The first traditional road trip in two years for Purdue volleyball went exactly according to plan, with the Boilers rolling to 3-0 wins over host UNLV and ranked Washington State. While Massey had the two opponents roughly equal (58th and 65th respectively), the AVCA poll liked the Cougars and their conference schedule, so it’ll be interesting to see if WSU moves up a bit as we get closer to conference play - remember, there’s still a ton of noise even in computer rankings because of last season.

#9 Purdue 3, UNLV 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-23)

Personnel

Normal starters and subs with Maddy Chinn as the other OH; no one else played. Can’t tell from the PBP whether Jena Otec or Marissa Hornung was the libero but since Hornung had a lot more digs I’ll assume it was Marissa.

Recap

Neither team got off to a great start, with the sides combining for four service errors in the first eleven points, including back-to-back errors. (The PBP is missing some info here so it could have been three straight. The Rebels would commit four straight errors from the line, but they stayed with the Boilers until the fourth error in that stretch keyed a 7-1 Purdue run that essentially provided the winning margin (there was another service error as well). The hosts cut the lead in half on two Mariena Hayden kills and one from Lauryn Burt, but Purdue traded points through 16-13 and then added a 4-1 run to put the set safely away. UNLV once again closed to within three with a late 1-4 run, but Purdue got the last three points on a UNLV attack errors and kills from Taylor Trammell and Chinn.

UNLV took the first two points in set 2, but Purdue responded with a 5-0 run that looked like they were going to put the set away early. However, the Rebels weren’t going anywhere, eventually taking the lead after a 2-6 run that made it 7-8 in their favor. The teams stayed right around that point until 13-15, when three straight Boiler points put them up 16-15; the next eight points were split evenly, but not alternated, as two UNLV kills gave them a 16-17 lead, Purdue ran off four straight to make it 20-17, and then UNLV got two more kills for a 20-19 margin. The Boilers finally got some breathing room, getting a Chinn kill, a Trammell/Cleveland block, and a UNLV attack error to make it 23-19. The sides would trade points the rest of the set, and Caitlyn Newton’s kill finished the set at 25-21. Purdue headed into the break up 2-0, although the second set was maybe closer than the score might make it look.

The third set started off oddly, as a bad set by UNLV keyed a 3-0 Purdue run … which ended on a bad set by Purdue. (I’m always suspicious when a rare call shows up in the PBP twice in four points.) That one started a 1-5 UNLV run to counter the Boiler start, and the stage was set for an interesting final set. At 7-8, Purdue got four straight points to go up 11-8, eventually stretching the lead to 20-13, and it looked like they’d cruise in the final stanza … but the Rebels got four straight to cut the lead to three, then worked it down to 22-20 before a service error and a Cleveland/Johnson block gave Purdue match point. Two Hayden kills around a Shelby Capllonch ace staved off the first three, but Newton made the fourth one good with a kill, and the Boilers had a 3-0 sweep.

Stats

The box score was actually pretty balanced, reflecting the overall score more than the result. Aces (1-6 UNLV) and blocks (6-2 Purdue) were the only two categories with a clear winner, although the difference in attack percentage was an indicator of the overall winner (.380-.220 in favor of the Boilers). UNLV led the remaining categories, but by small margins: 41-45 in kills, 32-26 in assists, and 38-39 in digs.

Cleveland had an error-free night and led the Good Gals with 13 kills at .565; Johnson took advantage of UNLV’s focus on Newton to add 10 kills at .444. Bush led all players with 31 assists and just missed a double-double by adding 9 digs, and also had the only solo block by either team and finished with 1.5 blocks. Newton managed just 8 kills at .227 but did record the only ace of the match for Purdue (+1). Cleveland also had match honors with 2.0 total blocks. Marissa Hornung’s 13 digs led the Boilers; no one besides her and Bush had more than 5.

UNLV’s attack was led by senior OH Mariana Hayden, who led all players with 15 kills and hit .364. The Rebels were likely running a 4-2 since they split their assists between senior setter Lauryn Burt (19) and sophomore setter Arien Fafard (15). Hayden had a match-high 4 aces (+2), while junior OH Shelby Capllonch (+1) had the other 2. UNLV’s two blocks were split evenly between junior MB Jordyn Freeman and senior OH Milica Tasic, and junior likely-libero Paris Oliveira led everyone with 14 digs.

#9 Purdue 3, Washington State 0 (25-19, 25-23, 28-26)

Personnel

Same as in the UNLV match, except with Otec probably at libero and Emma Ellis in at OH. Emma Terwilliger came in to serve in each of the three sets; no one else made an appearance off the bench.

Recap

Looking solely at the AVCA poll, it was reasonable to expect a closer match than the previous day, and early on, that was definitely the case. The Cougars scored first, then slowly pushed their lead up to 5-8; Purdue responded with an extended run, cutting it to 7-8, then tying it at 9 and 10, then using a 4-0 run to lead 14-11. Surprisingly, that was basically it - WSU would get within two points on a number of occasions, but never closer, and after a Johnson kill made it 22-19, Terwilliger came in and served out the set, as the Boilers got an Ellis kill, a WSU attack error, and a Taylor/Ellis block to win 25-19.

Set two looked like it would be a different story early on, with the Boilers catching fire early and leading 6-2. The Cougars didn’t score on their serve until 9-6, but they used a 1-4 run in that stretch to draw within 10-9 before Purdue got three straight to open it up to four again. Another WSU run cut the lead to one at 14-13, and after a Newton kill, three straight Cougar points gave the Pac-12 squad their first lead in the set, 15-16. That inability to score on server cost Washington State, as the Boilers slowly pushed the lead back to 23-20; a pair of Penny Tusa kills made it 23-22, but after a kill and a service error from Johnson, Ellis put down a Bush set to send the Boilers into the break up 2-0.

Washington State took the first two points in set three. The teams would be closer than two points all the way to a 14-12 Purdue lead at about the halfway point, and even then, the Cougars scored the next two to tie it. The Boilers went up 15-14, but WSU pushed the lead back to two, at 16-18 and 17-19. Finally, Purdue got an extended run, getting 4 points with Otec at the line to lead 22-19 … but after trading points, Washington State used an 0-3 run to knot the set at 23. A Cleveland kill gave the Boilers their first match point; a Kalyah Williams kill brought it back to deuce. A Newton kill made it 25-24; match point #2 was ended with a Magda Jehlarova kill for 25-25. A bad-set call on Hannah Pukis produced match point #3, but a Tusa kill evened it at 26. Finally, a pair of Cleveland kills put the Cougars away, with the second one making match point #4 good, and another 3-0 sweep was in the books.

Stats

Unlike the first match, this time Purdue led in everything: kills (62 at .304 to 47 at .188), aces (2-1), blocks (11-5), assists (47-36), and digs (63-55). That’s fairly unusual, given that only one of the sets had more than a two-point margin of victory.

Despite the match only going three sets, getting extended time in the third helped get a third Boiler into double-digit kills. Newton led everyone with 15 at .262, followed by Cleveland (13 at .407) and Ellis (10 at .261). Bush had a match-high 45 assists; Newton (+1) and Cleveland (-1) had Purdue’s two aces. Johnson and Ellis each recorded a solo block, with Johnson adding 4 assists for a match-high 3.0 total, followed closely by Cleveland and Trammell at 2.5. Otec had 25 digs (a really good number for a three-set match), with Marissa Hornung also in double digits at 13.

Washington State’s attack was led by fifth-year OH Penny Tusa, who had 10 kills but was held to .125. Redshirt junior setter Hannah Pukis had 33 assists for the Cougars, junior libero Julia Norville had their only ace (+1), and both players added double-digit digs (18 for Pukis, 15 for Norville), giving Pukis a double-double. Junior MB Magda Jehlarova had WSU’s only solo block and led them with 2.0 total, the only Cougar with more than one block assist.

Overall summary

A solid road weekend, one that will likely look better as the season wears on. Pac-12 teams are always tough, and whether or not Washington State is actually a top-25 team, the fact that they were even considered in that group should make the neutral-site sweep look pretty good when it’s time to hand out NCAA seeds. Go Cougars!

Purdue moves up four spots to #5; in Massey’s ratings, Wisconsin is the only Big Tenteen team ahead of them. In the AVCA poll, Purdue is still fourth in the conference, behind #2 Wisconsin, #3 Nebraska, and #4 Ohio State. (Louisville is 10th, in case you were wondering.)

Across the conference

The top of the conference begins to separate from the rest, as each of the top five teams posted only Ws (Penn State is 11th in Massey). Minnesota is still part of that group despite dropping a pair of 1-3 matches, home to #1 Texas and at #13 Florida. They head out to Oregon this weekend to face Stanford and the Ducks.

Michigan was swept by #21 West Virginia in Annapolis, but that may say just as much about WVU as it does about the Wolverines. Illinois dropped a pair of home matches, 1-3 vs Washington and 2-3 vs Colorado, so they may still need another year before they can contend again. Indiana fell in five sets at Western Michigan, MSU was swept at BYU, Maryland is cruising through an extremely soft non-con schedule, Rutgers and Northwestern look to be in the bottom tier again, and Iowa is 0-4 against a very challenging schedule (losses to Duke and Coastal Carolina at CCU, losses to Colorado and Washington at Illinois) so it’s hard to say where they stand - they’ll be near the bottom record-wise anyway, since they play just two easy non-con matches and will likely struggle in conference play.

Next up

The Boilers head to Cincinnati in a weekend highlighted by a matchup with #12 Louisville. The Cardinals are 6-0 but haven’t faced anyone in Massey’s top 50 yet; that will change as they have Purdue, Kentucky and Nebraska in an eight-day stretch.

Friday, 3:00 PM: vs #12 Louisville (TV: FloSports)
Saturday, 3:00 PM: vs #139 Lipscomb (TV: FloSports)

Live stats for both matches will be available on Xavier’s Sidearm site.

Sorry folks, road trips mean no pics. We’ll have some from the upcoming Stacey Clark Classic, though.