Nov. 1, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team got the proverbial monkey off its back with a 3-2 victory over conference foe Iowa to claim its first Big Ten win of the season. The victory, which nudged Purdue closer to the .500 mark overall, also snapped a 29-match conference losing streak which started after the Old Gold and Black topped the Hawkeyes 3-0, Sept. 21 of last year.
Purdue dominated the deciding fifth game, owning a 9-3 lead behind kills from four different hitters, a service ace by Kim McConaha (So., Centerville, IN) and four Iowa miscues. Iowa edged closer with a 4-2 run, slicing the lead to 11-7 Purdue. The teams then traded points before the Boilermakers scored three straight to close it out at 15-8 with two blocks by Dargan and McConaha book-ending a McConaha kill.
"I feel like I am on top of the world right now, but there are still nine other games ahead of us," said McConaha, who tallied 19 kills and four blocks in the effort. "We have to stay consistent, stay merciless, stay determined and play our game. We played our game tonight, we didn't get stuck in a rut, we played together as a team and we got things accomplished."
The Boilermakers jumped out to a good start, owning a 5-1 advantage in the opening moments. Iowa slowly clawed its way back, knotting it up at 12, but a tie at 13 sparked the Old Gold and Black attack. A service error by the Hawkeyes followed by a Kim Cappa (SO., Lafayette, IN) kill and a Renata Dargan (Fr., New Lenox, IL) service ace. The Old Gold and Black lead swelled to eight at 27-19 after back-to-back kills by Joanna Lowry (Jr., Glen Ellyn, IL), a Cappa ace and a pair of Iowa miscues. The Hawkeyes cut the lead to six at 27-21, the teams then traded points to bring it to 29-22 Boilermakers. Purdue hit .433 in the game and saw five different hitters get in on the action en route to a 30-23 win on a Tiffany Yoskey (Sr., Canal Fulton, OH) kill.
Game two saw the Hawkeyes turn the tables and post the early lead. After trailing 2-0 and tying it up at two, the Boilermakers again caused stalemates at six and seven. Purdue gained its first lead of the game at 7-6 on an Iowa rotation error, but it was short-lived as the Hawkeyes then put together a string of seven-straight points to go up 13-7. At 15-8, the Boilermakers went on a 9-2 run to knot it up at 17. The teams tied again at 18, 19 and 20, before Iowa regained the lead at 22-20. The Boilermakers pulled within one at 22-21 and 23-22, and then the Hawkeyes extended their lead to three. Despite a late push by Purdue, Iowa clinched the win 30-28.
The battle continued in game three as neither team owned more than a two-point lead until Iowa went up 7-4. The Boilermakers quickly closed that gap to one at 7-6, capitalizing on a Hawkeye service error and a kill by Yoskey. Iowa then went on a 6-1 run including a Laura Simpson service ace to own a 14-8 advantage. The Old Gold and Black cut the lead to two, before the teams traded three-point runs leading to a 17-15 Iowa lead. With the score 23-20 in favor of the Hawkeyes, the team went on a 4-0 run. Purdue battled back with a McConaha kill, but Iowa capitalized on two Boilermaker miscues to take the game 30-21.
The momentum swung back the Boilermakers' way in game four as the team dug deep coming up with a 30-28 victory despite Iowa tallying 21 kills to Purdue's 17. Dargan posted a service ace to help the Old Gold and Black to a 5-3 lead, but the Hawkeyes knotted it up at seven all. Down 9-7, Iowa put together a five-point run including a service ace to take a 12-9 lead of its own. Purdue answered, tying the game at 13. The teams tied at 14, 15, 16 and 17 before the Boilermakers took a 19-17 lead maintained it until the Hawkeyes tied the game at 24 and swung the lead to 26-24 in their favor. Purdue stuck with it, tying the game at 26 after a kill by Lowry and an Iowa error. The teams then traded two-point rallies before an Iowa error and a Marie Franke (Fr., Ballwin, MO) kill gave Purdue the 30-28 win.
"It was really a battle of tempo," head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said. "Iowa serves high and deep and really slows the game down. They set a lot of balls to the outside and just play with a lot slower tempo than we like to play. It was really kind of a battle of wills. When we started out the match, we were playing at our tempo, keeping the game quick and really started moving it along. Then everything started to slow down for us. That was a big turning point in games two and three, but we were able to pick it back up and get things back on our side."
Lowry led Purdue with 20-kills, while McConaha added 19 to the effort. Lowry completed her fourth-straight double-double with 11 digs, as sophomore libero Daren Poe led the team with 18. The Old Gold and Black hit .250 for the match, including .433 in game one and .333 in game five. Amoreena Reynolds led all hitters with 27 kills, while Echaka Agba tallied 21 for Iowa. Libero Pam Kavadas led the Hawkeyes with 14 digs while Abby Tjaden put up eight blocks for the team.
The Boilermakers will be back in action Saturday night when the No. 7 Minnesota Golden Gophers come to the IAF.
"It feels great," Hulsmeyer said. "We are happy to have the monkey off our back, so to speak. The team fights very hard and they have great spirit. This is something that we are going to enjoy tonight and then come back ready to face the No. 1 team in the conference tomorrow. We know that we have the ability to play with Minnesota from when we played them earlier. It is just going to be a matter of if we can play consistently and do it long enough."