Nov. 14, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 24 Minnesota Golden Gophers got revenge on the Boilermakers for an early season loss with a 3-0 sweep Friday night.
Redshirt sophomore Leah Wischmeier led the Boilermakers with 14 kills, followed by 10 each from Kim McConaha and Kim Cappa. McConaha finished the double-double with 13 digs, while Poe led Purdue with 14 digs. Cassie Busse led the Gophers with 20 kills, while Lindsey Taatjes pulled up a match-high 19 digs.
"I am pleased with our effort tonight because we came out and competed," head coach Dave Shondell said. "Our goal coming into tonight was to not worry about the wins and losses, but to compete, be tough and get our opponents' attention, and I think we did that. We stayed in the match because we did a good job on their left sides and our middle backs played good defense. We are still getting better and making progress and I think if we play at the level we did tonight against Iowa, I like our chances."
Purdue scored first as Minnesota committed a pair of hitting errors to begin the game. The Boilermakers owned a 4-3 lead, before scored three straight to take a 6-4 lead. The teams traded points over the next several serves until the Gophers scored three straight, two on Purdue miscues to take an 18-14 advantage. The point margin stood at three at 22-19, but the Boilermakers scored four straight, including a block and two Kim Cappa kills, to take a 23-22 lead. Minnesota responded with six of the next seven to take a 28-24 lead. Kim McConaha stopped the run and tallied another kill to hold off the Gophers' first game point attempt at 29-25. A Purdue net violation gave Minnesota the game at 30-26.
The Boilermakers went up early in game two with a pair of McConaha kills and maintained the lead at 8-7 after a stretch featuring five ties. Minnesota took its first lead of the game at 10-8 after a 3-0 run. Purdue tied it up on a Cappa kill and a block by McConaha and sophomore Renata Dargan. The Gophers tallied a 6-1 rally to take a five-point lead at 16-11. The Boilermakers remained patient cutting away at the point-margin pulling within two at 23-21 on a Leah Wischmeier kill. The UM advantage swelled to four at 27-23, but Purdue would not go down easy making it a one-point game at 28-27 behind kills from Brittany Dildine, McConaha and Wischmeier. Down 29-27, McConaha thwarted the Gophers' first game point attempt with her eighth kill of the match, but a Boilermaker ball handling error sealed a 30-28 win for Minnesota.
The Gophers carried momentum into game three, starting things off with a 2-0 lead on kills by Erin Martin and Busse. The Boilermakers pulled to within one at 6-5 but found themselves down by three just moments later. After cutting the point margin to two at 9-7, Purdue saw Minnesota catch fire rattling off nine of the next 13 to go up 18-11. The Boilermakers remained diligent cutting the advantage to five at 21-16 on with three straight points. Busse found a rhythm in the game with three straight kills to boost the lead to eight and then to 10 at 27-17 with a service ace. Minnesota served its first match point into the next and followed that with a net violation to extend Purdue's life, but a kill by Martin clinched the match with a 30-21 win. Purdue hit .214 in the game, but Minnesota hit a blistering .400 to counter it.
Minnesota posted 61 kills to Purdue's 46 and outhit the Boilermakers .288 to .172, but Purdue outblocked the Gophers seven to five.
The Boilermakers (12-14, 5-10 Big Ten) look to snap their current nine-match losing streak in Iowa City, Iowa, Saturday night when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes.