VB Comeback Upends Penn State, Salvages Weekend Split

After a closely-contested four-set loss at Ohio State, the Boilers were off to a good start against Penn State in a packed Holloway on ESPN2, winning the opening set.

Two sets later, it was a different story, as the Nittany Lions ran the Boilers off the court before the break and won convincingly after it. Purdue was staring at a possible 0-2 week and potential fall from the top 10.

Fortunately, they pulled out another close set to even the match, then managed to hang on to take the final set despite some odd officiating (it’s not often that virtually every challenge goes the way of one team; in this case I just assume the down ref wasn’t very good), and basically just switched places with Ohio State in both Massey and AVCA.

Their reward? A Saturday trip to Nebraska, who has yet to lose a conference match this season.

Purdue 1, Ohio State 3 (23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 21-25)

Personnel

Jael Johnson missed both matches this week as well. No word on what it is, although I heard secondhand that at the Chalk Talk on Sunday, Shondell mentioned that something was taking much longer than he had ever seen it take - not sure what clearance we’re waiting for but it’ll happen eventually. Marissa Hornung missed this match with an upper-leg injury as well, so Maddie Schermerhorn replaced her as a starting DS and Ali Hornung took Schermerhorn’s spot in the rotation.

Emma Ellis and Maddie Koch shared time as the second OH, with Ellis getting 13 attempts in three sets and Koch getting 7 in two sets. Emma Terwilliger player in all four sets.

Recap

There was a time very early in the match where it looked like Purdue might run away with this one - three of Purdue’s first five points were on blocks (two by Taylor Trammell and Grace Cleveland, one by Raven Colvin and Hayley Bush). The Boilers would go up 7-3 before things went sideways, as the Buckeyes responded with one point, then an 0-2 run, then an 0-4 run to make it 10-12. Purdue tied it at 12, but after an 0-3 run put OSU in front again, the rest of the set was spent chasing; the Good Gals could only manage one more tie, at 22-22, and a 1-3 Buckeye run put the set away for the visitors.

Set two started off in the opposite direction and then got worse, with OSU going up 0-3, 2-6, and 5-11. It appeared that the damage had been done and that 0-2 was a foregone conclusion, but the Boilers chipped away at the lead, first with a 3-0 run to cut it in half and later with 2-0 runs, eventually turning an 18-20 deficit into a 21-20 lead. That would be the last point they’d score, as Ohio State ran off the last five points of the set and went into the break up 0-2.

Purdue again got off to a hot start in set three, going up 1-0, 3-1, and 7-2. That turned out to be all the cushion they’d need, with the visitors cutting the lead to two on several occasions and finally to one at 18-17, but the Boilers extended the match with a 4-0 run to restore the five-point margin and then a trio of Cleveland kills to finish the set.

Unfortunately, the even-sets-are-bad pattern continued, with the Boilers leading at 1-0 and never again. Ohio State quickly built a 3-7 lead, and with the exception of an early Purdue rally to close to 9-10 and again to 11-12, they easily held off the Boilers. At 13-19, Purdue managed three in a row, only to give up four straight OSU points; the Boilers responded with four straight points but couldn’t continue that run, and after a Trammell/Cleveland block killed match point #1, Emily Londot put away the second one to send the Boilers to the locker room with a 1-3 defeat.

Stats

As you might guess, Purdue had a huge advantage in blocks (19-9), but trailed in every other category: attack (45 at .176 to 61 at .182), aces (3-5), assists (38-55) and digs (57-71).

Ohio State kept the Boiler attack in check, with only two Purdue players notching 10+ kills: Caitlyn Newton (16 at .209) and Cleveland (11 at .149); Colvin was just short of that mark (9 at .400). Bush had 36 of Purdue’s 38 assists. Jena Otec (2/even) and Schermerhorn (1/-1) had Purdue’s aces. Newton and Cleveland tied for match honors with a solo block apiece, and Cleveland’s 9 block assists gave her 5.5 total, just ahead of Trammell’s 5.0 on 10 block assists. Otec led all players with 25 digs, Newton added 11 for a double-double and Schermerhorn added a career-high-tying 11.

The Boiler defense again focused on Emily Londot, this time with a bit more success, holding the sophomore OH to 13 kills at -.022. The Buckeye attack in this match was led by senior OH Mia Grunze, who had a match-high 17 kills at .324; junior OH Gabby Gonzales added 12 at .105 and sophomore MB Rylee Rader added 11 at .579. Junior setter Mac Podraza led all players with 44 assists and added 13 digs for a double-double. OSU’s five aces came from senior DS Hannah Gruensfelder (2/+2), Gonzales (2/+1) and Rader (1/-3). Rader also added a solo block, with Londot and freshman MB Arica Davis tying for the team lead with 3.0 total blocks. Junior libero Kylie Murr (Yorktown/Yorktown HS) led the visitors with 17 digs; Londot added 15 for her own double-double and Gonzales just missed one with 9, tying her with Gruensfelder.

Purdue 3, Penn State 2 (25-23, 15-25, 20-25, 25-23, 15-11)

Purdue trotting out All-Americans now just like Penn State can. Clockwise from left: two-time AA Newton, AA Otec, two-time AA Cleveland, VolleyballMag AA Trammell, Chinn (who was a Big Tenteen Distinguished Scholar last season), and AA Bush.

Personnel

Marissa Hornung returned for this match but was not 100%, so Schermerhorn and Ali Hornung frequently moved up in the lineup when Marissa had to step out. (Marissa appeared in four sets but had only 6 digs.)

Koch was the second OH, with 17 attacks in four sets; Maddy Chinn appeared in two and had 9 attacks. With the second set out of hand, Terwilliger and Megan Renner each got some brief playing time.

Recap

No one would have been surprised if all five sets played out like the opening set did. Penn State wouldn’t lead after an early 1-2 advantage, but the Boilers never led by more than four (after a 4-0 run at 7-7) and even then, PSU immediately responded with an 0-3 run to make it 11-10. The sides traded points and twos until the Nittany Lions tied it at 16; there would also be ties at 18, 19 at 22. Purdue used a Penn State attack error and a Newton ace to get to set point; an Anjelina Starck kill gave the visitors the serve, but Newton put away a Bush set and the Boilers were up 1-0. Good times!

Oddly enough, Purdue also led early in set two, getting the opening point and using a 4-0 run to lead 5-1. They would lead as late as 8-7, and were tied 9-9 when the first PSU run put them down 9-13. The next run made it 10-18 and the subs started to come in. The Boilers managed two more points on their serve, at 11-18 and again at 14-23, but the hole was far too deep and there was no coming back against this team. An Allie Holland kill and an Adanna Rollins solo block gave set two to Penn State, 15-25, and Holloway was quiet.

Set three was only slightly better; the Boilers never led but also never trailed by more than five and were tied as late as 18-18. Naturally, a Penn State run gave the visitors an 18-22 lead, the only Purdue points after that came on PSU service errors, and after a 20-25 loss, it seemed for all the world like this would be an 0-2 weekend.

Indeed, set four started off poorly, as Purdue got a 3-1 opening lead but saw PSU take it back with an 0-4 run. The lead was small, but the Boilers couldn’t put enough points together even to tie it until 13-13. With time running out, the Boilers finally went in front during a 4-0 run to lead 18-16; they would trade points through 21-19, when an Otec ace finally stopped a run of sideouts. Unfortunately, PSU had one more run in them, with a Holland block in between three Jonni Parker kills, and at 22-23 the Boilers were in trouble. But a Newton kill stopped the run, Bush and Colvin blocked Starck to set up set point, and Newton made it good. The second 25-23 set of the day would give us a fifth set for the second time in four conference home matches.

As it turned out, for as close as the score was, Purdue never trailed, grabbing the opening two points. Penn State tied it twice, at 3-3 and 4-4, but kills from Colvin and Koch put the Good Gals in front to stay, and they kept expanding the lead; a Koch kill and a Trammell/Koch block made it 8-5, a Newton kill and a Trammell/Cleveland block made it 11-7. At that point, it was all over but the (well-deserved) shouting; it would be sideouts the rest of the way, with the final point coming on a Newton kill.

Stats

The box score was very close, as you’d expect in a match like this. Penn State had the edge in attack (59 at .198 to 68 at .230), blocks (8-9) and assists (56-65), Purdue had a slight edge in digs (76-75), and each team served 4 aces.

Only one Boiler managed double-digit kills, but she got enough to lead all players, as Newton had 26 at .349. Bush had another double-double with 48 assists and 11 digs, and she served an ace (+1) for good measure, with the other aces coming from Newton (+1), Otec (-1) and Colvin (even). Newton had the only solo block on Purdue’s side, with the others spread out well enough that Trammell led the Boilers with 2.0 total. Otec earned conference Defensive Player of the Week honors in part from her match-high 27 digs, just four off her career high (against Minnesota in the spring). Cleveland just missed a double-double, but in the opposite direction of what you’d expect, just 9 kills but 11 digs.

Penn State’s attack was led by a pair of All-Americans and a star freshman, with senior RS Jonni Parker getting 23 kills at .194, senior MB Kaitlyn Hord adding 20 at .500, and freshman OH Anjelina Starck adding 11 at .098. (In case you were wondering why it was so hard for Purdue to defend Hord, she is, like Parker, a three-time All-American, making the first team in 2019.) Senior setter Gabby Blossom took match honors with 58 assists and added 20 digs for a solid double-double; you don’t see 50/20 that often. Penn State’s four aces came from senior OH Adanna Rollins (-1), Parker (-1), senior libero Jenna Hampton (even) and sophomore MB Allie Holland (even). Starck led everyone with two solo blocks, while Rollins, Parker and Holland each had one; Starck added two block assists to lead all players with 3.0 total blocks. Hampton led the Nittany Lions with 26 digs; Starck also added 15 for her own double-double

Overall thoughts

Dropping a winnable set might have cost Purdue an important road win - if the Boilers end up just short of being a top-4 seed (which would be great no matter what), they might wish they’d managed to pull off that one. But along the same lines, if they finish top-8 or top-4, part of that will be the comeback against Penn State. It isn’t easy to get things going after a dog of a set like the second one, much less after dropping another set, but they did it. I don’t know how many coaches have four or more wins against Russ Rose but I can’t imagine it’s a long list, lol. (Shondell now has four: 2010 in WL, 2018 at PSU, spring 2021 at PSU in their first meeting, and now this one.)

Finishing in the top four in the conference may require 15-5 or better, and Purdue is pretty much on track for that, especially if they get the big W on Saturday. Even if they don’t, 7-3 is solid in this conference. If they can stay in Massey’s top 10, they should get a good seed come NCAA time.

Conference standings

Nebraska stayed unbeaten with home sweeps of Indiana and Illinois, while Wisconsin kept pace with a perfect weekend in Michigan. Ohio State pulled into a four-way tie for third after that Friday win, as both Purdue and Penn State split their weekend matches and Minnesota had an easy pair of home sweeps.

Looking at probably-safe-from-the-bubble teams (at this point anyway), Illinois swept Iowa to stay at .500, and Michigan did the same at Maryland, keeping the Terrapins from inching into bubble territory.

The only wins in the bottom of the conference were by Maryland at Michigan State (every road win is a quality win in this conference) and Northwestern at Iowa.

The Purdue-Nebraska winner could gain some serious ground this weekend as four of the five teams between second and sixth play each other twice this weekend: Ohio State at Wisconsin and Penn State at Minnesota Friday, then Penn State at Wisconsin Saturday and Ohio State at Minnesota Sunday. For good measure, the maybe-bubble teams square off Saturday in Champaign.

Next up

The Boilers host Michigan State Wednesday, and if there are trap matches in volleyball then this is definitely one of them. I would guess that volleyball is much like football, basketball etc in that one difference between good seasons and great seasons is that in a great season, a strong team blows out a weaker team because they remain focused. It would be easy to focus on Nebraska, but losing to MSU makes the Nebraska match much less important for title and NCAA seeding purposes. Win the “easy” ones, wait for the hard ones until you’re playing them.

In the press conference on Monday, Shondell heavily emphasized the Michigan State match, so from a preparation standpoint, no one will be overlooking the Spartans. Previous Purdue teams have had trouble playing at a high level against weaker teams; let’s hope Wednesday’s match is an example of what great teams do.

Wednesday, 8:00 PM: vs #82 Michigan State (BTN, live stats)
Saturday, 9:00 PM: at #9 Nebraska (BTN, live stats)

No road photos as per usual; home pics courtesy of Purdue Sports on their new Sidearm gallery. Man, do I miss when they used Exposure, at least there we usually had photo credits to share.