Nov. 23, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team ended its home season with a 3-1 loss to the Michigan State Spartans Saturday afternoon. The Spartans won 30-15, 21-30, 30-19 and 30-25.
The match was a dogfight at the beginning with the point margin never rising above two until something clicked for the Spartans at the 11-11 mark. Michigan State scored 10 straight points including five kills, a block and a service ace. A Tiffany Yoskey (Sr., Canal Fulton, OH) kill momentarily stopped the bleeding, but MSU went on a 4-1 run to expand its lead to 12 at 25-13. The Spartans outscored Purdue 5-1, including two more aces, to close the game at 30-15. MSU tallied five blocks in the game, while outhitting the Boilermakers .517 to .100.
Game two also was close throughout the early goings as the teams traded points until the Spartans scored three straight to take an 11-8 lead. The Boilermakers pulled to within one at 11-10, but another 3-0 surge including a service ace put Michigan State back on top. Down 18-16, Purdue crushed the Spartans with an 11-0 run featuring two Renata Dargan (Fr., New Lenox, IL) service aces, four Joanna Lowry (Jr., Glen Ellyn, IL) kill and four MSU miscues. Trailing 27-18, Michigan State scored two of the next three, but it was not enough as kills by Jen Bova (Jr., Milwaukee, WI) and Kim McConaha (So., Centerville, IN) put the game away at 30-21. The Old Gold and Black hit an outstanding .500, while limiting the Spartans to a .061 effort.
The Spartans jumped out to a 7-3 lead in game two after back-to-back service aces by Stephanie Knopp, but Purdue tallied four straight points on a kill and an ace by Lowry, a block by Bova and Yoskey and a MSU error, to tie it at seven. Michigan State took a 13-8 lead, after putting together a five-point run of its own, including two Kim Schram kills. The Boilermakers sliced the lead to four at 14-10, but that was as close as they would come. MSU scored eight straight to make it 22-10, although Purdue cut advantage to seven at 22-15, capitalizing on two Spartan mistakes and kills by three different hitters. The lead swelled to 10 again at 26-16, but the Old Gold and Black saw a flash of hope in a Yoskey ace to make it 27-19. Schram would not let up, however, tallying to kills in the final three points to give MSU the 30-19 win.
The momentum switched to the Boilermakers early in game four as they took a 6-3 lead after a 4-0 run including kills by three different hitters, McConaha, Lowry and Yoskey. The Spartans did not catch up until tying it at seven. Purdue did not give in, turning an 8-8 tie into a 12-8 lead, as Yoskey, Bova and Marie Franke (Fr., Ballwin, MO) downed balls. Back-to-back kills by Franke expanded the Purdue advantage to five at 14-9, but Michigan State cut the lead to one at 16-15 after five more kills by Schram. The Boilermakers pushed lead by to three four more times before ending up at 22-19. The momentum then swung back the other way as the Spartans put together six straight points to take a 25-22 lead. A Purdue error set up MSU's first match point attempt, but a Yoskey kill extended the match. A kill by Michigan State's Jenny Rood capped the match with a 30-25 game four win. The teams were nearly even in hitting percentage as Purdue tallied a .390 effort to MSU's .405 performance, but Schram put down 12 kills in game four alone.
"I thought both teams were streaky today and ball control meant a lot," head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said. "Both teams did a very good job offensively when they passed the ball and were tough to defend. Both teams had their runs and streaks and it was just a little too much Kim Schram for us today.
Lowry led Purdue with 16 kills and 16 digs, while Yoskey and McConaha each added 13 kills to the effort. The Boilermakers hit a respectable .259 while the Spartans hit at a .336 clip. Schram led MSU with a career-high 32 kills on .538 hitting, while Emmy Miller led the team with 18 digs. Michigan State tallied 14 service aces to Purdue's six and nine blocks to the Boilermakers' five.
"I think our focus is on how we play and making the results," Hulsmeyer said. "We continued to make improvements throughout the weekend. It was great to be able to see that aggressiveness in the win on Friday and carry it over here into Saturday. I think we played very well at times, but then again that is why we are where we are at. We have to become consistent, but then again I was pleased overall with our play. This afternoon, we got a lot of good play from our middles, just defensively we need to be able to read a little bit better and make some adjustments. I think those are all learning experiences they can take from today."
Purdue will wrap up the 2002 campaign on the road with matches at Ohio State and Indiana next weekend.