Boiler volleyball team wins 'street fight' with Hawkeyes

After a close and hard-fought battle, the Boilermakers got out of Iowa City with a 3-1 victory over the Hawkeyes on Sunday afternoon.

The No. 11 Boilermaker volleyball team (11-1, 2-0 Big Ten) traveled to Coralville, Iowa and beat the Hawkeyes (6-6, 0-2 Big Ten), 29-27, 19-25, 25-16 and 25.18.

Purdue head coach Dave Shondell told ESPN that even when his team lost leads or gave up big runs, the players were able to push through it one play at a time.

“It was a street fight, and once we just started playing one point at a time and forgetting about everything else that was involved, then we started to settle down and understand their characteristics,” Shondell said.

The Boilermakers now have a five-game win streak, including a three-set sweep of No. 8 Minnesota on Friday, but the team faced injuries at key positions.

With junior setter Megan Renner out with an undisclosed injury and senior libero Maddie Schermerhorn not in the lineup due to a practice injury, senior setter Grace Balensiefer, who started against Minnesota, and sophomore libero Ali Hornung needed to step up in order to win this match on the road.

Shondell commented on Hornung’s performance as a stand in libero.

“I thought Ali Hornung was off the charts in her game and looked like a pro out there,” Shondell said to Purdue radio announcer Kyle Shondell.

In the first set, Purdue gained a late 4-point lead, but a 5-1 run by the Hawkeyes allowed them to come back and tie set one at 24 apiece.

Two challenges from Iowa took away two different set-winning points for Purdue, however, former Iowa player, now Purdue senior outside hitter Hannah Clayton was able to score the eventual set point against her former team to make it 29-27 and give the Boilermakers a one-set lead.

Freshman outside hitter Eva Hudson led Purdue in scoring with six kills and Clayton and senior outside hitter Madeline Koch had four kills each.

The Boilermakers got out to a quick 8-3 lead in the second set, but a 7-0 run by the Hawkeyes put them right back into the set making it 13-12 Iowa at the midway point. After Purdue struggled with their passing, Renner came into the game to help the Boilermakers get some momentum as they then proceeded to go on a 4-0 run of their own.

Even with two Purdue timeouts, the Hawkeyes could not be stopped as they took the second set convincingly 25-19 to tie the match at 1-1. Hudson added three kills, giving her nine on the match. Koch and Clayton both added two kills, giving them each six kills in the match.

The poor passing from Purdue continued as the Hawkeyes took advantage quickly shutting down any of Purdue’s run attempts.

It was all Boilermakers down the stretch as they took a commanding lead and won the third set 25-16 over Iowa. Hudson still led the team with 11 kills and sophomore middle blocker Raven Colvin came alive, bringing her total kills on the match to nine.

The fourth set was another dominating performance from the Boilermakers as they jumped out to a 19-13 lead. With some questionable touch calls and no challenges left for the Hawkeyes, Purdue was able to catch a few breaks to continue its momentum.

Hudson’s eight kills propelled Purdue to a 25-18 victory in the fourth set that clinched the win.

Hudson ended the day with 19 kills, including the game winner, and five blocks. Colvin and Koch had 10 and nine kills, respectively.

“Nothing is ever easy when you come up here to Iowa because the expectations are that you are going to go up there and win no problem, but it’s a hard battle,” Shondell said to Purdue radio.

The Boilermakers will next play at 8 p.m., Friday at Illinois (7-5, 2-0) on Friday. The Illini went 2-0 at home to start the conference season with 3-1 win against Maryland and a 3-0 win against Northwestern.

Friday's matchup with the Illini will be broadcast on Big Ten Network+.