Nov. 1, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The block of the Michigan State volleyball team helped lift the Spartans to a four-game win over the Boilermakers Saturday night. The Spartans outlasted Purdue winning 23-30, 30-16, 32-30 and 30-23.
"I thought we played pretty well," head coach Dave Shondell said. "It is hard to say what we could have done better, we were just playing a team with a big block. You can't really blame our hitters when they have two 6-foot-2 blockers on them for every swing. We have just been playing teams with more physical ability then we have right now and that is hard to do on the road."
Purdue led game one early 6-3, but Michigan State scored five of the next six to take an 8-7 advantage. The Boilermakers regained the lead at 11-10 but it was short lived as MSU put together a 4-0 run to make it 14-11. Purdue then went on an 8-0 run, including three blocks featuring freshman Katie Dobson and a Renata Dargan service ace, to take a five-point lead at 18-14. The Spartans cut the lead to three at 22-19, but it was not enough at the Boilermakers tallied five of the next seven points, including an ace by Kim Cappa, to make it 27-21. A kill by Dargan set up Purdue's first game point attempt which was thwarted by a net violation, but a kill by Leah Wischmeier gave the Boilermakers the 30-23 win. Purdue out-blocked MSU 5-3 in the game, with four stuffs coming from Dobson.
Game two started out with a 6-4 Purdue lead, but quickly turned into a domination by the Spartans. Michigan State took a 14-8 lead before the Boilermakers could react. Purdue cut the lead to three at 16-13 on an ace by Dargan, but MSU responded with an 8-0 run to boost the point-margin to 11 at 24-13 and put the game out of reach. Junior outside hitter Kim Schram caught fire for the Spartans knocking three straight kills through the Purdue block to set up MSU's first game-point attempt at 29-15. A Kim McConaha kill stopped the bleeding but another Spartan kill evened the match at a game apiece with the 30-16 win. Michigan State hit .441 in the game to Purdue's -.057 percentage.
The Boilermakers saw a 4-2 advantage turn into a 15-8 deficit in game three with help from five Kim Schram kills. Purdue remained calm and patiently chipped away at the MSU lead, pulling within one at 19-18 after a 3-0 run including two Spartan miscues. The Boilermakers were down 24-21 but were resilient tying it up at 24 and going on to own a 26-25 advantage on a Wischmeier ace. MSU tied it up at 26 and 27 and a block gave them a 28-27 lead. The teams tied at 28, 29 and 30 between MSU game-point attempts. A Schram kill and a Boilermaker hitting error gave the Spartans a 32-30 victory and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Purdue led 12-9 after the first half of game four, but three straight points by the Spartans tied it at 12. The teams tied three more tied before a lead change took place in the midst of a 3-0 MSU run, giving Michigan State a 17-15 advantage. Purdue made it a one-point game at 19-18, but the Spartans extended the lead to 27-20 with seven of the next 10 points. The Boilermakers put together a three-point rally with kills by Cappa and Dargan and a solo block by Wischmeier to make it 27-23. MSU capped it off with a pair of kills by Sara Villwock and a their 12th block of the match to take the game 30-23 and seal the win.
"We have improved a lot since we left West Lafayette for this five-game road string," Shondell said. "We have lost some matches to some good teams. It will be nice to be able to play somebody who we are physically equal with. If we play at the level we have been playing against Ohio State in our gym, I think we have a chance to win. If we had played either of these last two matches in our gym, we probably would have won them."
The Boilermakers return to action Friday night in the IAF for a 7:30 match against the Buckeyes. They then take the court at 8 p.m. Saturday against Penn State.