VB Beats MSU On Senior Night, Heads To Utah For NCAAs

All things considered, the week turned out to be a pretty good one. While the Boilers did fall again to Michigan in Holloway on Wednesday night, they started a trend on Friday by thumping #12 Michigan State, 3-1, on what ended up being Senior Night - initially, the Michigan match was scheduled for Saturday, but it was moved in case television wanted to see the Bucket game later than noon. So Purdue honored both their own seniors and those of the Spartans.

For those of you who haven't been to VB's Senior Night, each senior on the visiting team is introduced prior to the match, and they each get applause (the real kind, not the two-clap thing we do during introductions) and a rose from a Purdue player. This year, Michigan State had seven seniors, so three of the four senior Boilers presented roses to two Spartans; given the length of the program, Purdue's part of the festivities was done after the match, which turned out to be all the better after that upset win.

We'll do more on Danielle Cuttino, Carissa Damler, Ashley Evans, and Azariah Stahl later; for now, there's just enough time for a quick recap and a preview of this week's first-round NCAA match.

#17 Purdue 1, #26 Michigan 3 (23-25, 25-22, 28-30, 20-25)

The first two sets made it look like we'd have an exact mirror of the match in Ann Arbor; the second two made it clear that Michigan was a better team than expected. The two wins may well have been enough to catapult the Wolverines into the NCAA field, as they earned a matchup against Colorado State, with the winner almost certainly getting Stanford.

Caitlyn Newton struggled a bit in this match, so Shondell went to Shavona Cuttino for 1 set. No other subs played.

Set one: Purdue 23, Michigan 25
Opening lead: Michigan 0-3
First Purdue lead: 4-3
Last Purdue lead: 23-22
Largest Purdue leads: 19-16, 20-17
Largest deficits: 8-12, 12-16
Key runs: At 12-16, Purdue ran off seven straight, including back-to-back aces by Evans, to turn their largest deficit into their largest lead, 19-16. It wouldn't last, as Michigan went on a 1-4 run to tie it at 20; at 23-22, the Wolverines took the last three points of the set to go up 0-1.

Set two: Purdue 25, Michigan 22
Opening lead: Michigan 0-2
First Purdue lead: 4-3
Last Purdue lead: won set
Largest Purdue lead: 21-15
Largest deficits: 6-9, 7-10, 8-11
Key run: At 14-15, the Good Gals got another 7-0 run, keyed by two Evans/Blake Mohler blocks of Adeja Lambert; this time, it was good enough to withstand a serious Michigan comeback.

Set three: Purdue 28, Michigan 30
Opening lead: Purdue 2-0
First Purdue lead: 1-0
Last Purdue lead: 28-27
Largest Purdue lead: 9-4
Largest deficits: 21-23, 22-24, 28-30
Key runs: At 18-14, after an unsuccessful Michigan challenge, the Wolverines scored seven straight themselves; although one point was reversed (on an ace that the challenge found to be out of bounds), the other six stood, and at 19-20, Michigan was back in the match. Like in set one, UM would score the final three points here, going up 1-2.

Set four: Purdue 20, Michigan 25
Opening lead: Purdue 1-0
First Purdue lead: 1-0
Last Purdue lead: 1-0
Largest Purdue lead: 1-0
Largest deficit: 17-24
Key run: After a back-and-forth start that saw neither team lead by two, Michigan scored four in a row, three on Katherine Mahlke kills, to open up a 6-10 lead. Purdue wouldn't get closer than two the rest of the way.

This match was closer than the last one, but the Boilers still had more than their share of unforced attack errors, with 22 to just 14 for Michigan. Purdue led in kills (61-59), assists (55-53) and attack percentage (.228-.215), while Michigan led in aces (6/+1 to 4/-5). The Good Gals had clear advantages in digs (62-53) and blocks (11.0-5.0), even though it seemed Michigan got to every other solid attack the Boilers could muster.

Danielle Cuttino led three Boilers in double-figure kills, with 17 at .282; joining her were Sherridan Atkinson (16 at .250) and Blake Mohler (14 at .300). Ashley Evans had 52 assists, 3 of the 4 aces (+2), and 9 digs, just missing another double-double. Jena Otec (1/-1) had the other ace, and posted 9 digs of her own, while Brooke Peters (19) and Azariah Stahl (13) led the team in that category. Atkinson and Stahl each had one solo block, and Atkinson added 5 assists for a match-high 3.5 total.

The Wolverines were led by senior MB Claire Kieffer-Wright, who had 15 kills at a red-hot .429; senior OPP Katherine Mahlke hit double figures again with 14 at .345,  and junior OH Carly Skjodt (Indianapolis) had 13 at .128. Sophomore setter MacKenzi Welsh, like Evans, just missed a double-double with 50 assists and 9 digs, while senior OH Adeja Lambert (2/+2) was the only Wolverine with multiple aces and added 7 digs of her own. Junior libero Jenna Lerg topped her previous effort against the Boilers with 16 digs. Sophomore OH Sydney Wetterstrom had UM's only solo block, and with an assist as well, she tied Kieffer-Wright with 1.5 total.

#17 Purdue 3, #12 Michigan State 1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-21)

Back to the normal lineup, no subs got any playing time.

Set one: Purdue 20, Michigan State 25
Opening lead: Purdue 4-0
First Purdue lead: 1-0
Last Purdue lead: 5-4
Largest Purdue leads: 4-0, 5-1
Largest deficits: 14-20, 15-21, 17-23
Key run: After the Boilers rattled off four straight points and then split a pair to lead 5-1, Michigan State responded with five of their own, including two aces by Brooke Kranda. The Good Gals would tie at 6 and 7, but would not lead again.

Set two: Purdue 25, Michigan State 23
Opening lead: Michigan State 0-1
First Purdue lead: 3-2
Last Purdue lead: won set
Largest Purdue leads: 23-20, 24-21
Largest deficits: 11-13, 16-18
Key runs: On three occasions, Purdue scored 3 or more points to take the lead back from the Spartans, the last time turning a 19-20 deficit into a 23-20 lead. The Spartans would close to one, but a Mohler kill evened the match at 1-1.

Set three: Purdue 25, Michigan State 20
Opening lead: Purdue 1-0
First Purdue lead: 1-0
Last Purdue lead: won set
Largest Purdue leads: six points, several times
Largest deficit: 3-5
Key runs: Five straight from that 3-5 deficit; the Spartans would tie it at 8, but a 7-1 Purdue run put the set safely out of reach.

Set four: Purdue 25, Michigan State 21
Opening lead: Michigan State 0-2
First Purdue lead: 15-14
Last Purdue lead: won set
Largest Purdue lead: four points, several times
Largest deficit: 4-9
Key run: At 12-14, kills by Mohler and Evans, plus an Evans/Mohler block and a Stahl solo block, put the Boilers ahead to stay, 16-14.

Attacks were basically even, with the Spartans leading in kills (53-51) and the Boilers leading in attack percentage (.227-.211), and each team recording 11 unforced attack errors and 47 assists. Both teams had 6 aces, but surprisingly, it was MSU with more service errors (14 to 7). Digs (56-51) and blocks (12.0-11.0) both went to the Good Gals.

Danielle Cuttino had an amazing final home match, with 22 kills at .457, while Mohler added 11 at .364. Evans had 44 assists and 11 digs, plus 2 solo blocks and 3.0 total, both team-leading numbers. Peters led three Boilers in double figures with 16 digs, as Stahl had just 2 kills but added 11 digs, one solo block and 2.5 total blocks. Newton and Mohler had the other solo blocks. From the line, Jena Otec led all players with 3 aces (+1), and Atkinson, Damler and Evans were each 1/even.

The Spartans were led by redshirt senior OH Autumn Bailey, who had 17 kills at .350 and added 2 aces (even) and 8 digs. Senior MB Alyssa Garvelink added 13 at .333, with senior OH Holly Tolliver posting 12 at .219 with 8 digs of her own. Senior setter Rachel Minarick had 43 assists and 7 digs; redshirt senior OH/RS Brooke Kranda (Westfield) matched Bailey with 2 aces and 2 service errors. Redshirt senior Megan Tompkins had 2 solo blocks and led MSU with 4.0 total while also serving an ace (even); freshman libero Jamye Cox had the other ace (-2) and a match-high 18 digs, although the Boilers did touch her up for 5 return errors.

Conference standings and NCAA matches

Penn State (19-1, 29-1) - #1 seed, will host Howard and VCU/Pitt
Nebraska (19-1, 26-4) - #5 seed, will host Stony Brook and Florida State/Washington State
Minnesota (15-5, 26-5) - #7 seed, will host North Dakota and Northern Iowa/Louisville
Michigan State (14-6, 21-8) - plays Missouri State at #9 Creighton
Purdue (12-8, 22-9) - plays High Point at #11 Utah
Illinois (12-8, 21-10) - plays Hawaii at #8 Washington
Wisconsin (11-9, 20-9) - plays Marquette at #14 Iowa State
Michigan (11-9, 21-11) - plays Colorado State at #3 Stanford
Ohio State (8-12, 15-16)
Maryland (7-13, 18-14)
Iowa (7-13, 18-15)
Northwestern (4-16, 15-18)
Indiana (1-19, 12-20)
Rutgers (0-20, 5-27)

Not bad, getting eight teams in the field and having three of them seeded. The Pac-12 had nine teams in with five seeded - a quick look at Massey suggests that that's about right, with USC the fifth-highest Pac-12 school at #16. (His ratings imply that #14 MSU and #15 Wisconsin had arguments for hosting as well, with Baylor, Wichita State and Iowa State among schools that maybe weren't strong enough to host.) Washington State's inclusion is rather puzzling, given their 6-14 record in conference play and 17-15 record overall, but given the number of teams below them that were also invited to the Dance, they're not necessarily the last ones in. I'd still prefer to see schools from non-power conferences rather than taking over half the teams from the Big Tenteen and the Pac-12.

Next up

Thursday, 6:30 PM: #19 Purdue vs. #84 High Point

The Panthers are the Big South regular-season champions - believe it or not, they got an at-large berth despite losing the Big South tournament final at Radford. They're carrying a gaudy 16-0 conference record and 24-7 overall record into Thursday's match, but as you might guess, it's largely due to strength of schedule: Radford is the only other Big South school with a pulse, and they're #89. Purdue opponents in that range are Wyoming (#80, 3-2 Purdue win in Laramie) and Alabama (#87, 3-0 Purdue win in West Lafayette). High Point did not fare well against outside competition, although they did play #40 VCU and #51 LSU tough, losing 2-3 to both at home. Their biggest non-conference win was against #58 Georgia, 3-1 in Athens, OH. Good for the committee for rewarding an unbeaten conference season.

High Point's attack is led by junior MB Molly Livingston (328 kills at .384) and senior OH Haley Barnes (341 at .218), and runs through two setters: sophomore Jenna Smith (744 assists) and senior Carly Jimenez (528 assists). Barnes leads the team in aces with 50 (-7), but Livingston may be the most accurate, with 40 aces and a team-high +18. Freshman libero Abby Bottomley has a team-high 577 digs, while Livingston leads their block patrol with 24 solos and 64.0 total blocks.

Massey has this as a 3-0 Purdue win with a 98% chance of advancing. If the Good Gals avoid their tendency to play down to competition, they should be playing in the 9 PM (EDIT:) Friday match to advance to regionals. If they upset host Utah, I'd expect them to end up in Palo Alto, since Stanford's the highest seed in that bracket.

Photos courtesy of Purdue Athletics, taken by Charles Jischke. Hey, someone's sending a photographer to Utah with the team, right?