It is a mark of the degree of success Purdue volleyball has had this season that for the first time in program history, they fell to #6 in the AVCA poll. This is, of course, because prior to last week, they’d never been ranked above #6 and thus couldn’t fall to that spot.

While it’s true that they “only” made it one week at #4, their stumble was a five-set loss to a program that is historically good and likely better this year than they appear; neither voters nor analytics felt that the loss really reflected poorly on the Boilers, so here they are, nestled in between last season’s NCAA champions and the team they beat to move up to #4.

We knew there would be losses along the way; we’re just hoping there aren’t too many of them, and even if there are, the most important thing is December. Get a W6 in that month and nobody will remember the Ls from the fall.

#4 Purdue 2, #28 Illinois 3 (28-30, 25-15, 24-26, 25-18, 10-15)

Personnel

Normal starters with Maddy Chinn as the second OH; Marissa Hornung took over at libero for Jena Otec after set three, I think. Emma Ellis and Raven Colvin appeared for a bit in one set each, no other subs made an appearance.

Recap

Illinois was in the match from the opening point, taking the first two and keeping that advantage through 6-8. A 5-1 run put the Boilers up by two, but two straight errors tied the match at 11-11. Purdue went up 14-12, then conceded four straight points to fall behind 14-16 … and then got a 4-0 run to turn a 15-18 deficit into a 19-18 lead. The Illini retook the lead at 19-20, then Purdue at 22-21. At 23-23, an Illinois service error gave Purdue a set point, but a Boiler error sent it back to deuce; Illinois got a Kennedy Collins kill for set point and a service error for deuce. Caitlyn Newton gave Purdue set point #2, but Collins tied it at 26; a Chinn kill made it 27-26, but set point #3 was blocked by Collins and Raina Terry. A Kyla Swanson/Diana Brown block gave Illinois a second set point, but Trammell tied it at 28; finally, two straight Illinois points ended a long first set and left us wondering if the Boilers might wish they’d put one of their chances away. (Narrator: they did wish that.)

The second set started a bit like the first, with a 2-0 Boiler lead turning into a 3-5 deficit. This time, the Good Gals consistently got sideouts when they needed them, taking a 6-5 lead and then pushing it to 10-7, 14-8, and 18-10. Illinois got it down to six points once, at 20-14, but Purdue got five of the last six points, and a Chinn solo block and an Illini attack error would even the match at 1-1; the 25-15 set score made it look like the Boilers were in control, but that would not be the case.

Set three looked to be what Purdue needed, with the hosts pushing an early 5-3 lead out to 11-5, and despite Illinois chipping away at it, they led by six as late as 19-13 ... but their defense wasn’t up to the task, and after a service error, two Terry kills had cut the lead in half. Purdue pushed it to 22-17 and should have been in position to go up 2-1, but instead the Illini scored six straight points and then earned the first set point at 23-24. The Boilers would fight off that one, but kills from Megan Cooney and Jessica Nunge finished off the set, and the favorites were behind 1-2.

This time, it was Illinois off to a good start, turning a 3-0 Purdue lead into 4-6 and 6-11. The thing that forced a fifth set was likely the 8-0 run at 7-12 with Otec at the line; even though there wasn’t an ace in the run, it did put the Boilers in front, and after a Terry kill stopped it, they got two more to lead 17-13. One last 4-0 run made it 22-15 and the set was all but in the bag, with a Newton kill leading to the familiar chorus of I Believe.

And indeed we did believe, with Purdue taking an early 3-1 advantage. That would be the end of the good news for the Boilers, as Illinois quickly reversed the score, leading 5-7 and then 6-9. After a Newton kill got Purdue the serve, the Illini ran off three more points, and that was basically it - one last 3-1 run got Purdue within three, but a kill from Cooney set up match point, and a Kuper ace finished it.

Stats

Team honors were fairly evenly split, with Illinois having the edge in kills (66-61) and assists (61-55) and Purdue leading in attack percentage (.213 to .179), aces (6-4), blocks (15-10) and digs (89-86).

Newton led three Boilers with double-digit kills, recording 19 at .237; Cleveland added 14 at .200 and Johnson had 11 at .273. Bush had yet another double-double with 47 assists and 15 digs. Johnson (even) and Otec (+1) had a match-high 2 aces each, with Newton (even) and Cleveland (even) serving one apiece. Cleveland, Chinn and Trammell all had a solo block; Trammell added 10 assists to lead all players with 6.0 total blocks, and Cleveland was right behind her with 9 and 5.5.

Fifth-year OH/OPP Megan Cooney led a quartet of Illinois players in double figures, leading all players with 21 kills at .260. Junior OH/RS Jessica Nunge (Newburgh/Castle HS, 15 at .217), sophomore OH Raina Terry (14 at .128) and junior MB Kennedy Collins (10 at .129) also had 10 or more kills. Redshirt junior setter Diana Brown matched Bush’s double-double with one of her own, adding 15 digs to a match-high 50 assists. Terry (+1) served 2 of Illinois’ 4 aces, with Brown (even) and senior libero Taylor Kuper (-1) serving the others. Brown also had the Illini’s only solo block and tied Collins with 2.5 total blocks. Kuper had match honors with 25 digs; Terry had 17 for her own double-double.

#4 Purdue 3, #106 Rutgers 0 (25-6, 25-17, 25-15)

Personnel

Marissa Hornung at libero, Maddie Koch at second OH, all others as expected. With the match under control the entire way, 17 of Purdue’s 21 players made an appearance; Megan Renner and Colvin played in three sets, Emma Terwilliger and Savana Chacon in two, Ava Torrance, Chinn, Ellis, Trammell, and Ali Hornung in one. Note that Ali was inserted as an OH this time rather than a DS - her being listed as an OH/DS isn’t just a reflection of her high school experience.

Recap

Rutgers served first; a Newton kill put Marissa Hornung on the line for the next nine points, and at 10-0 the first set was effectively over. The Scarlet Knights managed one point on their serve, and that was at 17-4.

The visitors played much better in the next two sets; in set two, they were tied at 3-3 and 4-4 before Purdue opened up a four-point lead. Once again, Rutgers could not hold serve when they got it, managing just three points on their own serve as the Boilers kept the lead around 7 for most of the set, finishing with a Cleveland kill and a Cleveland/Colvin block to lead 2-0 at the break.

The Scarlet Knights did end up leading, going up 0-1 on a Megan Vernon kill, but a service error and ensuing Marissa Hornung ace put Purdue in front, and despite playing even through 7-7, Rutgers would not lead again. A 12-1 run wrapped things up; the visitors would finally get a decent run of their own, cutting the 19-8 lead to 20-12, but they still didn’t trouble the Good Gals, and a Colvin kill on match point #2 gave the Boilers a much-needed sweep.

Stats

Purdue dominated everywhere: attack (42 at .405 to 22 at .040), aces (5-1), blocks (10-2), assists (39-20) and digs (47-30).

Individual honors were spread out a bit, given the way that playing time was divided up. Purdue did get two hitters with 10+ kills, Cleveland (13 at .750) and Koch ( a career-high 10 at .563). Bush had a match-high 24 assists, while Renner added a career-high 10. Marissa Hornung (+2) took match honors with 2 aces; Otec (+1), Cleveland (even) and Johnson (-1) served the others. Johnson also led the way with 3.0 total blocks, followed closely by Cleveland and Colvin with 2.0 each. Marissa Hornung (14) and Otec (10) were the only players on either team with double-digit digs.

The Rutgers attack was led by fifth-year RS Beka Kojadinovic, who had 8 kills at .111 and the team’s only ace (even). Senior setter Inna Balyko had 19 assists. Both players had a block assist, as did redshirt senior MB Shea McNamara and fifth-year MB Megan Vernon. Sophomore libero Madyson Chitty led the Scarlet Knights with 7 digs.

Overall thoughts

Purdue fought hard after dropping a set in disappointing fashion - they weren’t able to pull out a win this time, but Illinois is still a strong team, and in this conference, there’s a lot worse that can happen than dropping a five-set match to a top-25 team.

Watching them recover against Rutgers was nice. Once again, they met a lesser opponent and made short work of them. We’ll see almost an identical situation this week with Illinois and Iowa; hopefully the Boilers open better and finish the same. (Iowa has played a brutal schedule but doesn’t have much to show from it; they can give Purdue a game but it should still be a sweep.)

Conference standings

Penn State and Nebraska had relatively easy weekends, although PSU nearly gave Maryland a second upset win in as many weeks. Wisconsin rebounded from that loss to post two very impressive wins, a sweep of Minnesota and a 3-1 win at Illinois, to join those two and Purdue, who all lost their first conference match of the season. Ohio State was PSU’s traveling partner and posted the same two Ws (but had no trouble with Maryland, although it was at home and not in College Park), while Michigan swept Iowa to stay at .500.

Some temporary separation is occurring at the bottom, with Northwestern and Michigan State getting their first wins with sweeps of Rutgers and Iowa respectively, leaving the latter as the only two winless teams in conference play. Maryland and Indiana are the two other 1-3 teams.

The marquee matchup this week has to be Penn State vs Nebraska, Friday at 7 on BTN. Illinois and Michigan both have rough schedules, while Minnesota has the best chance at a double sweep. Rutgers gets a shot at its first win at home against Indiana, but Iowa will have to surprise one of the top five teams in the country to get theirs.

Next up

Purdue is on the road for three matches, starting with another shot at the Illini Wednesday in Champaign, then a trap match in Iowa City before heading out to Columbus for the return match with the Buckeyes next Friday. They’ll wrap up the month with four out of five in Holloway before kicking off November with a four-match road trip that goes from the best of times (at Maryland, at Rutgers) to the worst of times (at Wisconsin, at Minnesota). Should be fun …

Wednesday, 9 PM: at #22 Illinois (BTN, no actually live stats)
Saturday, 8 PM: at #148 Iowa (BTN+, live stats)

No pics from Illinois, probably because everyone was preparing for a long Saturday. Pics from Rutgers courtesy of Purdue Sports, I much much prefer Exposure so not sure what’s going on there. (also tbh it’s much harder to borrow a pic from the Purdue Sports gallery)