Holloway Gymnasium claimed another victim as No. 11 Purdue volleyball (10-1, 1-0 Big Ten) took down No. 8 Minnesota (5-4, 0-1 Big Ten) in sweeping fashion, 25-18, 25-23, 32-30.
The Boilermakers came from behind in the first and second set to win the pair before securing the match in a back-and-forth third set, which saw 21 ties and five Purdue match points. The Boilermakers rallied in set three and sealed the victory on a kill by sophomore Raven Colvin.
Leading the team was setter Grace Balensiefer, who notched 41 assists in the victory with one kill, which gave Purdue the penultimate point.
Making play after play, the Purdue back row ended the night with 50 digs, an effort led by defensive specialist Ali Hornung's career-high-tying 15. As a team, the Boilermakers saw 66 receptions, allowing just one service ace against a Gopher squad that was averaging 1.65 per set heading into the night.
No. 11 Purdue will be back in action Sunday afternoon at Iowa. The 1 p.m. ET match, originally scheduled for ESPN2, has been moved to ESPN.
Quick Hits
- Purdue is 1-1 vs. top-10 teams this season
- The third set's 32-30 score is the longest game a Purdue match since 2017
- The win marks the seventh top-25 opponent to fall inside Holloway Gymnasium in the last three years
- Eva Hudson tied a career-high 21 kills
- Maddie Schermerhorn tied a career-high three service aces
- In the series history, Purdue has won back-to-back matches vs. Minnesota for the first time since 1998 (W, 3-1 at Minnesota 11/14/21).
- It is the first win vs. Minnesota on Belin Court since November 10, 2015 when Purdue won, 3-1.
Set 1 (25-18)
- A 10-1 run not only gave Purdue the lead, but the 18-12 advantage and never looked back while libero Maddie Schermerhorn was behind the serving line
- Ali Hornung recorded six digs in the set
- Eva Hudson, Raven Colvin and Hannah Clayton combined for 14 kills and 2 errors on 23 attempts
- Hudson went 8-0-14 (.571)
Set 2 (25-23)
- Six blocks in the second set, including three by Raven Colvin
- Hannah Clayton notched two key back-to-back points with a block solo to tie the match, 16-16, followed by a kill to take the lead
- Madeline Koch went errorless with a team-leading four kills on five attempts (.800%)
Set 3 (32-30)
- The score was tied 21 times and saw nine lead changes in the set.
- The teams saw a combined eight set points, including five match points for Purdue
- Eva Hudson tallied 10 kills (10-3-19) in the set
Original source can be found here.
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