Another week, another 3-0, as the Boilers haven’t missed a beat yet … although it was close, with Utah putting something of a scare into the Good Gals, forcing a fifth set and leading at the halfway point before Purdue got revenge for that 2017 NCAA match (one that, if memory serves, some thought could just as well have been in Holloway, as the Boilers had a resume similar to 2019 but didn’t get seeded and thus had to travel).

After a bit of weekend turbulence, Massey has them back at #3, with only Texas and Nebraska ahead of them; whether or not that’s optimistic should be answered in the very next match, as #5 Louisville welcomes the Boilers to town Friday evening. After spending all but one week inside the AVCA top 10 last season, Purdue jumps back into that familiar group, up two spots to #9 this week (but still fifth among conference teams).

Once again, Purdue took home two conference honors, as OH Eva Hudson got her second straight Freshman of the Week nod, while libero Maddie Schermerhorn was named Defensive Player of the Week.

Recap

#3 Purdue 3, Bradley 0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-15)

The comfortable win saw a lot of Boilers get some court time; here, MB Lourdès Myers (9) and OH Emily Rastovski (22) go up for a block

No PBP for this one, it’s probably just as well. Bradley hit -.022 for the match; Purdue hit just .293 but also made only 9 errors; that and their serving and defense were more than enough for an easy sweep.

Purdue leaders:
Kills - Hudson 10 (233)
Assists - S Megan Renner 21
Aces - DS Ali Hornung 4 (+3); 4 others with 1
Blocks - MB Hannah Clayton 2.5, OPP Madeline Koch 2.0, Hudson 1.5
Digs - Schermerhorn 11

Bradley leaders:
Kills - OH Doga Topcicek 5 (.056), MB Kendall Minta 5 (.444)
Assists - S Loren Scott 10
Aces - L Serena Sparks 1 (+1), Topcicek 1 (even)
Blocks - Minta 2.0
Digs - Sparks 8

#3 Purdue 3, Utah 2 (25-17, 22-25, 25-18, 26-28, 15-9)

MB Hannah Clayton (20) finishes a kill off a set from S Megan Renner (3, foreground)

The Boilers got off to a flying start in set one, going up 7-1; they would push the lead to 11-4 and 13-5 before Utah managed to settle down a bit, running off four straight points to cut a 14-7 lead to 14-11. Purdue responded with a 6-1 run to restore a safe lead, and they’d get their final point on a kill from Clayton; at 25-17, things looked pretty good.

The Utes did much better in the second set, as they kept Purdue from scoring on their own serve until an attack error cut a 6-9 lead to 7-9. With a big mid-set surge keyed by consecutive aces from Raven Colvin, the Boilers took their first lead and expanded it to 15-13, but Utah came right back, running off six of the next eight for a 17-19 lead, and the Good Gals couldn’t get to the front again. After tying it at 19, Purdue gave up two points for 19-21, and then one more Utah run made it 20-24. Hudson and Colvin staved off set points with kills, but Madelyn Robinson made Utah’s third try count, and the teams headed to the locker rooms even at 1.

Set three did not start off quite like the first, as Purdue’s opening run was just 4-1 and Utah stayed right about that close until a pair of attack errors gave Purdue a 15-10 lead. The visitors would not get closer than three the rest of the way, and a 4-0 run put the Boilers comfortably in front, 23-15. Robinson put away the first Purdue set point, but a service error on the next point gave the home team a 2-1 advantage.

The fourth set was just as wild as the score suggests. Utah scored three straight on their own server, then three more after a Hudson kill, but at 1-6, Purdue got five of their own to tie, with back-and-forth scoring prevailing until a pair of Boiler points made it 9-8. Utah struck back with 3 for a 9-11 lead, but two 2-1 runs by the hosts put Purdue in front 14-13 … only to see a six-point Utah run make it 14-19. At 15-20, the Boilers cut the lead to a single point, but Utah pushed it back to three at 19-22. Again, the lead was cut to one, and again, Utah denied the tie. Finally, at 22-24, two Chinn kills held off set points for Utah; they would get another one after a Lauren Jardine kill, but a pair of Utah errors gave Purdue their first match point. Allie Olsen got the serve back for the Utes with a kill, then joined Ashley West for a block on Hudson that set up their fourth set point, and Robinson would make it good with her second set win of the night, 26-28, bringing on the first chant of I Believe this season.

The first half of the final set didn’t look like belief would be enough; while the Boilers got off to a quick start on a Hornung ace and then a run of three kills, one each from Hudson, Colvin and Chinn, Utah countered with an 0-3 run of their own for a 4-4 tie. Colvin got a pair of kills for a 6-4 lead, but after trading points for 7-5, an Amelia Van Der Werff kill sandwiched by Purdue errors made it 7-8 and time to switch sides (they are switching sides this season; in 2021 the teams stayed on the same side of the net the whole match). Unfortunately for Utah, they stepped in the traps that Purdue set for them, and a 5-0 run keyed by two more Colvin aces put them in a 12-8 hole. Jardine would get one final kill, but back-to-back kills from Ellis got the Boilers their second match point of the night, and Clayton did not miss, giving Purdue a hard-fought 3-2 win.

The hosts did end up with reasonable edges in most categories: kills (70 at .298 to 64 at .252), aces (11 to 3) and blocks (10 to 8). Utah did have a slight advantage in assists (59-61) and had a significant advantage in digs (64-76).

The Utah attack was led by fifth-year OH Madelyn Robinson, who had a match-high 26 kills at .274 and added 16 digs for a double-double; freshman OH Ashley West added 11 kills at .176, and sophomore OH Lauren Jardine added 10 at .241. Senior setter Emily Smith led the Utes with 48 assists and added 11 digs for her own double-double. Redshirt sophomore OH Abby Karich (2/+1) and junior MB Amelia Van Der Werff (1/even) were the only Utah players to serve aces; Jardine recorded Utah’s only solo block, with Van Der Werff (2.0 total blocks) just ahead of Smith and junior MB Allie Olsen (1.5 each). Junior libero Vanessa Ramirez led all players with 27 digs, while sophomore OH/DS Kamry Bailey added 12.

Hudson and Colvin split honors for the Purdue attack, with the freshman OH getting 18 kills at .241 and the sophomore MB getting 18 at .469; Clayton added 14 at .565 to lead all players in hitting percentage. Renner had a match-high 54 assists; Colvin (5/+3), Schermerhorn (3/-1), Hornung (2/+2) and Hudson (1/even) all had aces. Senior OH Emma Ellis had Purdue’s only solo block; Colvin led all players with 3.0 total blocks, and Hudson was right behind her with 2.5. Schermerhorn (26) and junior DS Emily Brown (13) were the only two Boilers with double-digit digs.

#3 Purdue 3, Milwaukee 1 (25-15, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23)

Left to right: Schermerhorn (8), Renner (3) and OH Maddy Chinn (5) celebrate something good or are asking for something good. Anyway, it was good

The two opening sets looked like Purdue was well on their way to a dominant sweep of Milwaukee, as they jumped out to leads of 11-4 and 10-4 respectively, never truly being threatened in either set. While the third set was also a clear win, unfortunately it went the other way.

Oddly enough, neither team led by more than two until the Panthers ran off three straight to lead 14-18; Purdue would cut the lead in half and then keep it there at 17-19 and 18-20, but that was it, as three Boiler errors, a Kaley Blake ace, and a Natalie Schmitz kill gave Milwaukee the third set and a little life heading into the fourth.

Purdue tried to pull away early, getting a quick 3-0 run to lead 6-3, on a Colvin block, a Colvin/Renner block, and a Hudson kill, but the Panthers cut it down to one and got their own 0-3 run after some point trading to make it 8-9. Three more Boiler blocks made it 11-9, and after an Ari Miller kill cut that lead in half, another block made it 12-10; Milwaukee then got a 2-7 run to lead 14-17, and thoughts of another five-set match were starting to spread. But wait! Purdue had still more 3-0 runs in their pocket: one to tie it at 17, and another to change 17-19 to 20-19. While they wouldn’t get three straight points again, they let the Panthers score on their own serve just once after that, for 20-21. Two Boiler points made it 22-21, and the hosts would make their second match point count, with a Chinn kill giving them a hard-fought 25-23 win.

Purdue’s two dominant sets outweighed Milwaukee’s one, as Purdue led across the box score: kills (58 at .239 to 48 at .198), aces (5 to 2), blocks (16 to 9), assists (51-46), and digs (56-50).

The Panther attack was led by freshman OH Natalie Schmitz, who had 14 kills at .367; she was joined in double figures by junior MB Ari Miller, with 13 at .267, and sophomore OH Madi Malone, who had 11 kills at .259 and added 14 digs for a double-double. Milwaukee split their assists almost exactly in half, with freshman setter Josie Johnson recording 22 and junior setter Kaley Blake notching 19; both setters served an ace as well, with Johnson at -2 for the match and Blake at +1, and Kaley just missed a double-double with 9 digs. Miller and sophomore RS/MB Bri Geurts each had a solo block and led the Panthers with 3.0 and 2.5 total, respectively. Junior libero Sarah Schrader led Milwaukee with 16 digs.

Purdue had only one player with double-digit kills, but it was worth it, as Hudson had a match-high 21 at .395, adding a match-high 2 aces (+1), 1.0 total blocks, and 4 digs. Renner led everyone with 35 assists; Colvin (-1), Hornung (even) and Schermerhorn (+1) each served an ace. Clayton’s 2 solo blocks led everyone and her 4.0 total were just behind Colvin’s 4.5 for match honors (Raven had a solo block, as did Koch). Schermerhorn led everyone with 22 digs and Hornung added 10.

Thoughts

It was good to see Purdue face a couple of reasonable tests and still come away with wins; any time there’s a lot of roster turnover, you expect a dropoff of some sort, but so far this doesn’t look much different than previous seasons. Louisville will provide an excellent road test, keeping in mind that Ohio State beat them there 3-1 on Sunday. After that, well, the B16 should do the trick, starting with the home opener against Minnesota.

Conference roundup

Nebraska is #2 after squeaking out a 3-2 win at #26 Creighton; the Huskers are 6-0. Minnesota is 3-1 but #4 since their one loss was 1-3 at #1 Texas; #7 Wisconsin dropped #30 Marquette in four sets and moved to 3-1; new-look Penn State is also 6-0 at #11 with two tough matches ahead. Michigan jumps into the top 25 at #24 and is 6-0 as well, but they have yet to be tested; they’ll host #17 Mississippi State next weekend. Ohio State salvaged a very rough opening season with that win; they’re #27 but lost twice at home to Texas and once in Louisville to #9 San Diego. Northwestern is a very soft 6-0 and #34; they have Washington and Pepperdine this week. Illinois is off to a usual rough start at 1-3 and #43; they haven’t played in Champaign yet and have lost to #6 Georgia Tech, #22 Colorado and #12 Washington.

Michigan State is 6-0 and #45 and won’t play any top-25 teams in non-con play; Indiana is 4-2 at #87 and desperately needs a new coach; Iowa is 2-3 at #93 and looks to have another rough season ahead; Maryland is 4-2 at #102 with two bad losses (#72 FGCU and #140 South Florida), and Rutgers closes out the list at #118 and 4-2, with the two losses to #280 Radford and #76 Towson at Towson, but in five sets each.

Up next

Purdue is away for the last time in non-conference play: they’re in the Louisville Invitational, opening with a great match against the hosts and then facing Lipscomb or Xavier on Saturday.

Unfortunately, the ACC has a bad TV contract, so while they do show a reasonable number of matches on ACCN and ACCNX, Saturday’s match is on FloVolleyball, aka “someone’s camera propped up in the stands” or at least that was how they did the last FloHoops game I watched. Don’t pay for that. We can just watch the stats.

Friday, 7:00 PM: at #5 Louisville (ACCNX and live stats)
Saturday, 4:00 PM: vs #162 Lipscomb or #112 Xavier (FloVolleyball and live stats)

Photos this week from only the Bradley match, beggars can’t be choosers, courtesy of Purdue Sports