VB Outlasts Illinois, Hudson Gets Third Player + Freshman Of Week Honors

Last season at this time, the Boilers had just made it to #4 in the AVCA poll, their highest ranking ever. Then they faced Illinois, who was having something of an off year. The Boilers went up 2 sets to 1, then dropped the fourth and fifth sets and fell to #6. They wouldn’t reach that peak again, but did manage to string together 9 straight wins and ended up with a pretty good tournament run.

This season, they had just made it to #5 in the poll. Then they faced Illinois, who was having something of an off year. The Boilers went up 2 sets to 1, then dropped the fourth set … but staved off an Illini match point and came away with a 3-2 win, the third straight five-set win for the road team in this rivalry. (Also they beat Rutgers 3-0. More on that below.)

Those two matches were enough to garner Eva Hudson her fifth Freshman of the Week nod (we are six weeks into the season, by the way) and her third Player of the Week honor (she was co-PotW last week with Michigan’s Jacque Boney, a sophomore - they’re the only two underclassmen to win any part of that award this season). The conference record for FotW honors is nine, by Wisconsin’s Dana Rettke in 2017; I am neither suggesting they are the same caliber of player nor even sure how you’d measure that, but I will say that being on track for a similar feat is definitely noteworthy.

The AVCA voters kept Purdue at #5, but Massey’s system likes their strength of wins and moved them up to #4, passing San Diego. With seven Big Tenteen teams in the top 25 in both systems, the Boilers find themselves in a position of strength, and as they’re in the middle of the softest part of their conference schedule, things might go pretty well for a while.

Unfortunately, that soft part has a solid rock in the center; fortunately, the red-and-white rock that is the defending NCAA champs will be making the trip to Holloway on Saturday. If Purdue can hold off the Badgers, they’ll have another week before they’re thrown back into the fire … and even then, after that week, they are at Northwestern, home to Indiana, and at Michigan State. While the Wildcats are surprisingly tough this year, they are still in the bottom half of the conference, so comparatively, that’s “easier”. (The five-match stretch immediately after - at Michigan, then OSU/PSU/Mich at home, then at Nebraska - is not easier.)

#5 Purdue 3, #37 Illinois 2 (25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 17-25, 16-14)

Personnel

I didn’t pay attention earlier, but I did catch it against Rutgers: Purdue is actually playing a 5-2 now that both setters have shown they can handle Big Tenteen opponents. Remember last week when we talked about offenses being attackers-setters in a full rotation? A 5-2 is similar to a 6-2 (where the back-row setter rotates out instead of going up front and another setter rotates into the back row), except that the setters rotate in for each other, making one of them a front-row setter and the other a back-row setter. In Purdue’s case, Megan is the front-row setter and Grace is the back-row setter.

Maddie Schermerhorn is still out with a quad injury; her thigh was heavily wrapped against Rutgers, and while she did (mostly) participate in warmups, she did not play at all, so again we had Ali at libero, Emily Brown as the DS, and Ava Torrance as the other DS. Maddy Chinn made a brief appearance at OH but Emma played almost all the way opposite Eva. No other subs appeared against Illinois.

Recap

After a slow start, with the first two points going to Illinois, Purdue rattled off six in a row, then after a Raina Terry kill, a 4-2 run made it 12-5 Boilers. The Illini wouldn’t get closer than five, at 16-11; a service error and a Hornung ace pushed the lead to seven and the Boilers cruised, 25-17.

Set two was more competitive at the beginning; the Boilers took the opening points, but the teams played basically even through 12-10, when a 3-0 Purdue run made it 15-10. This time, Illinois had some answers, cutting a 16-11 lead down to 17-14 on a sequence where 7 straight points were scored on errors (1 double hit, 2 service errors, and 4 attack errors, in that order; at least the last one was also a block). Kills by Clayton and Hudson pushed it back to 19-14, and then five more errors in seven points generally favored the Boilers, with Purdue ending up on top 24-16 after that stretch. A Kennedy Collins kill held off the first set point, but Colvin got the second, and Purdue was up 2-0 at the break.

Unfortunately, the Illinois team that came out for the third set didn’t play anything like the one that had been outscored 50-34. This one strung together a huge run, turning 3-2 into 4-9 and then 5-12, and Purdue looked like they’d immediately be out of the set … but they kept chipping away at the lead, first with a 3-0 run for 8-12, then a 5-1 run for 14-16, and finally a 3-1 run to tie it at 17. The hosts would not give them another lead, though, going up 17-19 and 19-22. Purdue got two points for 21-22, but gave up two for a set point, and while Hudson’s kill got the Boilers within a point of deuce, Kyla Swanson made the second set point good; 23-25 and 2-1, and there would be a fourth set.

This time, the early run was a little smaller, removing a 2-0 Purdue lead and making it 4-7 Illini. The Boilers hung tough, keeping it no more than 4 through 11-15, but Illinois was relentless, using back-to-back kills from Brooke Mosher and a Collins ace to lead 12-18, then an 0-3 lead for 13-21, and everyone knew what was coming. Sure enough, a Terry kill polished off a solid fourth set by Illinois.

Illinois’ first three points in the final set were on a service error and two attack errors; they were up 2-6 and then 3-7, and things started to look really bad for the Good Gals. This time, it was Illinois with the errors, as a service error and attack error cut into that lead, and an Emma Ellis kill made it 6-7; after a Purdue service error, kills from Renner and Hudson tied it. Mosher made it 8-9; Ellis and Hudson pushed Purdue in front 10-9; Swanson and Terry made it 10-11; and a service error squared it at 11. Terry alternated kills with Boilers for 12-12 and 13-13, then had one more kill to get Illinois a match point at 13-14 … but Ellis struck twice, getting Purdue a match point, and they would not miss, as Balensiefer had an unassisted kill and the Boilers had a very hard-fought 3-2 win.

Stats

Long five-set matches tend to boost stats, as we’ll see on the individual side. On the team side, Illinois edged Purdue in most categories - attack (58 at .266 to 62 at .230), blocks (6-7) and assists (52-57) - but the Boilers had one more ace (6-5) and a sizable edge in digs (70-50).

The Illini were led by junior OH Raina Terry, who tied a match high with 24 kills while hitting .345; Terry also added an ace (-4). Joining her with double-digit kills were redshirt freshman setter Brooke Mosher (playing as an OH or OPP, I think), who had 13 kills at .064, senior MB Kennedy Collins (10 at .214) and sophomore OPP/OH Kayla Burbage (10 kills at .280 - Burbage was teammates with Emily Brown last year at Missouri). Redshirt senior setter Diana Brown (no relation) had a match-high 51 assists and added an ace (+1) and one of Illinois’ two solo blocks (2.0 total), tying Collins, who also had a solo and two block assists. Collins added two aces (+1) and Burbage (-3) served the other. Sophomore libero Caroline Barnes shared match honors with 20 digs.

Hudson led Purdue with a career-high 24 kills at .380 and added a solo block; Ellis added 11 at .185. Assists were divided between Balensiefer (31) and Renner (15), who also had a solo block. Three Boilers served a pair of aces: Brown (even), Colvin (even), and Hornung (+1). Clayton had the other solo block, tying Hudson with 1.5 total. Dig leaders were Hornung with 20, Hudson with 17 (another career high and her first double-double), and Torrance with 12 (also a career high).

#5 Purdue 3, #146 Rutgers 0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-13)

Personnel

5-2 again with Grace in back and Megan in front, Maddie S out again and Ali at libero. BUT! Lourdès Myers started in place of Hannah Clayton and was solid; all other starters were the same, but this time we got brief appearances from Emily Rastovski at OPP (they were trying to set her but it didn’t work out) and Sydney Yim at setter (1 assist and 1 block assist). I’m assuming Hannah is healthy and this was planned to rest her and get Lourdès some experience so that she can step up if needed (MBs don’t always show up ready to play like All-Americans, even if Purdue’s recent history suggests otherwise; sometimes they need a bit of experience to get there).

Recap

With changes in the starting lineup, it would be understandable if the Boilers struggled a bit, and so they did in the first set. Rutgers took the first two points, Purdue got the next two, and then it was back and forth until a 3-0 run turned a 7-8 deficit into a 10-8 lead, the first multi-point lead for the Boilers. They pushed it to 13-10 on two Colvin kills, but they couldn’t get it any wider, and an 0-4 run by Rutgers put the Scarlet Knights up 15-16; a service error ended that run, but two more points saw the visitors go up 16-18. From there, the teams basically traded runs - 2-0, 0-2, then 3-0 for 21-20. The sides traded points through 22-22, but the Boilers had one run left in them, and it was good enough to finish the set, as Balensiefer’s kill (sadly credited to Lauren DeLo in the pbp; assists do not come from opponents) finished set one, 25-22.

Set two actually started off worse for the Good Gals; they only gave up the first point and managed to go up 3-2, but a quick 0-3 run had the Scarlet Knights ahead 3-5; a 1-5 run after Purdue tied it gave Rutgers its biggest lead of the day, 7-11. The teams traded points through 9-13, then the Boilers erased the deficit with a Hudson kill, a Brown ace, a Renner kill, and a Hudson/Colvin block of Alissa Kinkela; more trading points led to a 3-0 run and an 18-16 lead, and even though Purdue wouldn’t end up winning by much more than that, the comfort came from knowing that Rutgers’ last point on their serve was at 7-10, leading to that 7-11 lead. 2-0 runs from the Boilers steadily pushed the lead out, with the last one coming on consecutive Colvin kills. At 25-20 and 2-0, Purdue went to the locker room clearly in front, if not clearly outplaying the visitors.

The third set would change that. 2-0 Purdue; two ties at 2-2 and 3-3; a 4-0 run for 7-3; a 5-1 run for 13-6; and that was the end of the meaningful scoring. By the time Rutgers finally scored on their own serve, they cut a 23-9 lead to 23-11, and we’d already seen Rastovski and Yim make their appearances. A Hudson kill set up match point; it would be delayed twice by Bekah Williams points on a kill and an ace, but a service error ended the match. At 25-13, the third set was more like what we expected coming into the day.

Stats

Purdue had a mild edge in everything except aces (6-6); attack (44 kills at .388 to 34 at .241), blocks (5-3), assists (36-33), and digs (34-25).

The Rutgers attack was led by freshman OH Taylor Humphrey, who had 16 kills at .419 with just 3 errors. Redshirt junior setter Lauren DeLo led everyone with 31 assists and tied for match honors with 2 aces (even); 4 other Scarlet Knights served an ace and all of them had more errors than aces (Humphrey -1, redshirt freshman OH Alissa Kinkela -1, freshman OH/DS Lexi Visintine -1, freshman OH Bekah Williams -2). Grad MB Megan Vernon shared match honors with a team-high 1.5 total blocks, and junior libero Madyson Chitty led Rutgers with 8 digs.

Humphrey was slightly outdone by Purdue’s star freshman, as Hudson posted 19 kills at .469 (just 4 errors); Colvin added 11 kills at .600 and served an ace (even). Assists were split as usual between Balensiefer (16) and Renner (12). Hornung led the Boilers with 2 aces (+2); the others came from Balensiefer (+1), Brown (even), and Torrance (even), as Purdue finished +2 from the line. Myers had a team-leading 1.5 total blocks, while Hornung led everyone with 12 digs.

Overall thoughts

The Illinois match looked pretty bad at times, but Illinois is at worst a strong middle-of-the-pack team, they always draw well, and their student section makes good noise (or at least they do in Holloway - they are, to my knowledge, the only group that regularly makes an appearance here). Then you remember that Purdue’s starting lineup now is freshman/grad/senior/senior/sophomore/grad/sophomore, with a redshirt junior splitting time with one of the grad students, and that both grads are in their only year with Purdue, and that the junior is in her first year here. At that point, you should be thinking “how are they even doing this?” I know I am.

It’s early. The bottom of the conference is its usual dangerous self - Purdue’s escaped iowa but has trap matches at Maryland and Michigan State, as well as Northwestern (who might be as good as Illinois). The Boilers haven’t yet proved themselves against the top of the conference and had a really rough go in their only top-10 match so far. They could end up 12-8 or so and this might all be forgotten.

But they could also end up 16-4, which might not quite get them a top-4 seed but would certainly put them in the conversation. Massey has their expected wins at 24.4 right now, which if we round down means 15-5. That’s a top-4 conference finish and a decent seed, maybe top 8. Win the borderline matches (at Michigan, home to Ohio State) and it’s 16-4; add one of the 40s (Wisconsin, Nebraska, at Minnesota) and 17-3 is … a lot of wins. (The match in Lincoln is 28% right now, by far the least likely win.) 17-3/26-4 would be a top-4 seed and be really close to Purdue’s first conference title in almost 40 years.

Conference recap

After two wild weeks in conference play, only Nebraska and Purdue are left unbeaten, as the Huskers cruised past Rutgers and Maryland. Wisconsin rebounded with a sweep of PSU and a similarly-close win over Illinois; Ohio State handed Michigan their first loss and both teams added an easy road win to round out the 3-1 group. Penn State could well end up 3-3 after Friday’s visit to Columbus; Minnesota fell in five sets (at home!) to Northwestern and has the Michigan/MSU road trip this week, so they may also be 3-3.

Illinois lost two five-set matches to quality opponents and then gets a Sunday road trip to Penn State; Indiana has two bottom-half wins and might get a third at Iowa on Saturday.

Northwestern can follow up their shocker with a home win Friday against Rutgers; the winner will likely move ahead of Michigan State, who has Nebraska and Minnesota this week.

Maryland and Iowa have yet to win; they both have a top-half and bottom-half opponent this week, so either or both could get that first conference win.

Next up

The Boilers kick off a B16N doubleheader against Iowa on Wednesday; they’ll honor the longest-tenured coaching staff in D1 for 20 continuous years of service. (Sorry, Iowa. Bad news for you.) Wisconsin then comes to town on Saturday for one of two marquee matchups on Football Saturday, with Nebraska-Michigan the other. You all got your B16N+ subscriptions already, right?

Note the time change of the Wisconsin match, previously scheduled for 8:00 PM. I’m all for that. Earlier = better, even though volleyball hasn’t (yet) had the commercial problems that football does. A 2.5-hour match plus 30 minutes to let the crowd thin out, walk to Insomnia, get cookies, and walk back to the car, plus a 70-minute drive … long-ass evening.

Wed 10/5, 6:00 PM: W 3-2 vs #89 Iowa (BTN+, live stats)
Sat 10/8, 6:00 PM: vs #6 Wisconsin (BTN+, live stats)

No pics this time; everyone was busy. Maybe this week for Wisconsin?