Women’s Volleyball: Ohio State upsets No. 13 Purdue on the road in a 3-1 victory

Rebecca Farage
Sun, 24 Sep 2017 17:42:31 +0000
News, Sports, Volleyball, Ashley Wenz, blocks, boilermakers, digs, Kills, Lauren White, Lauren Witte, Luisa Schirmer, Madison Smeathers, ohio state, Ohio State athletics, purdue, Taylor Hughes, women's volleyball

OSU junior outside hitter Luisa Schirmer (5) takes a swing past Nittany Lion blockers during a game against Penn State on Nov. 12. Credit: Jenna Leinasars | Assistant News Director

The Ohio State women’s volleyball team (9-4, 2-0 Big Ten) upset No. 13 Purdue (11-2, 1-1 Big Ten) in a grueling four set match (25-19, 25-22, 32-34, 25-23) and handed the Boilermakers their first home defeat of the season at Holloway Gymnasium Saturday night.

The Buckeyes began trailing behind the Boilermakers in the first set, but used a 5-0 run and took the lead 13-9. Ohio State rode blocks from outside hitter Ashley Wenz and middle blocker Lauren Witte to a 25-19 victory in the first set.

The second set proved just as difficult as the first for Ohio State as Purdue took the early lead. But the Buckeyes were able to come back with five consecutive points to take a 20-19 lead. Outside hitter Luisa Schirmer put away eight kills of her own, helping the Buckeyes win 25-22.

As each team took turns trailing behind the other through the third set that saw 16 tied scores, it was Purdue that took the longest set of the match 34-32, giving the Buckeyes their first loss.

Ohio State was able to rebound in the fourth set, this time behind six kills from middle blocker Madison Smeathers. The winning point came from Schirmer once again, giving the Buckeyes the fourth set 25-23 and sealing the match for Ohio State.

With a .600 hitting percentage, setter Taylor Hughes racked up 12 digs and 52 assists, only two shy from breaking her single-game record. Defensive specialist Hannah Gruensfelder was responsible for a match-high 15 digs, and Witte contributed four of her team’s 13 blocks. Schirmer was the star of the night, setting a personal single-game high with 25 kills.

With two Big Ten wins under their belts, the Buckeyes will be hit the road again, this time to face No. 20 Michigan on Friday and Michigan State on Saturday.