It wasn’t exactly a surprise to see the Boilers roll Maryland and Rutgers in four sets.

Wisconsin and Minnesota, on the other hand … well.

It’s hard to believe that not too long ago, Nebraska and Wisconsin were looking to run away with the conference race. Now, five schools are within a game of first, thanks in no small part to Purdue’s historic trip to the Upper Midwest, where they got their first season sweep of Wisconsin since 2009 (they went 1-0 against the Badgers in 2011, 2012, and 2017) and their first win at Minnesota since 1998.

The conference race might tighten even further, as we’ll see below, but first, let’s get to the weekend.

Purdue 3, Wisconsin 1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21)

Personnel

A bit more rotation than usual, with Taylor Trammell solidly back in the rotation (playing 3 sets) and splitting time with Raven Colvin (2 sets), while Maddie Koch (3 sets) and Emma Ellis (2 sets) split time at second OH. All other starters as usual, no other subs appeared.

Recap

While the score doesn’t show it, Purdue got off to a great start in set one, leading wire to wire and never really in danger of letting one get away. Almost before the crowd had settled in their seats, the Boilers were up 5-1. At 8-3, Wisconsin got a 1-4 run to close within two, but three Boiler points made it 12-7; another 1-4 run got it back down to two, and again Purdue got consecutive points to lead 15-11. Finally, at 18-15, four more from the Good Gals, two kills and two blocks, pushed the lead to seven, and not even a furious comeback by the Badgers could get them closer than three. at 23-20, a Colvin kill set up set point, and a Wisconsin attack error ended the set the way it began, giving Purdue a 1-0 lead on the road.

As has been the trend this season, the Boilers gave the next set back. The sides were mostly even until 5-6, when Wisconsin went on two long runs, one that made it 5-9, and another at 7-9 that extended the lead to 7-15, the latter with three of the six points coming on Purdue attack errors. In a mirror image of the first set, Purdue rallied, using a 6-1 run to get within 13-16 and again down to three at 16-19, but three more Wisconsin points put the set out of reach. At 17-24, a Koch kill gave the Boilers the serve, and a Trammell/Caitlyn Newton block of Devyn Robinson made it seem like there might be more life, but Grace Loberg’s kill put that to rest, and it was 1-1 at the break.

Set three started off poorly, with Wisconsin running out to leads of 0-3 and 1-4, but Purdue rallied with a 4-1 run to tie at 5. The teams split the next six points, so at 8-8 it seemed like this would be a long set … but the Boilers scored the next seven points, and at 15-8 and then 16-9, maybe it wouldn’t play out that way? An 0-5 Badger run said otherwise, as the two sides would keep the lead between one and three the rest of the way. Two Jael Johnson kills ended the last two hopes for Wisconsin to tie the set, with the second starting a 4-1 run that gave Purdue the space they needed. A Trammell kill gave the Boilers set point … but in an anticlimactic finish, Wisconsin and Purdue traded service errors, and it was a 25-22 final, putting the Good Gals up 2-1.

Set four was much like set three, with Purdue going up 4-0 and Wisconsin rallying to lead 5-6. The teams traded points, with Purdue getting an extra to lead 9-8, but the Badgers scored three straight to take it back at 9-11. Once again, the Boilers retook the lead, getting mini-runs of two, three and two to change a 10-12 deficit into a 17-14 lead, and the home side would get no closer than one the rest of the way, with an 0-2 response to the last run. A Newton kill pushed the lead to two, a Wisconsin attack error made it three, and the teams traded points until 23-20, when a Johnson solo block of Jade Demps brought up the first match point of the day. A service error gave the Badgers one last chance, but Newton took care of that with a kill, and the Boilers had a huge 3-1 road win.

Stats

Wisconsin’s service game proved the better of the two, with the Badgers leading 3-5 in aces, and UW kept a lot of Boiler hits off the floor, leading in digs 55-65, but everything else went Purdue’s way: attack (54 at .197 to 47 at .128), blocks (14-9), and assists (51-44).

Purdue got just one player into double-digit kills, with Newton getting 19 at .214, by far the highest total on either team (Johnson and Grace Cleveland just missed out, with 9 at .350 and 8 at .057 respectively). Hayley Bush led everyone with 47 assists but was well short of a double-double (only 5 digs). Jena Otec (even) had two of Purdue’s aces, with Newton (-4) serving the other. Johnson had both of Purdue’s solo blocks, the only two in the match, and had 5.0 total blocks, easily the most on either side, with Newton at 3.0 and Cleveland and Trammell getting 2.0 each. Marissa Hornung’s 18 digs were also a match high, with Otec right behind her at 17 and Newton just off a double-double at 9.

Senior OH Grace Loberg was the only Badger with double-digit kills, getting 12 at .200, as the Boilers held star fifth-year MB Dana Rettke to just 6 kills at .045. Fifth-year setter Sydney Hilley had a huge double-double, with 38 assists and 17 digs, both team highs. Fifth-year libero Lauren Barnes had 4 aces (+4, might be the highest number I’ve seen all year), with freshman OH Julia Orzol (even) serving the other. Rettke’s 2.5 total blocks led Wisconsin, followed by sophomore MB/RS Devyn Robinson (2.0) and Orzol (1.5). Barnes added 16 digs, with sophomore OH Jade Demps (11) and Orzol (10) also in double figures.

Purdue 3, Minnesota 1 (25-12, 14-25, 25-16, 25-22)

Personnel

Colvin got most of the MB reps this time, with Trammell coming in briefly in one set. Ellis got 3 sets and Koch 2 at OH. The only other Boiler to play was Ali Hornung, who came in to serve out the match in set 4 and did so.

Recap

Would you like three sets that didn’t look anything like the first match of the week? Great! Set one was … something else, as most of the 5000+ fans in Maturi Pavilion were uncharacteristically quiet. Purdue silenced them with a quick 3-0 start, then pushed the lead to 6-2, 9-3, and 13-5. You would think that would have been enough and that the teams would essentially have kept it there the rest of the way, but at 19-10, the Gophers got a Purdue service error and a Katie Myers/Melani Shaffmaster block of Emma Ellis, and nothing more. A 6-0 Boiler run finished the set, with Ellis getting a solo block of Myers to make it 25-12. Unfortunately, even if you didn’t already know the score, you could guess that Purdue would not play quite as well in set two, and … yeah, they didn’t.

Minnesota wasn’t going to get run off the court in consecutive sets, and in set two, they did the running, leading 1-5 and 2-7. The Boilers couldn’t string more than three points together, and when they did that, it was to stave off set points, with the killer being an 0-6 run that blew an 8-12 lead into 8-18. For good measure, the Gophers opened it up to 11-24 with an 0-4 run; that 3-0 run came from kills by Trammell and Ellis and a Minnesota attack error, but the fourth time was the charm, with a Purdue attack error mercifully ending the second set at 14-25.

The last two sets weren’t anything I was expecting. Minnesota started off the third one like the second, despite giving up the opening point: they were up 2-4 and 4-8, and it looked like a 1-3 road loss was in the cards. But the home team couldn’t get more than 4 points away from the Boilers, and a 4-0 run tied it at 10. Three times, the Gophers opened a one-point lead, and three times, Purdue would answer … and on the third try, they kept answering, running off nine straight to effectively end the set, leading 21-13. Minnesota would not score on their serve again, with a Minnesota attack error ending set three at 25-16.

Set four saw the Boilers lead early, knowing they didn’t want to get into a five-setter with a fired-up Pav crowd. A 3-0 run gave Purdue its first lead, 6-4, and they were able to push it to 11-8 before an 0-3 run tied things at 11. The teams would trade points through 15-14, when the Gophers finally ended the side-out string and got a pair of Stephanie Samedy kills to lead 15-16. At 16-17, Purdue broke their own string, sort of, as two Minnesota errors put the Boilers in front 18-17, but Minnesota answered in kind to lead 18-19. The sides would trade points through 20-20, when the Gophers scored three in a row to lead 20-23.

BUT. Dave Shondell challenged that 23rd point, arguing there was a touch on a Newton attack … and the down ref proved him right, making it 21-22 instead. Ali Hornung came in to serve for Johnson, and the Gophers wouldn’t score again, with two Boiler blocks, a Koch kill, and a Newton kill finishing off the match. It’s not often you see a team finish a set with fewer points than they had at one time, but it happened here, with Minnesota getting to 23 briefly but losing 25-22.

Stats

This time, Purdue led in everything, even though a couple of margins were small: attack (52 at .243 to 46 at .165), aces (8-3), blocks (10-9), assists (49-43), and digs (62-61).

Stop me if you heard this before: Caitlyn Newton led Purdue with 19 kills (at .226 this time), a weekend that earned her Big Tenteen Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career. Three Boilers had seven kills: Cleveland (.174), Johnson (.211), and Colvin (.462), with the latter earning Freshman of the Week honors. Bush again missed a double-double, posting a match-high 39 kills and adding 9 digs. Newton had a spectacular serving night, with 5 aces and no errors for a +5 at the line; Bush, Otec and Marissa Hornung all added an ace and were even. Bush and Ellis had Purdue’s two solo blocks, with Colvin’s 6 assists good for a team-high 3.0 total, followed by Bush (2.5) and Ellis (1.5). Otec led Purdue with 14 digs, with Marissa Hornung adding 10.

Minnesota’s attack was led by All-American redshirt senior OPP Stephanie Samedy, who had a match-high 23 kills at .316 and added 13 digs for a double-double, plus an ace (+1), Minnesota’s only solo block, and a match-high 3.5 total blocks. Sophomore OH Jenna Wenaas also hit double figures with 10 kills at .086. Sophomore setter Melani Shaffmaster (New Castle/New Castle HS) also had a double-double, with 36 assists and 10 digs. Minnesota’s other aces came from senior libero CC McGraw, who had 2 (+2) and also led all players with 19 digs.

Overall thoughts

This team is playing as well as possible at the perfect time; as long as they take care of business, their season finale against Nebraska in Holloway could well be for a share of the conference title … and if they win out, that could put them back in the mix for a top-four seed, although that part will depend heavily on other conferences. Wisconsin seems firmly in that mix and might be there even with the fourth loss that would be required for a tied-with-Purdue scenario, since their losses are mostly better than Purdue’s (Maryland away vs Michigan State at home).

To be at the point where “disappointed not to get a top-four seed” is a possible outcome is amazing. I’m really excited to see this team play five more times in Holloway. Yes, five. No jinxes! (Keep in mind that if Purdue did host a regional, it would be in Mackey and not Holloway, so seven is off the table.)

The Boilers mostly control their own destiny for conference title hopes: win out (which includes a Nebraska loss in that season finale) and get a Wisconsin loss, likely at Minnesota or home to Nebraska. Simple as that. In theory, even 15-5 might get a share of the title, but since Wisconsin and Nebraska play each other, seeing both of them pick up 2 losses in 4 matches would be extremely unlikely.

Conference standings

Everyone in the top six won except when playing Purdue. Wisconsin managed to hold their place by knocking off the Wildcats, while Nebraska moved into a tie with easy wins against Maryland and Indiana. Purdue’s great weekend pulled Minnesota into a tie with them and Penn State, who completed a 4-0 two-week stretch against the Michigan teams. Ohio State remains two games back but gained separation with a dominant 3-0 win at Illinois, as the Illini are still four games out but two back of the Buckeyes.

Michigan is still hoping for an at-large bid, and a .500 conference record might do that. They stayed on pace by sweeping Rutgers. Maryland is definitely out after a 3-1 loss at Iowa, and Northwestern stayed even with the Terrapins after losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin. Michigan State had the only win at the bottom, sweeping Rutgers as well, while Indiana, Iowa and Rutgers round out the pack.

The standings may get really interesting next week. Check out these matches:

• Friday: Penn State at Nebraska

• Sunday: Wisconsin at Minnesota, Penn State at Ohio State

Five teams at 14-4 with a week left? That would be amazing. Illinois should get their 10th and 11th wins to solidify their at-large bid, but above them, who knows where things could end up? We do know that there likely won’t be much of a gap at the top, since both Nebraska and Minnesota host Rutgers.

It’s also reasonable to expect that the top six teams will get seeded; it’s hard to imagine Penn State or Ohio State being left out since their strength of schedule should easily balance out their losses. Illinois likely won’t be in the discussion just because you do have to win enough matches, and they came in with three non-conference losses and already have 10 overall. Still, neither the Illini nor the Wolverines will be a welcome opponent in first- or second-round play.

Next up

For a change, it’s the Boilers who get a comparatively easy schedule, hosting Michigan and then traveling to Northwestern. One match at a time, Boilers. Get these two wins, let the rest play out, and we’ll see what’s at stake for the final week of conference play. (Not the Monon Spike, remember, that was already captured in Bloomington this season.)

Friday, 7:00 PM: vs #31 Michigan (BTN, live stats)
Sunday, 3:00 PM: at #56 Northwestern (BTN+, live stats)

One more thing

I’d be remiss if I failed to point out that women’s soccer is in the NCAA tournament, squeaking past Loyola of Chicago 1-0 in double OT thanks to this Sarah Griffith goal. They’ll face Notre Dame in Fayetteville on Friday at 4:30 PM, with the winner of Arkansas/Virginia Tech waiting Sunday at 5:30 PM if the Boilers pull off the road upset. Is there one more winner in Griffith’s magic boots? Will the hero be Emily Mathews this time? Will Marisa Bova get another clean sheet? How nice would it be to have a big neutral-site win on Friday to lead into a big home volleyball win?

Hey hey! Pics from a road trip! They are, as always, provided courtesy of Purdue Athletics, with photos taken by Rachel Coe and video on the Exposure site by Morgan Landes. Go check it out! There are a number of videos, including match point against Wisconsin and a certain phrase from a certain head coach.

Feature photo, clockwise from center: Bush (standing), Ali Hornung (crouching), Maddie Schermerhorn, Koch, Newton (mostly hidden) and Colvin