Nov. 6, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team suffered a momentary setback in its effort to get back on the winning track, as travel partner Illinois handed Purdue a 3-0 home defeat. Illinois won game one 30-18, but the next two games were decided by just two points each at 30-28 and 33-31.
The Illini owned the lead in game one from the start, never letting the Boilermakers come within two points of the lead. At 6-4, Illinois posted five straight points to extend its lead to seven. Purdue cut the lead to six on three occasions, before a three-point surge by Illinois. Purdue answered with kills by Eryn Leach (Jr., Saratoga, CA) and Kim McConaha (So., Centerville, IN), but that brought on another 3-0 run by the Illini. The Old Gold and Black then put together a 3-0 run of its own, capitalizing on two Illinois miscues and a McConaha service ace. At 22-13, Purdue tallied three-straight points with kills by Marie Franke (Fr., Ballwin, MO) and Tiffany Yoskey (Sr., Canal Fulton, OH) and a block by Yoskey and Jen Bova (Jr., Milwaukee, WI). The Illini then outscored Purdue 8-2 to close the game at 30-18. Illinois hit .500 in game one.
Neither team led by more than on point until the Boilermakers went up two at 13-11, after a Franke kill and an Illini hitting error. Illinois tied it at 13 all, and the point-margin stayed at one or less until a 19-17 Illini lead. Purdue tied it at 21, but the Illini soon owned a 25-22 advantage. A 4-1 Boilermaker run featuring kills by Joanna Lowry (Jr., Glen Ellyn, IL), Franke and Leach, brought it to a 26-26 stalemate. A service ace by Leach gave Purdue a 27-26 lead, but Illinois tied it. A McConaha kill also gave the Old Gold and Black a one-point lead, but the Illini claimed game two at 30-28 with three-straight points. Purdue hit .262 in the game, but Illinois continued its success with a .306 effort.
Game three started in a stalemate until Purdue scored three straight on an Illini error, an ace by Lowry and a kill by Yoskey to go up 7-4. Two Boilermaker miscues and a block by Rasa Virsilaite and Rachel VanMeter tied it up at seven all. With Illinois leading 9-8, Purdue went on a 5-1 run, including three kills by Franke and one each by McConaha and Lowry, to go up 13-10. The Boilermaker lead expanded to four at 15-11 on an Illini error, but moments later another Illinois block sliced the lead to one at 16-15. A Shelly O'Bryan service ace gave the Illini a 24-20 advantage of their own, but Purdue would not give up scoring six of the next eight points to cause a knot up at 26. The teams tied at 27 and 28, before the Boilermakers had a game point attempt at 29-28, but a Virsilaite kill stopped that. A McConaha kill extended the game after an Illini attempt at 30-29. A Purdue error was balanced by a Lowry kill to bring it to 31 all, however Illinois capitalized on a Boilermaker miscue and a VanMeter kill to clinch the match with a 33-31 victory. Franke tallied six kills in game three, while hitting .462, as the Old Gold and Black hit .213 to Illinois' .246 performance.
"I thought we did a good job attacking from the outside," head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said. "The left sides did a nice job of converting. For the second time this year, Joanna Lowry hit over .400 against them. I thought Marie Franke did a good job taking care of the ball and she continues to show improvement and is coming on as an attacker. We just have to be ready to take victory. Nobody in this conference is going to give you anything. We put ourselves in position to win a couple of times, but we have to take it. We can't be back on our heels; we have to continue to stay aggressive. In the second game, a couple of balls came over the net that surprised some people. You can't have those little mental lapses and win at this level."
Franke led the Boilermakers with 11 kills, while sophomore libero Daren Poe (Martinsville, IN) pulled up 21 digs in the match. Lowry tallied her sixth-straight double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs on .409 hitting. Shelly O'Bryan led all hitters with 15 kills on 22 attempts to a .682 effort. Rachel VanMeter tallied 13 kills and eight blocks in the match for the Illini, while libero Lauren Harks led Illinois with 15 digs. Illinois hit .326 for the match to Purdue's .183 and outblocked the Boilermakers 10-to-3.
Next up for the Boilermakers is a Friday evening match against No. 14 Penn State in University Park, PA. The first serve will be at 7 p.m.
"We are going to have to continue to work on the things that we need to develop before playing Penn State," Hulsmeyer said. "Our block has to do a better job of slowing some people down and we have to be able to terminate in transition."