Sept. 27, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Despite several pushes by Purdue, the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers (10-2, 1-0) topped the Boilermakers 3-0, Friday night in both teams' Big Ten opener. Wisconsin won 30-24, 30-24 and 30-25.
"I was very pleased with the way we came out and played hard tonight," head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said. "Wisconsin certainly deserves their accolades, but I was very pleased. We just needed to extend some of the good things we did a little bit longer. That's what Wisconsin does, they challenge you to play at a high level for a long period of time. We were there for a lot of it, but when push came to shove Wisconsin showed why they are where they are at and they pushed it out."
Game one was tight from the beginning with neither team leading by more than two and featuring seven ties until the Badgers took a 9-8 lead and never relinquished it. UW extended the lead to five at 15-10, but the Boilermakers would not let up, capitalizing on three Wisconsin errors and a block by Kim McConaha (So., Centerville, IN) and Renata Dargan (Fr., New Lenox, IL) to pull within two at 17-15. A string of kills by Amy Hutgren and Erin Byrd boosted the UW lead to seven and despite three Jen Bova kills including one on a pursuit play from the back row, Wisconsin closed it out at 30-24. Bova and Joanna Lowry (Jr., Glen Ellyn, IL) each tallied five kills in the game.
Game two started with a 5-2 Purdue lead after a pair of McConaha kills and kept the game within reach from that point on. The Badgers took the lead at 8-7 and maintained it until a Marie Franke (Fr., Ballwin, MO) kill started a three point Boilermaker run, which included a diving save by Bova, to tie the game at 14-14. The teams traded leads until the 21-21 mark when Wisconsin nudged ahead on a pair of Byrd kills. A UW service error pulled Purdue to within three at 27-24, but the Badgers closed game two at 30-24 on two Lori Rittenhouse kills. Bova added five kills to her tally in game two.
The Badgers went up 4-0 in game three, which sparked a 5-1 Boilermaker rally to tie things up at 5-5. Wisconsin answered with a 5-1 run of its own, but Purdue would not let up, tying the game at 13-13 after two Lowry kills and a pair of UW errors. Wisconsin again extended the lead to four but quickly saw it diminish into another tie behind two McConaha kills and a Franke service ace. The Badger lead rose to four at 23-19, but Purdue pulled with in one at 23-22 and 25-24 before Wisconsin put the match away with a 30-25 victory.
"I think we played some great defense tonight," Hulsmeyer said. "I was really pleased to see Jen Bova back out there on the court, she had a big night attacking-wise. I thought we blocked well, even though we only out-blocked Wisconsin by one, we touched a lot of balls and that made things a lot easier to play from behind. I can't say enough about Daren Poe and the defensive effort that she gave tonight. She dug some hard balls and just seemed to be everywhere on the court."
Purdue hit .242 in the match to Wisconsin's .257 effort. The Badgers recorded eight service aces against the Old Gold and Black, but Purdue outblocked UW seven to six. Lowry led Purdue with 13 kills, while McConaha added 12 kills and six blocks. Sophomore Daren Poe (Martinsville, IN) led the squad with a match-high 19 digs.
"I really think it is a confidence boost for us, because Wisconsin is and has been one of the top Big Ten teams. To come out here and go toe-to-toe with them like we did tonight and realizing that we are not that far away. We are right there at that level and if we continue to play with that kind of heart and effort that we brought out here tonight, good things are going to happen. You see a team's heart in its defense and you see how well they play together as a team. That's another thing I think we can take from this match is that we are playing well together. I think our serve-receive is continuing to improve with Joanna (Lowry), Daren (Poe) and Marie (Franke) back there, so I think there are lots of positives, we just need to carry that over to Northwestern."
The Boilermakers' (9-4, 0-1) next match is at 2 p.m. Sunday when they play host to the Northwestern Wildcats. Northwestern (8-5, 1-0) enters the match after posting a 3-2 victory over Illinois, Friday night.