very good as an outside. In game four, Kim went back to the middle, and, wow, she is a good middle. Obviously much more comfortable there. Kim Cappa, a 5'6" Senior, came in as the other outside.

It was too little, too late, as Purdue was already off of its' game as Northwestern rode its' momentum and the home court advantage to victory.

[LuckyVB]

Great to see Northwestern get another Big Ten victory! Keylor Chan is a class act and a very good coach.

[bomber]

Chan might be a class act, and a good coach, but he is a lousy recruiter. Purcell is a bust, and his frosh class is just so-so. He lost out on ALL the local high profile 2004 talent in his area, and with so many frosh contributing so meaningfully to their Big Ten programs this year, one must question why he doesn't seem to be able to draw better talent to such a wonderful school.From the look of things they appear like they might languish in the Big 10 cellar for a while.

[The Bofa on the Sofa]

VBCOACH said:

For Purdue, they could not terminate from the outside...a must to win at any level. They started out with Kim McConaha and Leah Wischmeir at outside hitter. Kim is listed as a middle on the roster, and was the MVP at the tournament in Madision earlier this year (as a middle.) Anyone know when she was switched to outside? Well, anyway, Kim isn't very good as an outside. In game four, Kim went back to the middle, and, wow, she is a good middle. Obviously much more comfortable there. Kim Cappa, a 5'6" Senior, came in as the other outside.

So who started at the other middle? Jaques was one, who would be the other? Emily Williams? I can't imagine Katie Dobson being available yet.

Purdue is having big problems with their second OH. The combination of Cappa/Francke hasn't been cutting it.

If they have a third middle, maybe they should switch to a 3 middle set?

[LuckyVB]

It is harder to recruit to Northwestern simply because of their academic standards. Anyone Keylor recruits has to be able to pass the admission requirements at Northwestern. It is no Iowa or Minnesota.

[bucky415]

And how many national championships has Stanford won with academic standards just as high as Northwestern's? They might not be able to get some recruits for academic reasons, but volleyball players seem to do pretty well on academic all-conference teams, so they should be able to use the school as a strong selling point to all the recruits who are National Honor Society members (mostly at high schools that aren't going to be found on any academic watch lists anytime soon). For that reason, I am surprised that Northwestern hasn't been better in volleyball and women's hoops over the years. Maybe the institutional commitment to those programs isn't all that strong. I don't know.

[VBCOACH]

Agent said:

So who started at the other middle? Jaques was one, who would be the other? Emily Williams? I can't imagine Katie Dobson being available yet.

Purdue is having big problems with their second OH. The combination of Cappa/Francke hasn't been cutting it.

If they have a third middle, maybe they should switch to a 3 middle set?

Emily Williams was the other middle. I should mention that Freshman Samantha Mader looked good at opposite.

[The Bofa on the Sofa]

VBCOACH said:

Emily Williams was the other middle. I should mention that Freshman Samatha Mader looked good at opposite.

Sami is certainly one of the top freshmen in the conference.

Williams has come in on occasion when Jacques has been off. I can imagine that she would be a better option than Cappa or Francke. The three middle set is not such a crazy solution to the OH problem.

[Go Iowa]

It was indeed a great victory for the Cats. Lindsay and Stephanie were hitting harder than they have all year.

As for Keylar's recruiting... this year's freshman class is just fine. Lindsay Anderson will be a stud, and Alridge will be a lot to handle once she gets into the weightroom. And for next year he signed Hyser, who is the real deal. So, I'd say that NU is well on it's way to becoming a top 3-4 Big Ten team in the year's to come. Purcel was a great recruit for Keylar to grab. That said, she doesn't look like she's in very good shape this year. Christie Gardner was another good nab for him, as was Drew Robertson. Gardner is a solid libero, and Drew is quality (not high quality, but quality). She just never really developed into what she should have been, but Keylar hadn't had a setting coach until this year when Ryan was brought in. I can already see the difference he's had with Jurivich, and she'll be a leading contender to run the offense next year and the year's to follow.