Nov. 29, 2003
MADISON, Wis. - The Boilermaker volleyball team played a hard-fought match against perennial power Wisconsin Saturday night, but wound up with a 30-25, 30-26, 30-25 defeat.
Redshirt sophomore Leah Wischmeier led the Boilermaker charge with 12 kills and nine digs, while juniors Kim Cappa and Kim McConaha posted nine kills a piece. Junior Daren Poe led all defensive players with 19 digs in the match, while McConaha tallied a match-high six blocks. Wisconsin had four players in double-figures, led by Lisa Zukowski's 16 kill effort. Purdue out-blocked the Badgers 8-6, but it was not enough.
Purdue started the match with a 4-0 lead after a trio of Wisconsin errors and a kill by Marie Franke. The Boilermaker advantage stood at 6-3 after a pair of McConaha kills and a block by McConaha and Wischmeier. The Badgers tied it up at 10 and took their first lead of the night at 13-12. Purdue responded tying it up at 15, 17 and 18, but could not regain the lead. The Wisconsin lead rose to four at 25-21, and the Boilermakers pulled to within two at 25-23 on a UW miscue. The Badgers tacked on three more points to make it 28-23. A Wischmeier kill stopped the run and another by setter Renata Dargan thwarted Wisconsin's first attempt at the game. A kill by Sheila Shaw gave UW the win at 30-25.
Game two saw the Badgers start out on top with a 4-1 lead, but it was short lived as Purdue rattled off four-straight points on a pair of kills and a block to turn it into a 5-4 advantage. The Boilermaker lead rose to three at 9-6 after a run including a service ace by Dargan. Wisconsin chipped away to tie it up at 14, but a Badger miscue and a Wischmeier kill boosted the advantage back to two. The lead stood at three at 21-18, but UW posted an 8-2 run to turn the deficit into a 27-23 lead of its own. Purdue made it a two-point game at 28-26, but a Wisconsin kill and a Boilermaker miscue gave the Badgers a 2-0 lead in the match. UW hit .271 in the game, while Purdue managed a .188 percentage.
"I just don't think we played at same level as we did against Northwestern or Indiana tonight," head coach Dave Shondell said. "We hurt ourselves with hitting errors. We didn't have everyone as focused as they needed to be to beat a tough Wisconsin team in their gym. If we came out a little sharper, we could have beat them, our effort was just not good enough to come out and win at Madison. However, if you look at what has happened over the course of this season, we have accomplished a lot this year."
The Badgers came back from the break on fire, chalking up five of the first six points in game three. The Boilermakers did not back down, however, cutting away at the UW advantage, eventually taking the lead at 10-9 after a 5-1 run. Wischmeier posted three kills during the rally including back-to-back swings to give Purdue the lead. Wisconsin answered with a 6-0 run to go up 17-11. The Boilermakers continued to fight, slicing the seven point lead to three at 26-23 on a Brittany Dildine service ace. Purdue miscues sealed the victory for Wisconsin at 30-25.
The match was the final contest of the season for the Boilermakers, who finished the year with a 14-17 overall record and a 7-13 mark in the Big Ten. Purdue winds up in eighth place in the league, their best finish since the 1999 season, when they also were 7-13 and tied for eighth place.