It’s a low-pressure season for the Wildcats. Northwestern finished second-to-last in the Big Ten Conference last year and are projected to finish in the bottom half again, but they’re embracing the uniqueness of their situation.
Following a 17th-place finish in the Big Ten Conference last season, Northwestern women’s volleyball is focused on the future.
Head coach Tim Nollan was accompanied by setter Sienna Noordermeer and outside hitter Ayah Elnady at Big Ten Media Days Monday afternoon in Chicago. Elnady is a graduate transfer from the University of Kansas. Media members asked Nollan about the decision to bring the new roster addition to Media Days.
“Well, Ayah is just really special. Volleyball aside, she's an incredible volleyball player, but as a human she's exactly the type of person Northwestern wants,” Nollan said. “As we went through the admittance process and having her do her interviews and things like that, everyone came back with how impressed they were with her as a human.”
Elnady spent four seasons as a Jayhawk. The outside hitter recorded 1,145 kills and 66 aces in her four years in Lawrence while averaging 2.96.
“When I heard Ayah was going in the portal, I knew she was a no-brainer,” Nollan recalled. “Those are the type of people you want to rally around. Having the ability to score three and a half, four points a set doesn't hurt either. I think from us on the volleyball court you're certainly going to look for her to score points, front row and back row. But I love her approach to the game because she is just relentless in her attacking for the ball.”
Northwestern will rely on Elnady a lot this fall and the outside hitter is ready to step into a leadership role for the Wildcats.
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“We talked about it a little bit as a team. For the Big Ten we're going into every game as the underdog, obviously,” Elnady said. “We've seen that in the preseason poll, which is, this is where the fun is because there's no outside pressure. But within us and the team we know we can beat great teams and we can do something, so I feel like it's just going to be really fun playing with no pressure but like knowing that we have a lot of goals.”
In addition to Elnady, the Wildcats added seven players to their roster this offseason. For Nollan, it’s important to show the new players not only how Northwestern volleyball works, but what is expected of Wildcat student-athletes.
“With eight newcomers coming in, I feel like we did a lot of work in the winter and spring quarters with the returners to build a really strong foundation so those eight newbies just slot in,” Nollan said. “They don't get to come in just do their own thing. They understand, okay, this is how we prepare for practice; this is the timing schedule; this is how we will conduct ourselves on road trips; this is how we succeed in the classroom.”
Category: General Sports
