IU volleyball traveled home from rival territory with a loss against No. 19 Purdue University this weekend. It was the Hoosiers’ second loss in four days to their rival, coming after a 3-0 loss to the Boilermakers on Wednesday.
The Boilermakers won 3-0 for the second consecutive game against the Hoosiers after three victorious sets (25-22, 25-15, 25-20).
“They’re a very talented team,” junior outside hitter Mallory Waggoner said. “We played very well and made some changes from Wednesday. Their middles hit really well against us, so we’re going to work on block defense and how to contain that.”
In the first set, IU fell short five points against Purdue, 10-5. Eventually, IU caught up with a kill scored by senior middle blocker Awele Nwaeze, tying the first set at 20-20.
Three attack errors committed by the Hoosiers, in addition to a successful kill by the Boilermakers, allowed the rival team to take the first set of the match.
“I wish we could’ve done a little more to take that set,” Waggoner said. “I think if we would’ve taken that first set we could’ve changed the outcome of the match. Overall, in the first set we played very well. We got them out of system a lot and that was the standard we wanted to play at.”
In the opening of the second set, IU and Purdue were neck-and-neck until the Boilermakers took a 10-point lead to finish the set, 25-15.
The Hoosiers went on to lose the third and final set 25-20 in the end of the match.
“We learned a lot,” IU Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We went in with a different mentality. We made Purdue play at a higher level. In the locker room after it was a much different feel from Wednesday, which was a positive outlook to get back in the gym and continue. We want them to keep learning, stay motivated to do more work and that’s positive as a coach.”
Two days before the second Purdue match, IU played about 18 sets in preparation during practice. This is a strategy that IU plans to continue as they prepare for their next opponents for the upcoming weekend, Dunbar-Kruzan said.
IU will resume this type of practice strategy Monday, as they get ready to go on the road to play No. 3 Penn State on Friday followed by No. 9 Ohio State on Saturday.
“All these teams are all ranked and talented teams,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We need to have that confidence that we can upset teams and play at a high level with them. We made some positive changes but we’re not satisfied until we find success. When you find success you need to build on it.”
