Oct. 18, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Ohio State outside hitter Stacey Gordon was quiet most of the night, but came out and bit Purdue at the end of game four to claim the match 3-1 for the Buckeyes in the IAF Friday night. The Boilermakers claimed game one 30-23, but OSU won the next three, 32-30, 30-28 and 30-25.
Ohio State jumped out to a 7-3 lead in game four, only to have the Boilermakers rattle off four straight points to knot it up at 7-7. The teams then traded point until tying up again at 11, 12, 13 and 15. After the knot up at 15, the Buckeyes scored three straight and kept Purdue at bay the rest of the game, winning 30-25. Gordon helped close the door with two kills at 25-24 to extend the Ohio State lead and then served the final two points of the game, finished by a block and kill by Shelli Draeger. OSU outhit Purdue .325 to .235 in the fourth game and tallied 18 kills to Purdue's 14.
The Boilermakers hit a stellar .517 making only one error in 29 attempts and took advantage of 14 Ohio State blunders to win game one 30-23. Purdue posted three team blocks in the game, including a solo block by Renata Dargan (Fr., New Lenox, IL) to give the team a 18-13 lead. After the Gold and Black took the lead at 6-2, the point margin never fell below four the rest of the contest, and even extending to nine at 29-20. The Buckeyes would not give up game point easily however forcing four Boilermaker tries, before a Kim McConaha (So., Centerville, IN) kill ended it at 30-23.
"I think the girls were anxious and looking forward to getting back home," head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said. "They came out with a lot of enthusiasm and lots of energy and just showed how we are capable of playing. When you are playing that well, it is hard to maintain it the whole time, and we knew that we would come down a little bit. The thing I was pleased with, was that it wasn't that much. We continued to pass well and continued to swing well. I thought Renata Dargan did a great job of mixing up the offense and gave our hitters a lot of seams. Joanna hit outstanding from the outside, but whenever you have a player like Tiffany (Yoskey) hitting .471 and Kim (McConaha) over .300, the middles get involved in the attack and it opens up things for the outside."
Game two was an up-and-down game for the Boilermakers as the team trailed by as many as four points, before taking a 21-20 lead on a solo block by McConaha. After a tie at 7-7, Ohio State took a four-point lead at 13-9 and kept the margin at three or more until a Joanna Lowry (Jr., Glen Ellyn, IL) kill and block at 16-12 pulled Purdue within two. Despite a two-point answer by the Buckeyes, the Boilermakers stuck with their game and tie it up at 19-19 on a 5-1 run. Purdue then took its first lead since 2-1 at 21-20 and after a knot up at 21, went on a 4-0 run including a Jen Bova (Jr., Milwaukee, WI) service ace. The Old Gold and Black maintained the lead in a back-and-forth battle until the Buckeyes edged into a 29-29 knot-up. The teams tied again at 30-30, before a Draeger kill and a Purdue error gave Ohio State the game at 32-30. The Buckeyes registered 23 kills to Purdue's 17 in the game.
The battle continued in game three as Purdue led 6-3, before the Buckeyes tied it up at 6 all. The Boilermakers continued to dominate extending their lead to four at 11-7, but the Buckeyes kept it close, pulling to within one at 16-15. A 4-1 Purdue run featuring kills by McConaha and Lowry gave the Old Gold and Black a 20-16 lead. The Boilermakers kept the point margin at three or more with a couple Tiffany Yoskey (Sr., Canal Fulton, OH) kills until a Draeger service ace cut the Purdue advantage to two at 27-25. Just minutes later a Ohio State block tied the game at 28 all. A Purdue error and a kill by Gordon put the game away at 30-28 for the Buckeyes.
"I think we did great for 80 to 90 percent of the match," Hulsmeyer said. "We did a nice job, we just have to learn to play those last three or four points in every game. We have to find a way to play with some heart and not get timid there at the end. We have to continue to stay aggressive. I thought through the middle 20s, we played really hard and put ourselves in position to win. We had a couple of bounces go against us tonight, but that is the way of the game.
"Overall, I thought we did a great job in serve-receive and any time you hit over .300 hitting percentage wise, you have to feel good. We did a good job on one of the top hitters in the country, slowing down Stacey Gordon, but the big thing was her taking our attention away from some of the other players, and other players for them stepped up tonight. Draeger did a nice job for them on the right side and that is what we can't have happen. When you shut down the star, you have to make sure that the backup players don't jump up, and to their credit, they did."
Lowry led all hitters with an outstanding .512 effort with 23 kills on 43 attempts to go with 10 digs. Daren Poe (So., Martinsville, IN) led the Boilermakers with 14 digs. McConaha tallied six blocks, two solo in the effort to go with 12 kills and a .385 hitting percentage. Yoskey was all over the court for Purdue, registering a .471 hitting effort with 10 kills on 17 attempts, a service ace, three digs and three blocks. Gordon tallied 21 kills and 17 digs in the match to lead the Buckeyes. The Boilermakers outhit Ohio State .329 to .274 in the match, but OSU tallied 80 kills to Purdue's 65.
Purdue returns to action Saturday evening in the Monon Spike match with Indiana. The first serve will be at 7 p.m. in the IAF.