VB Edges Illini, Sweeps Iowa, Stays #6

The Boilers must have taken notes from their five-set loss at home to Illinois, because Wednesday, they used almost the exact same script the Illini read from in Holloway: steal the opening set in extra time, get thumped in the second set, split the next two, then pull out the win on the road. After surviving the Illinois serving game, Purdue cruised at Iowa on Saturday to remain #5 in Massey and #6 in the AVCA poll.

#5 Purdue 3, #22 Illinois 2 (28-26, 16-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12)

Personnel

With Jael Johnson missing both matches, Raven Colvin moved into a starting role; Maddie Koch was the second OH, with Jena Otec at libero again, and the rest of the starters as usual. Ali Hornung appeared in all five sets, likely as a DS, and Maddy Chinn played in two.

Recap

The opening set was close all the way, as neither side could put together a run of more than three and neither would lead by more than two. A mini-run for Illinois put them up 19-21, and two straight Purdue attempts to retake the lead were denied, but at 22-23, two straight attack errors gave the Boilers the first set point of the match. A Kennedy Collins kill brought deuce, and an ace from Jessica Nunge gave the hosts their only set point. Colvin’s kill brought it back to deuce, followed by a Taylor Trammell/Hayley Bush block of Raina Terry, which meant set point #2 for the Good Gals. At 26-25 now, a Purdue service error and an Illinois attack error canceled out, giving the Boilers set point #3. This time, they would cash it in, with Terry blocked by Trammell and Grace Cleveland for the deciding point.

The hosts ran off five straight points to start the second set, and while Purdue was able to fight back to 5-7, they would get no closer. The Boilers would score just once on their serve the rest of the set, with a pair of Purdue attack errors closing it out. At 16-25, the match was even at 1-1, but the floor seemed to be tilted toward the hosts, just as it was at the break in the first meeting.

Set three was where Illinois lost the script, as they turned a 7-7 score into 7-14. Amazingly, Purdue responded with a 7-0 run of their own to tie at 14, but they would not retake the lead, as the Illini used an 0-4 run to open a 16-20 lead, finishing the set with a Terry kill to lead 1-2.

Set four started like the first set, up until 10-11, when the Boilers ran off six straight points - sort of, as four of the six were Illinois attack errors, with a Colvin kill and a Koch/Colvin block the other two. Purdue would lead by as many as seven, with a Marissa Hornung ace pushing it to 23-16, and at 24-18, Illinois fought off two set points, but Caitlyn Newton’s kill on the third sent the match to a fifth and deciding set.

Illinois scored the opening point in the final set, but would not lead again: Purdue responded with three straight to lead 3-1, then pushed the lead to 5-2 and 7-3. Illinois cut the lead in half, but a Cleveland kill made it 8-5 at what would be the switch-sides point if we weren’t using Covid rules. The hosts got a Collins kill for 8-6, and after the teams traded two-point runs and a Cleveland kill made it 11-8, a Terry kill and a Purdue attack error dropped the lead to one. Kills by Trammell and Megan Cooney kept it there at 12-11, but the Boilers got the last run, with a Colvin kill and a Colvin/Newton block of Cooney bringing up match point. A ball-handling error cut the lead to 14-12, but a Bush kill finished it off at 15-12.

Stats

The decisive loss in set two plus the overall quality of the Illinois service game tipped the box score in the home team’s favor, even if the scoreboard didn’t exactly reflect that. Illinois led in kills (61 at .221 to 63 at .206), aces (2-8), assists (47-56) and digs (65-70), while Purdue had their usual lead in blocks (11-8).

Five Purdue players had eight or more kills, led by Cleveland (17 at .295) and Newton (12 at .079). Koch and Trammell each had 9 on 24 attempts, with Koch hitting .250 and Trammell .208, and Colvin added 8 at .400. Bush had 45 assists but not quite enough digs for a double-double (8). Purdue’s two aces were from Otec and Marissa Hornung, both even from the line. No solo blocks on the Boiler side; Trammell (7) and Cleveland (6) were the block-assist leaders, with Colvin adding 4. Otec had a team-high 18 digs and Marissa Hornung had 11.

Illinois also had five players with 8+ kills: fifth-year OH/OPP Megan Cooney led all players with 18 at .167 and also had 11 digs for a double-double, junior MB Kennedy Collins and sophomore OH Raina Terry added 13 kills each (Collins at .333, Terry at .085), junior OH/RS Jessica Nunge (Newburgh/Castle HS) had 9 at .214, and junior MB Kyla Swanson had 8 at .438. Redshirt junior setter Diana Brown had a match-high 50 assists and added 13 digs for a double-double, while also sharing match honors with 2 aces (+1). Cooney (even) and Terry (-1) also had 2, with fifth-year setter Kylie Bruder (+1) and Nunge (-1) serving the others. Brown and Nunge each registered a solo block; Brown’s two block assists gave her a team-high 2.0 total, as Nunge, Collins and Swanson were right behind her at 1.5. Senior libero Taylor Kuper led all players with 26 digs; freshman DS Caroline Barnes had 11.

#5 Purdue 3, #148 Iowa 0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-16)

Personnel

Same starters as Wednesday except with Emma Ellis at second OH and Marissa Hornung playing in two sets instead of three. Ava Torrance, Megan Renner, and Ali Hornung played in two sets each, while Chinn, Emma Terwilliger, and Savana Chacon played in one.

Recap

Iowa came with a strong start, leading 1-3 and eventually 6-9 and 7-10, but an 8-2 run put the Boilers in front to stay, and the Hawkeyes would not score again on their serve in the opening set.

In set 2, the Boilers went up 2-1, and after a Grace Cleveland kill, they ran off 7 more with her at the line to lead 10-1 and put the set out of reach. Iowa did answer with 3 to cut the lead to six, but Purdue steadily pushed the lead until it was in double digits, cruising to an easy 2-0 lead going into the break.

The Hawkeyes would have one more good set in them, digging out of a 4-0 hole to pull within one at 5-4 in the third. While they wouldn’t lead, Purdue didn’t lead by more than 7 until very late, and Iowa got it down to five as late as 20-15, but couldn’t put another run together, and kills from Colvin and Chinn put the match away.

Stats

To no surprise, Purdue dominated the box score, leading in attack (47 kills at .366 to 27 at .124), aces (5-0), blocks (7-2), assists (43-23, and digs (47-29). They held Iowa to just 5 kills in set 2 and a hitting percentage of .037.

Despite the quick match, Purdue did get a number of notable performances, with three players having double-digit kills: Newton (12 at .308), Cleveland (11 at .364) and Colvin (10 at .500). Bush had another double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs. Newton (+1) and Cleveland (+2) had 2 aces each, with Maddie Schermerhorn (+1) getting the other. Cleveland’s 6 block assists were tops among all players, with Taylor Trammell just behind her at 5 - there were no solo blocks this match. Otec was the only other player with double-digit digs, leading everyone with 13.

The Iowa attack was led by junior OH Kyndra Hansen, who had 7 kills at .250; senior MB Amiya Jones (Indianapolis/Tindley HS, 6 at .250) and freshman OH Addie VanderWeide (6 at .235) were just behind her. Sophomore setter Bailey Ortega had 14 assists. Hansen participated in both Iowa blocks for 1.0 total; Jones and senior MB Hannah Clayton each had a block assist for 0.5 total. Ortega and VanderWeide shared team honors with 7 digs each.

Overall thoughts

The Illinois match was a little concerning, but only from the standpoint of “is this team a legitimate Final Four contender?” I think we’re still at a point in the season where the inertia from last season’s ratings isn’t completely gone, so we should start getting a better feel as conferences are more intraconnected (once you get 4-5 weeks of conference play, many teams have played each other so relative standings are more accurate).

With the conference as deep as it always is, especially with respect to NCAA bids, going 16-4 or 17-3 would be incredible. It’s too early to tell if that’s the track we’re on; this weekend should help predict that a bit more. If Purdue is 7-1 with road wins at Illinois and Ohio State, that’s a really good sign; 5-3 isn’t the worst but would suggest that this might not be the year either (although it’s always possible that one team, maybe Nebraska, would be clear of the pack and a bunch of teams would have 5-7 losses).

The Iowa match was a reminder of how good this team is. When you can get a bunch of people court time in a conference match on the road and still win every set convincingly, that’s impressive, regardless of the level of opposition. (Iowa’s in a tough situation, having to rebuild under a relatively new coach in the toughest conference in the country. Look at where Indiana is and how their rebuild is coming along, or where Maryland is. All those wins at the top of the conference mean that there are a bunch of Ls heading downward.)

Conference standings

Nebraska won the match of the week, becoming the conference’s only unbeaten team with a four-set win over Penn State. Wisconsin beat Illinois in four sets to stay tied with Purdue and Penn State; Ohio State swept MSU and Michigan to move into a tie for fifth with Minnesota, who fell in five sets to Michigan, as the Wolverines caught Illinois.

Maryland, Northwestern and Indiana all had weekend splits, while Michigan State, Rutgers and Iowa dropped both their matches.

Purdue likely has the toughest schedule this week, visiting Ohio State and hosting Penn State. Rutgers travels to both teams and will almost certainly stay winless, while Iowa has a reasonable chance at its first win when they host Northwestern Saturday.

Next up

Yeah, that schedule: the return match with the Buckeyes, then hosting a Penn State team that isn’t up to their usual national-contender standards but will still be a really tough team to beat, even in Holloway. A 2-0 weekend would solidify Purdue’s position in the top four (three, really, since PSU would drop to no better than 6-2) and get their 10/23 match at Nebraska even more in the national spotlight. The Boilers won’t be traveling to Penn State this season (sorry - not sorry), so this is their one chance to beat a Russ Rose team while they’re “down” for values of down that apply only to schools with several national titles.

Friday, 8:00 PM: at #7 Ohio State (BTN, live stats)
Sunday, 2:00 PM: vs #17 Penn State (ESPN2, live stats)