VB Splits In Cincinnati, Still AVCA Top-10 Team
Going into last weekend’s tournament at Xavier, the Boilers knew they’d learn at least something about where they stood overall - regardless of the ranking system you follow, Louisville was a solid team in it, and while Cincinnati is pretty much neutral territory, it’s definitely not Holloway, and playing top-10 teams away from home is always a challenge.
As it turned out, it wasn’t a challenge Purdue was equal to, at least not at this point in the season. (Which is the best reason to play top-10 teams in non-conference play! It has the least impact on your NCAA seeding - losing conference matches can make more of a difference and of course losing a tournament match ends your season - and provides you with an idea of what you’ll face if you do plan to make a Final Four appearance.) The Cardinals swept the Boilers; Purdue salvaged the weekend with a sweep of Lipscomb, but it’s fair to say that we all hoped the weekend went slightly better than it did.
#5 Purdue 0, #12 Louisville 3 (19-25, 16-25, 21-25)
Personnel
Mostly the same lineup, with Jena Otec at libero and Maddie Koch and Emma Ellis splitting time at OH behind Caitlyn Newton. Ava Torrance served in one set and Raven Colvin made a brief appearance in one set; no other Boilers saw action.
Recap
The opening set started much as you might expect, with the teams trading points through 4-4, then trading two- and three-point runs, with neither side leading by more than two points. But at 14-15, Louisville used a 1-7 run to effectively put the set away - at 15-22, it was all uphill for the Boilers. They managed to get it down to 18-23, then fought off one set point with a Grace Cleveland kill, but Aiko Jones finished off the opener with a kill that made it 19-25 Cardinals.
Set two seemed to dash any hopes of a Purdue comeback, with Louisville starting off on a 1-5 run that included consecutive aces from Jones. Still, the Boilers hung in there, fighting back to tie at 7, then after a 7-10 run that prompted Colvin’s entry, they climbed back to 9-10 and traded points until 13-14. Unfortunately, at that point it was deja vu all over again, with Louisville getting 0-3, 0-2, 0-3, and 0-3 runs to close the set, as Purdue ended up scoring on their serve just three times. The Cardinals’ dominant defense was a key to the final runs, as four of their last five points came on attack errors (two unblocked and two blocked).
While the Good Gals did score the first two points in the final set, yet another Cardinal run put them behind 3-5 and then 4-7; they would claw back to within one at 7-8, but they would never tie again, as the Cardinals pushed the lead to 8-13, withstood a couple of short Purdue runs that closed the gap to 13-14, then one last time used a middle-of-the-set run to make it 14-19, and although a late Boiler rally did cut the gap to 19-21, Purdue would get no closer.
Stats
Louisville dominated both the match and the box score, leading in every single team category: kills (42 at .257 to 33 at .124), aces (5 to 1), blocks (12 to 7), assists (39 to 30), and digs (56-48).
The Boilers were held to their lowest hitting percentage all season, as Newton was the only Purdue player with 10+ kills (11 at .128; Cleveland had 9 at .250). Bush had just 25 assists but did add 12 digs for a double-double. Johnson served Purdue’s only ace and was even at the line, Cleveland and Taylor Trammell shared block honors with 2.0 total each, and Otec led all players with 20 digs.
Louisville’s attack was led by sophomore OH Anna DeBeer (12 kills at .241) and 5th-year MB Anna Stevenson (11 kills at a whopping .611). 5th-year setter Tori Dilfer took match honors with 34 assists and added 12 digs for her own double-double. Aiko Jones (3/+2) joined DeBeer (1/-1) and Stevenson (1/-1) as the only Cardinals to serve aces; DeBeer had 12 digs for a double-double of her own, and freshman libero Elena Scott led Louisville with 16. Stevenson also had a match-high 2 solo blocks, with junior MB Amaya Tillman posting 4.5 total to lead everyone.
#5 Purdue 3, #139 Lipscomb 0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-17)
Personnel
Otec and Marissa Hornung might have split libero duties, hard to say. Ali Hornung played in all three sets, Ellis was the second OH with Colvin playing two sets and rotating with Jael Johnson (who also played just two), Megan Renner made an appearance, and Savana Chacon made her 2021 debut.
Recap
There is none. These things happen when you’re playing on the road in a non-power-conference arena. Remember that the NCAA would rather pay lawyers to fight the inevitable than properly fund some of the most popular sports they pretend they support.
Stats
The Boilers narrowly held off Lipscomb in digs (38-37) and aces (4-3) but easily led in all other categories: kills (52 at .444 to 44 at .269), blocks (9-1) and assists (49-40).
Purdue’s overwhelming offense produced some significant numbers for a three-set match, with three Boilers in double digits and all hitting better than .400. Newton topped the group with 16 at .406, Cleveland added 15 at .542, and Ellis hit .600 with 13 kills; for good measure, Colvin added 4 kills at .429. Bush had a match-high 42 assists and was one of four Boilers with an ace (even), joined by Newton (even), Otec (+1) and Cleveland (-1). Ellis and Trammell each had a solo block, and Trammell added 6 block assists for a total of 4.0. Marissa Hornung (12) and Otec (10) were the only Purdue players with 10+ digs.
The Bison* attack was led by sophomore OH Kamryn Bacus, who had 14 kills at .500; former Boiler senior OH/RS Garrett Joiner added 9 kills at .190. Sophomore setter Delaney Dilfer had 36 assists and added an ace (+1); fifth-year DS Alex Spencer (even) and freshman MB/RS Anna Aubele (+1) had the other Lipscomb aces. The lone block was shared by sophomore MB Meg Mersman and freshman RS Addi Pelham. No Bison had 10+ digs; sophomore libero Delaney Smith led the team with 8.
*yeah, I said it. Gonna say it the next time Purdue plays them also, regardless of the sport. If they played the Lionses or the Wolverineses I’d fix that too.
Overall summary
I was hoping Purdue would be able to at least take a set, if not the match, but then I just watched Louisville beat Kentucky in five sets (OK, it was in Louisville, but still), so this wasn’t a case of Purdue being overrated (much? I hope) as much as Louisville not yet getting the respect they’re earning.
Similarly, I’d have liked to see more decisive set wins against Lipscomb, but the important thing is getting the sweep while still getting playing time for the younger players. Tell me that Purdue’s 5-1 going into the last non-conference weekend of the season and I’ll tell you it’s a good place to be, and remember, that Washington State sweep might look really good later this season.
Across the conference
1 Wisconsin moves up after dropping Kentucky in 4 and sweeping Marquette
6 Ohio State remains unbeaten after an easy weekend in Richmond against JMU, VCU and Virginia
8 Purdue drops three spots, which tells you how well the rest of the top 10 played last week
14 Minnesota knocks off Stanford and Oregon in Eugene, the Gophers are easily the best 3-3 team in the country
16 Nebraska swept Creighton at Creighton but lost in five to Utah at home and lost in four at Stanford on Tuesday
22 Penn State was swept at Oregon and lost to Stanford in five, yes, they were there with Minnesota, and yes, that may speak to the relative strengths of those teams
Illinois hasn’t beaten a decent team yet this season, which either means they’re not a top-20 team or is cause for concern, not sure which. Michigan is 1-2 against quality opposition after losing in five sets to North Carolina in Ann Arbor. The rest of the conference is shaking out about as expected, with no one really looking to be strong enough to make the leap to the NCAA-bound part of the Big Tenteen.
Next up
It’s the Stacey Clark Classic, aka Free Donut Friday and What Time Was That Again Saturday. Tennessee is likely to be a challenge for the Good Gals - when did the SEC suddenly get depth? - but the first two opponents should be a chance for Shondell to get some more playing time for the younger players.
Friday, 10:30 AM: vs #118 Jacksonville State, the one that beat Florida State in football (TV: BTN+, live stats here)
Friday, 7:30 PM: vs #263 Purdue-Fort Wayne (TV: BTN+, live stats here)
Saturday, 12:30 PM: vs #12 Tennessee (TV: BTN+, live stats here)
Reminder for those of you with parking passes: the F lot is typically closed to us for Friday morning matches since the people who work in that area are, well, working. That means you get the Parking Lottery Game: where can you park during the day and not get a ticket? Fun times! (I think you can park in the A lot, so there’s that. That reminds me, I need to stop in the team store and ask when we can start buying replica jerseys with actual player names/numbers. Let’s go, Boilers, NIL it up.) Free donuts, apparently, during the Jacksonville State match, which is good since COVID really doesn’t spread effectively on surfaces and the donuts are typically self-serve. (I think the main reason they aren’t doing programs etc is that it puts one person in a position to interact face-to-face with a lot of fans, which isn’t ideal even if we’re all masked. Setting out boxes of donuts, however, is a different thing.) If it’s like 2019 and before, there will be plenty of donuts, so it’s probably in my best interest if I don’t go. Trying to keep my A1C from going in That Direction, you know. (It’s not bad … yet. My doctor’s warned me.)
Normal parking resumes with the Friday evening match against PFW. Your tickets will also get you into the other matches (12:30 UT vs PFW, 5:00 JSU vs UT, Saturday 10 AM PFW vs JSU) if you’re so inclined - they are sparsely attended so you could probably sit in the chairbacks if you wanted to.
Road matches are road matches, and no, the photographers didn’t make the trip to Cincinnati, they were busy that weekend. I’m sure they would have gone if they could. It’s OK! We’ll have pics from this coming weekend!
