Sept. 7, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team ended the weekend with a five-game win over Butler Saturday night, to claim third place in the Mortar Board Purdue Premier and boost the team's season record to 7-1. The Boilermakers won 3-2 with scores of 22-30, 30-28, 30-22, 22-30, 15-12.
The match was decided in an up-and-down fifth game, which featured 11 kills by the Boilermakers, including four by all-tournament team honoree Joanna Lowry (Jr., Glen Ellyn, IL). Purdue took the lead at 2-1 on a Marie Franke (Fr., Ballwin, MO) service ace and with the exception of three ties, never relinquished it. After a knot up at 6-6, five different Boilermakers registered kills, including the match-point effort by Kim McConaha (So., Centerville, IN), to propel the team to a 15-12 victory.
Butler took the first game after outhitting the Boilermakers .237 to .083 after tallying four aces against Purdue including the match opener. The Gold and Black fought throughout the match but could not take the lead from the Bulldogs after a tie at 5-5. Butler went on a 12-6 run to extend their lead to six at 17-11, capitalizing on some Boilermaker errors. The team battled back to within three points three times during the game but a pair of four point runs by the Bulldogs closed it out, despite a late fight by the Boilermakers at 29-20.
Game two saw much of the same see-saw battle of the opening game, with the point spread never extending to more than three points either way the entire game. Purdue registered two service aces in the match and closed it despite five blocks by Butler. All five eligible Boilermakers registered kills in the game thanks to a balanced effort by freshman setter Renata Dargan (New Lenox, IL).
"Kim McConaha had a really good weekend as did Joanna Lowry and I think it was also caused by Renata Dargan because she did a great job of running the offense and creating openings," head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said. "When you have some great hitters like Kim and Joanna, people will just try to take them out of the offense, but Renata was able to got away from them just enough to keep them effective all weekend. I think she did a great job as well as Kim and Joanna."
Spreading the kills among all squad members also helped the Boilermakers in the third game as all six eligible players registered kills including the setter, Dargan. Purdue also minimized the errors in the third game, hitting .263 to Butler's .100 effort. The Boilermakers also remained consistent from behind the service tallying two more aces. Continuing a trend, the Gold and Black registered another come-from-behind game three victory. The Boilermakers trailed 12-8 before taking the lead at 13-12. Butler responded swinging the lead to 19-17 in its favor. Purdue tied the game and went ahead 20-19 on back-to-back McConaha kills, two of six in the game for the sophomore, and never relinquished the lead.
The Bulldogs forced a deciding fifth game with 20 kills and three team blocks to go with a .286 hitting percentage. After a 3-0 start including a Tiffany Yoskey (Sr., Canal Fulton, OH) ace, Butler took over the game with a 7-0 run. Purdue pulled to within one at 9-8, but four Megan Knightly kills helped propel the Bulldogs into a lead that never fell below four the rest of the game.
McConaha led the Boilermakers with 17 kills, while Lowry and Kim Cappa (So., Lafayette, IN) tallied double-doubles for Purdue. Lowry registered 15 kills and 16 digs, while Cappa was credited for 11 kills and 15 digs. Five of the seven Boilermakers picked up double-figure dig totals, while four had 10 or more kills. Megan Knightly and Kali Carter led Butler with 15 kills each, while Kamy Peters picked up a match-high 22 digs on the night.
With the victory, the Boilermakers claimed third place in the tournament, despite tying IPFW and Western Kentucky with a 3-1 record. IPFW won the Mortar Board title in the second-round of tie-breakers, winning percentage against the tied teams. IPFW won five games and lost four, while Purdue was 5-5 and Western Kentucky was 4-5. After IPFW was crowned champion, Western Kentucky topped Purdue in head-to-head competition because of 3-2 Lady Topper victory over the Boilermakers on Friday.
The Boilermakers also saw Lowry and McConaha named to the all-tournament team.
Next up, the Boilermakers will travel to Lawrence, Kan., for a three-game tournament with Marquette, Southeast Missouri State and host Kansas.
"I thought we did a nice job the rest of the tournament after dropping a tough first match, and really we just need to focus on getting healthy and playing good fundamental volleyball" Hulsmeyer said. "We did that quite a bit this weekend, but it is still coming in waves and we just need to be a little more consistent."
Full results from the Mortar Board Purdue Premier
Sept. 6, 2002
10 a.m.-Western Kentucky def. Butler, 3-0; 30-26, 30-13, 30-10
Noon-IPFW def. Delaware, 3-1; 30-23, 30-27, 19-30, 30-16
3 p.m.-Western Kentucky def. Purdue, 3-2; 22-30, 30-23, 29-31, 30-28, 17-15
5 p.m.-Butler def. Delaware, 3-1; 30-20, 19-30, 30-23, 33-31
7:30 p.m.-Purdue def. IPFW, 3-2; 30-25, 30-26, 26-30, 22-30, 15-11
Sept. 7, 2002
10 a.m.-Western Kentucky def. Delaware, 3-1; 30-17, 25-30, 30-12, 30-20
Noon-IPFW def. Butler, 3-1; 19-30, 30-26, 30-22, 30-28
3 p.m.-Purdue def. Delaware, 3-0; 30-26, 30-17, 30-25
5 p.m.-IPFW def. Western Kentucky, 3-1; 30-28, 19-30, 37-35, 30-25
7:30 p.m.-Purdue def. Butler, 3-2; 22-30, 30-28, 30-22, 22-30, 15-12
Final Tournament Records
1. IPFW (3-1)*
2. Western Kentucky (3-1)
3. Purdue (3-1)
4. Butler (2-2)
5. Delaware (0-4)
*IPFW wins the tournament title based on winning percentage in matches among the tied teams.
Tournament MVP-Fabiana Souza (6-0, Fr., MH), IPFW
All-Tournament Team
Sarah Noe (Western Kentucky)
Kim McConaha (Purdue)
Keely Norris (Butler)
Lindi Bankowski (IPFW)
Joanna Lowry (Purdue)
Sarah Engle (Delaware)