Northwestern Wildcats2022 Record: 18-14
Conference Record: 7-13 (T-10th)
NCAA Tournament Placement: N/A
Final AVCA Ranking: NR
Head Coach: Shane Davis (8th year at Northwestern)
Record at Northwestern: 88-113
Returning Starters | Departures * - 2022 Starter () - Transfer Destination | New Additions () - Transfer Origin |
Leilani Dodson - SR - 6'1 MB
Kathryn Randorf - SO - 6'1 OH/RS
Alexa Rousseau - SR - 6'3 S
Ellee Stinson - JR - 5'2 DS/L | Desiree Becker* - SR+ - 6'2 MB ()
Abryanna Cannon - 6'2 OH/DS
Charlotte Cronister - SR+ - 5'7 DS/L ()
Ella Grbac - 6'3 RS
Tatyana Hardwick - 6'3 MB
Olivia Haskins - 6'4 MB
Hanna Lesiak* - SR+ - 6'2 OH ()
Megan Miller* - 5'6 DS/L
Grace Reininga - SR - 5'8 DS/L/S ()
Temi Thomas-Ailara* - SR+ - 6'2 OH () | Lauren Carter - SO - 5'10 S ()
Maddy Chinn - SR+ - 6'3 OH/RS ()
Ellie Husemann - SR+ - 6'3 MB ()
Gigi Navarrete - FR - 5'6 DS/L
Rylen Reid - SO - 5'11 OH ()
Julia Sangiacomo - SR+ - 6'5 OH ()
Drew Wright - FR - 5'11 OH |
2022 Results:Northwestern's 2022 season began with a long sequence of unremarkable matches. The Wildcats started on their home floor and secured sweeps over Pacific, UTEP, and Northeastern.
Week 2 offered three more wins with Tennessee Tech, Evansville, and Western Carolina. It wasn't a perfect weekend, however, with two set losses total. One of those set losses was to the Evansville Purple Aces from Evansville, Indiana, which managed to swipe Set 1 against the purple-clad Northwestern Wildcats from Evanston, Illinois.
Opponent quality escalated considerably in the third week. Northwestern traveled out to Seattle to face Cal Poly, Washington, and Pepperdine. The Thursday doubleheader ended in a split decision: a four-set win over the Mustangs and a four-set loss against Washington, handing the Wildcats their first blemish of the year.
But the Wildcats bounced back in a big way the following day and swept 24th-ranked Pepperdine to end the weekend. The Waves had been on a tear of taking down ranked foes, including Washington, so this was a head-turning win.
The final weekend of the non-conference series was the Chicago Cup featuring close neighbors DePaul, UIC, and Loyola Chicago. Northwestern survived some close battles along the way, including a five-set win over Loyola. The end result was a 3-0 mark, however, bringing the total pre-B1G tally to 11-1.
Northwestern was granted no reprieves after that 11-1 start. The Wildcats started Big Ten play with a road match against the three-time defending conference champs. Wisconsin swept the Wildcats.
The following night, Northwestern had a setback of greater magnitude and dropped a disappointing three-set loss to in-state foe Illinois. All that positive momentum had seemingly been extinguished in the Big Ten's opening weekend.
Thankfully, a big breakthrough was on the way. The Wildcats went toe-to-toe with Minnesota in The Pav and had a chance to capitalize in the fifth set. Northwestern did just that, snagging the program's first-ever road win over a top-ten team. Not only was it a historic win and a big morale boost, but Northwestern was now building a resume to put itself on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament bid.
Those aspirations hit another roadblock as Michigan entered Welsh-Ryan Arena and won a wild four-set match. I was there.
The pendulum kept swinging. Northwestern raced past Rutgers in the lead-up to another huge road match against Ohio State. Like the Minnesota outing, this one was close. Unfortunately, the Wildcats failed to pounce on deuce opportunities and lost a close four-set match against the Buckeyes.
A far more significant loss would come soon after. Junior setter Alexa Rousseau, a multi-year starting setter who was an indispensable part of Northwestern's fast offense, went down with a foot injury before the team's mid-October home match against Maryland. Freshman Sienna Noordermeer was now thrust into action with Northwestern's postseason aspirations hinging on her ability to step in and keep things moving.
Losing Rousseau's leadership soured the weekend immediately following the injury. Northwestern suffered two consecutive sweep losses to Maryland and Nebraska, injecting serious doubt into the rest of the Wildcat season.
Somehow, though, things started to look up with Noordermeer gaining more confidence in the starting role. The Wildcats defeated Rutgers and quickly earned some sweet sweep vengeance against the Terrapins. But nothing compared to the thrill of defeating Purdue in a five-set thriller at home to notch Northwestern's third ranked win of the season. A win over Iowa pushed the overall win streak to four.
The first weekend of November would be a greater test of Northwestern's mettle with Ohio State and Nebraska traveling to Evanston. The Buckeyes blanked the Wildcats, but a rebound opportunity loomed against Nebraska.
Northwestern appeared to be on the verge of its biggest win yet as it had the Huskers on the ropes in Welsh-Ryan. The Wildcats held a 2-1 set lead and were a few points away from taking the match. Nebraska fought back and forced a fifth, however.
The butterfly effect of that fifth set would be disastrous. In the tiebreaker, Noordermeer chased an errant dig into the stands and collided with the bleachers. She was carted off and would not play for the rest of the year. Nebraska won the match, but the loss of Noordermeer was far more consequential.
The Wildcats had to pull backup defensive specialist Grace Reininga off the bench to set Northwestern's next two matches against Michigan and Michigan State. Both outings ended in losses as the late-season slide commenced.
Rousseau made her comeback the following week, but her readiness to reassume the leading role was questionable. The circumstances were just too grave. Northwestern fell to Indiana in five sets and was swept again by Michigan State. Penn State won in the only meeting between the two teams.
At least the season ended in victory. The Wildcats earned a sweep over Illinois to secure an 18-14 record. It was the first above-0.500 finish under Shane Davis, but the 2022 campaign was mostly defined by what could have been.
2022 Lineup:You may have noticed that I skipped ahead and talked about the setters in the 2022 results overview. This is because the setter strife felt essential to the narrative surrounding Northwestern's results, so I bent the rules a little. Let's talk about everyone else now.
This conversation ought to start with senior outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara, who had been Northwestern's all-everything since she arrived on campus in 2019. She took almost one-third of Wildcat swings in 2022 despite being in and out of the backcourt throughout the year. Thomas-Ailara's 4.33 kills per set ranked second in the conference behind Minnesota's Taylor Landfair, a first-team all-American.
Northwestern's L2 was also a familiar face. Hanna Lesiak was back in the lineup and held a more consistent six-rotation role than Thomas-Ailara. Her 0.146 hitting percentage last year left a lot to be desired, but her starting spot never seemed to be in jeopardy. Northwestern's incredibly quick tempo to the pins inherently created some risk and not-so-good plays.
The middles were experienced. Senior Desiree Becker had the best hitting clip among Northwestern attackers with a 0.349 efficiency from the M2 spot. On top of that, Becker was the most productive blocker on the team.
Leilani Dodson, who started her career at BYU, was Northwestern's M1. Her experience as a slide attacker made her an easy choice for this spot. Dodson's role as a Rotation 6 server was off and on.
All this veteran frontcourt leadership was complemented by true freshman Kathryn Randorf at opposite. Randorf had spent much of her prep career on the left or in the middle, but this was more of a referendum on which roster hole Northwestern needed to address. Randorf thereby took control of the right pin and made the most of it.
Defensive specialist usage was mostly stable, except for one key spot. Fifth-year senior Megan Miller was the incumbent starter at libero. No one was challenging that. Sophomore Ellee Stinson also secured her year-long role as the right-back DS for Randorf. The adaptive DS spot was at the L1 spot occupied by Thomas-Ailara. Early in the year, Northwestern used senior outside hitter Abryanna Cannon in that spot. The Wildcats progressively went away from that, though, and started to take their chances with Thomas-Ailara seeing stints in the back. Returning senior Charlotte Cronister was another movable piece in that puzzle.
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2023 Projected Lineup:That departure list is long. We all see it.
Northwestern has some colossal roster turnover in 2023 that is only offset by a few familiar faces at various positions. Most important among the returners is Rousseau, who should still be among the Big Ten's best setters. This year will be a serious referendum on her ability to run an offense with so many unfamiliar hitters around her.
Stinson should be Northwestern's new libero. Her in-match experience from the past couple of years gives her a clear advantage, especially with so many other defenders departing from the 2022 depth chart.
Returning attackers include Randorf at the pin and Dodson at M1. Those seem locked in, except for the distinct possibility that Randorf could move to the left pin this year. She has ample experience in that role. Given some recent roster movement, Randorf's services might be best suited to this new position.
Both of last year's left-side hitters are gone to the grad transfer portal. Thomas-Ailara will still see her former team from the Wisconsin lineup, while Lesiak is off to Long Beach. Again, this should encourage some experienced players to move to that spot. Cue Randorf.
Northwestern also picked up experience from elsewhere in the form of Santa Clara graduate transfer Julia Sangiacomo. Like Thomas-Ailara, Sangiacomo was a serious volume scorer for the Broncos who ranked 30th in the NCAA last season in kills per set. We have yet to see how Sangiacomo's skills might translate to the Big Ten, but she should get an opportunity on the left either way.
How about the right pin? This is where Northwestern might look toward a former conference rival. The Wildcats acquired former Purdue pin hitter Maddy Chinn on a one-year deal. Her journey from one pin to another during her Boilermaker career has been well documented. I wouldn't rule out some reps on the left, but Chinn feels more poised to take the opposite role.
We need one more Big Ten grad transfer in here. Bring on Ellie Husemann, a fifth-year senior middle blocker who moves to Evanston from Minnesota. Husemann's niche with the Golden Gophers was mostly centered around blocking, and she'll be able to do a fair amount of that at Northwestern's vacant M2 spot. Pencil this one in.
Questions remain regarding what Northwestern might do with its defensive specialists behind Stinson. Chinn never played back row at Purdue. You could feasibly bring Randorf and Sangiacomo into the back row if those are your starters, but it would be a bit of trial by fire for Randorf. Gigi Navarrete joins the crew as a vaunted local freshman, and she has hopefully put some offseason injury struggles behind her. Otherwise, you're looking at a Cannon situation where Northwestern uses a pin hitter as a DS.
2023 Schedule:The Wildcats have the curious misfortune of sending its relatively new-look roster into a tough Week 1 road trip.
Hawaii, Oregon, and San Diego await in Honolulu. You always wonder how one team from the Midwest ends up at these things. In any case, this is a huge early test where you'd hope that Northwestern isn't way in over their heads. Maybe you swipe a win against San Diego or the hosts. 1-2 would be okay.
Illinois State and Milwaukee are next. These aren't pushovers, but Northwestern hopefully has enough to get it done here.
Boston is the next destination in Week 3. Northern Colorado will travel alongside Northwestern in this one, and the Bears could pose a legitimate challenge. Then, Northwestern faces Northeastern in the battle of the sub-divided poleward-facing cardinal directions. Cats versus dogs, too. Edgy.
UIC and Yale wrap up conference play in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Yale is legit.
So is this:
2023 Outlook:Northwestern has been a popular discussion topic lately. Basically, you have confirmed hazing in the football program that has spilled over into widespread allegations in the entire Northwestern athletic department, including volleyball. Davis was not present at Big Ten Media Days. That's all I have from an objective lens.
The Wildcats still have a group of players that will compete hard this season, and this thing is about that. It may be easy to simply chalk up Northwestern's demise this year after losing a transformative attacker like Thomas-Ailara, in addition to several other key contributors from the past few seasons.
But Northwestern should still have enough talent to avoid being crammed right into the B1G basement. Sure, the ceiling for this year's squad probably isn't as high. We might see some rollercoaster results, which seemed to be a prevailing theme last year, anyway.
The lower end of the Big Ten's middle tier is probably the right place for Northwestern. On the bright side, there are vulnerable, inexperienced teams in this group that Northwestern could pounce on to produce a respectable number of conference wins.