Penn St at Purdue

[The Bofa on the Sofa]

Penn St wins in three, with scores of something like 28, 27, and 26.

Purdue started out tough in game 1, mainly using tough serving to keep PSU off balance. However, the Lions adjusted a little, and Purdue went back to their short floating serves that they've been using most of the season. Surprisingly, Penn St used some tough blocking in game 1 and didn't have their great court coverage. McConaha was pretty strong for Purdue. Wischmeier started out OK, but Ashley Pedersen (#15) and Penn St's #12 really put a hammer on her in the second half the game. It was close at the end, but Penn St pulled it out on a Tortarello tip into the back corner.

Game 2 was very different, as that's when Penn St started digging everything. Penn St jumped out fast, but Purdue clawed back into it, tying it up even before too long. With scores about 20 - 20, Penn St pulled away a little, and I think it was 28 - 22. McConaha was completely absent in game 2 until this point where she started to make some moves, but by then it was too late and Penn St wins.

Game 3 was close most of the way again, with Penn St pulling away at the end. A common theme.

I haven't seen the box score yet, but my impression is that Ashley Pedersen hurt Purdue very badly. She was blocking well, and she had a lot of kills. Purdue had more success attacking Salyer, but that could be an issue of matchups. Purdue's big problem was at their other OH. Kim Cappa just isn't cutting it this year, and they don't have anyone else to play there.

Mel Ukovich didn't play again, but Sami Mader at OPP was certainly not the problem for Purdue, and she had a pretty good night (although she might have gotten a little tired).

Tortarello is a very strong setter. She plays the ball on the net as well as anyone, better even than Jill Arganbright did (and Jill was very good at that). She does a great job of beating the defense on those bad passes at the net. If no one goes up with her, she tips down. If a blocker goes up, she sets off to a good matchup (not an easy set, either). She does a nice job of getting good matchups, and when she'd set up a one-on-one vs Cappa, you knew there wasn't much hope.

On the other hand, Purdue played very well, and really stuck with Penn St. Any one of those three could have gone either way given a break here or there. We just couldn't pull one out. Very frustrating, because it was so close.

All-in-all, very good volleyball on both sides the net. Whereas you expect Penn St to be digging everything, Purdue kept a lot of rallies going, too. Decent net play, great floor play, some great setting (two of the better setters around), just fun volleyball to watch.

Tomorrow night will be a little different, I think. Probably won't be quite the number of long rallies with Gordon pounding away. I'll have the laptop with me (and I'll have access to the power strip, so I won't have to worry about batteries) so I will be able to provide live commentary throughout the whole match.

From press row, BTW.

[rocket]

Agent B may have been watching a different match. According to the boxscore, Pederson did not block a single ball and hit .219 on 10 for 32 with 3 errors. Top attacker for Penn St. was Salyer who hit for 13 for 20 with only 4 errors for a .450 clip. Price has 41 swings for a .220 %. According to boxscore, Penn St. hit .281 and Purdue .221. Purdue dug 57 balls compared to 51 for Penn St., and Penn St. outblocked Purdue 9 to 8. Walters had 21 digs and Holm had 3.5 blocks. Poe led Purdue with 16 digs and three Boilers had 2 blocks.

[The Bofa on the Sofa]

rocket said:

Agent B may have been watching a different match. According to the boxscore, Pederson did not block a single ball and hit .219 on 10 for 32 with 3 errors.

I'm surprised about the blocks, because I thought she was going up with #12 a lot (of course, #12 _DID_ get the blocks, but 2 were solos; Pedersen was next to her in the front row and I could have sworn they went up together). OTOH, there is more to blocking than block kills, and when Wischmeier hits three times in a row in one rally with none getting past the front row, you know that the blocks are doing well. It's just that Purdue's hitter coverage was good enough to keep it rolling.

I re-watched the match last night knowing the box score, and what I realized is that the reason I thought Pedersen hurt us so much is because many of her kills came some key moments, typically when the game was tied late.

I never said Salyer wasn't strong offensively. In fact, when she hit she was pretty much unstoppable. OTOH, she only had 20 attacks, compared to someone like Price who had 41.