Sept. 5, 2003
HOUSTON -- The Boilermaker volleyball team kept fans on the edge of their seat en route to a 3-1 victory over McNeese State Friday afternoon at the Crowne Plaza Rice Invitational. Purdue dominated the first two games of the match, but it took a come-from-behind effort in game four to clinch the victory.
In the deciding fourth game, the Boilermakers fell behind 5-3 before rebounding to turn the deficit into a 7-6 lead of their own. McNeese answered scoring three straight points to turn Purdue's 9-8 lead into an 11-9 margin of its own. The lead switched hands again when Purdue went up 14-13 behind back-to-back kills by junior Kim McConaha (Centerville, Ind.). The Boilermakers made it 20-15 behind three Leah Wischmeier (Brownstown, Ind.) kills and an ace by sophomore Renata Dargan (New Lenox, Ill.). The Cowgirls took five straight points to tie it up at 20. The back-and-forth battle continued as McNeese answered each Purdue run and even held off two Boilermaker game point attempts before tying it at 29. The Cowgirls went ahead 30-29, but Purdue squashed the team's hope clinching the win on back-to-back kills by freshman Melanie Ukovich (Minooka, Ill.).
Purdue stepped out to a 3-1 lead in game one, but McNeese battled taking the lead at 6-5 and again at 9-8, before the Boilermakers took over. After a tie-up at 10-10, Purdue scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 19-12 lead. The Cowgirls cut the lead to five at 20-15, but could not break through. McConaha helped the Boilermakers close it out with three kills in the team's last five points, part of her tally of seven for the game.
Game two saw Purdue take an 8-2 advantage, before the Cowgirls answered with a 5-2 run to make it 10-7. Freshman Brittany Dildine (West Lafayette, Ind.) tallied an ace and her first kill as a Boilermaker as the team expanded its lead to seven at 17-10. McNeese cut the point margin to six at 21-15, but Purdue kept the Cowgirls at bay. Kills by four different Boilermakers as well as several McNeese miscues pushed Purdue to a 30-23 game two win.
McNeese would not go down without a fight, jumping out to a 7-4 lead in the early goings of game three. Purdue clawed its way back into the game taking a 9-8 lead on a run that included a pair of kills by freshman Katie Dobson (Indianapolis, Ind.). The teams exchanged points until Purdue went up 18-13 care of a four point run featuring a service ace by Dargan and three Cowgirls errors. McNeese answered with a 5-2 run, slicing the lead to two. Minutes later Purdue owned a 26-21 advantage, but it was short lived as McNeese tied it at 27 capitalizing on a few Boilermaker miscues. The teams traded points ending in a knot up at 29, but the Cowgirls' Nicole James downed two balls to keep her team in the match with a 31-29 win.
"I thought we played two pretty good games to start the match," head coach Dave Shondell said. "We still have a lot of transition going on with new players, a new coaching staff and new systems and I think the fact that we lost two starters in practice this week only compounded that. Despite that, we still have the ability to put a good team on the floor."
McConaha and Wischmeier led the Purdue hitting efforts with a match-high 19 kills a piece. The Boilermaker defensive stand was a group effort as four players reached double-figures in digs led by sophomore Jen Orlowski (LaPorte, Ind.), who posted 18. Wischmeier finished with a double-double, adding 13 digs to her kill tally, while Dargan pulled up 12 digs and freshman Brittany Dildine recorded 10. Freshman Andrea Kolwitz (Naperville, Ill.)was not far behind with nine digs, more than double her previous season total (4). Dargan also served up two aces in the match.
"I think Andrea Kolwitz performed her role as well as any of the four freshmen who saw quite a bit of playing time tonight - she made it look easy," Shondell said. "I also thought Jen Orlowski was steady as our libero. I thought she did a quality job stepping in for Daren Poe, who is one of our leaders."
Next up for the Boilermakers (3-1) is a 10 a.m. contest against the Duquesne Dukes.