Michigan
15-14, 7-13Big Ten
Northwestern
4-25, 2-17Big Ten
Michigan Volleyball Dumps Wildcats in Season Finale
11/26/1999 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site:Â Evanston, Ill. (Welsh-Ryan Arena)
Result:Â Michigan 3, Northwestern 0 (15-11, 15-6, 15-9)
Records:Â U-M (15-14, 7-13 Big Ten), NU (4-25, 2-17 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match:Â TBA
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team, playing its best volleyball of the season, closed out the 1999 regular season with a 3-0 (15-11, 15-6, 15-9) win over Northwestern on Friday (Nov. 26). Michigan dominated at the net for the third time in its last four matches and recorded a hitting percentage of .368 (56-14-114) along with 10 blocks.
Game one proved to be the tightest of the match, with Michigan pulling out 15-11 win on a hitting percentage of .319 (21-6-47). Michigan's 21 kills was a match high for both teams. Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Kacor (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley HS) paced the Wolverine attack throughout the match and finished with a match-high 13 kills on a hitting percentage of .370 (13-3-27). Kacor also tied teammate Shannon Melka (Wheaton, Ill./St. Francis HS) for the team high with 10 digs.
Game two was one of Michigan's more dominant games of the season as the Wolverines hit a impressive .452 (18-4-31) while holding the Wildcats to a mark of just .028 (10-9-36). Michigan, which out-blocked Northwestern 10-5 for the match, owned the net, led in that category by middle blocker Joanna Fielder (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS), who registered a match-high six blocks. Fielder was also impressive at the nest as she hit .333 (12-4-24) for the match and helped Michigan to a 15-6 game-two win.
For the second straight match Michigan came out of intermission strong and hit .361 (17-4-36) as a team for game three. Michigan's dominant hitting percentage was also aided by a pair of freshman. Middle blocker Katrina Lehman (Bloomfield, Hills, Mich./Marian HS) hit .438 (8-1-16) for the match, while fellow freshman Dana Chapman (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg HS) notched a career-high nine kills in just two games and hit .300 (9-3-20) for the match. The freshman helped Michigan put Northwestern away 15-9 in game three, giving the Wolverines a 3-0 victory in the final match of 1999.
By winning three of its last four matches, Michigan finished the 1999 regular season with a winning overall record of 15-14.
MATCH BESTS
Kills: U-M 56 (Nicole Kacor 13); NU 43 (Carmen Burbach 11)
Assists: U-M 51 (Shannon Melka 38); NU 38 (Kelli Meyer 37)
Digs: U-M 40 (Melka, Kacor 10); NU 35 (Jennifer Zagorski 11)
Service Aces: U-M 1 (Joanna Fielder 1); NU 3 (Meyer 2)
Blocks: U-M 10 (Fielder 6); NU 5 (Sarah Ballog 4)
NOTES
• Michigan's win over Northwestern is the 400th in the history of the program.
• Michigan's final Big Ten mark of 7-13 is a three-game improvement over its four-win conference total of a year ago.
• Michigan recorded its three best hitting percentages of Big Ten play in its last four matches, all wins. The Wolverines hit .310 (81-24-184) in a 3-1 win over Illinois (Nov. 19), .404 (53-13-99) in a 3-0 win over Michigan State (Nov. 24) and tonight's mark of .368 (56-14-114). Tonight's match and the Michigan State match are the first time this season Michigan has hit over .300 in the back-to-back matches.
• Anne Poglits (West Bloomfield, Mich./Livonia Ladywood HS) played in the final match of her career and had two kills, while Maggie Cooper (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern HS) closed out her career by recording three digs.
• Joanna Fielder hit better than .300 in each of the final four matches of the season, her best streak of 1999.
• Michigan pushed its current winning streak over Northwestern to 11 matches.
