Northwestern rely on Sangiacomo’s firepower to keep winning

Northwestern have started Big Ten women’s volleyball conference play with three straight losses, but displayed some promising progress across the last week, winning two of their last three matches to move up to tenth place in the standings.

In the fourth week of conference play, the Wildcats have another opportunity to continue their rise in the division with a home match against Maryland on Friday and a road game against Minnesota on Sunday – the second duel, set to start at 12:30 local time (17:30 UTC), will be streamed live for VBTV subscribers around the world.

• Watch the Big Ten Volleyball matches live on VBTV.

Sunday’s encounter against the Golden Gophers will bring out good memories for Northwestern as about a year ago they secured arguably the most important victory of their season against Minnesota on the road, winning in five sets.

“It was a fun one against them last year, knocking off a top ten opponent,” junior libero Ellee Stinson said. “This year they have so many new pieces, including two players who I went to high school with and played club with. I’m always super excited to play them.”

A new face with Northwestern in 2023, graduate outside hitter Julia Sangiacomo has been a key piece in the team’s recent form. The 1.95m-tall player, who transferred from Santa Clara, has been in excellent form lately, having registered 33 kills in a win over Purdue, 16 in a loss to Michigan and 32 in a triumph against Michigan State.

Minnesota, who are ninth with three wins and four losses, see this week as an opportunity to bounce back after losing their three Big Ten encounters ahead of week four. The Golden Gophers started the plan well, downing Michigan 3-0 on Wednesday and will now try to get another win at home against Northwestern.

Besides the encounter between Northwestern and Michigan, VBTV subscribers around the world will also be able to watch live the duel between Nebraska and Michigan State on Friday, at 18:00 local time (23:00 UTC).

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