Ohio State Edged in Tight Four-Set Match with No. 15 Purdue

Sunday, October 15

Columbus, Ohio

1:00 PM

Ohio State

7-10,4-4Big Ten

No. 15 Purdue

11-6,5-3Big Ten

Purdue

Ohio St.

Photo by: Ohio State Athletics

Ohio State Edged in Tight Four-Set Match with No. 15 Purdue

10/15/2023 4:47:00 PM | General, Women's Volleyball

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The Buckeyes honored breast cancer fighters and survivors in Sunday’s pink match.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State Buckeyes (7-10, 4-4 B1G) fell in four sets (19-25, 25-17, 21-25, 26-28) against No. 15 Purdue (11-6, 5-3 B1G) on Sunday afternoon inside the Covelli Center in the pink match.

The Boilermakers used a pair of small runs midway through the first set to earn a 25-19 set win. The Buckeyes evened the match with a 25-17 win in the second set after using an early 5-0 run to take a lead that wouldn't be relinquished. Purdue gained the match advantage with a 25-21 win in the third set. The Boilermakers earned a 28-26 win in the fourth set by scoring the final three points of the match.

Emily Londot was the first in the match to 10 kills, reaching double figures for the 16^th time and 20+ for the seventh time this season (tied season-high 26). Chelsea Thorpe had 10+ kills for the seventh time this season, totaling 13 kills. Kaitlyn Hoffman was the first to reach 10 digs in the match, doing so for the ninth time this season and finishing with 18 digs.

How it Happened
Ohio State scored the first two points of the match before Purdue responded with the next two. The Buckeyes strung together a 4-0 run to lead early but the Boilermakers used three-consecutive points to take their first lead of the set at 10-9. After trading points, another 3-0 Purdue run gave the Boilermakers a 16-13 lead, forcing a Buckeye timeout. Three-consecutive Purdue points stretched its lead to 21-15, prompting a second OSU timeout. The Boilermakers earned a 25-19 set win.

Londot recorded the first five kills for the Buckeyes in the second set as OSU led by a 5-3 mark early. Ohio State extended its lead to 11-6 after Purdue tied the set at six. After the teams traded points, the Buckeyes used a 4-0 run to increase their lead to 20-11. Rader sealed the 25-17 set win with her fifth kill of the match.

The Buckeyes scored first in the third set and built an early 5-2 lead before the teams traded scoring and the lead multiple times before the midway point of the set. The teams were tied at 17 before a 3-0 Purdue run gave the Boilermakers a 19-17 lead, forcing an OSU timeout. Purdue used a 4-0 run to build its lead to 23-18 as Ohio State took a second timeout. The Buckeyes scored the next three points out of the timeout but the Boilermakers earned a 25-21 set win.

Purdue opened scoring in the fourth set, which was tied at every point until the Buckeyes scored back-to-back points to take an 8-6 lead on an ace from Lauren Murphy. Rader's third ace of the match capped a 4-0 OSU run to give the Buckeyes a 12-8 lead and force a Purdue timeout. Ohio State called timeout leading 17-14 after back-to-back Boilermaker points and again following a 5-0 Purdue run in which the Boilermakers took a 20-18 lead, their first lead since 1-0. The Buckeyes got back within one at 22-21 on back-to-back kills from Londot and took a 24-23 lead on a 3-0 run. Purdue tied the set at points 24 through 26 and won 28-26 by scoring the last three points.

Highlights

Match Notes

Emily Londot was the first to 10 kills in the match, reaching double figures for the 16^th time this season. She tied her season-high 26 kills, earning 20+ for the seventh time this season.
Londot moved up to sixth in program history in career kills (1,476) and 12^th in career points (1,677.5).
Chelsea Thorpe recorded double-figure kills for the seventh time this season, totaling 13 kills this afternoon.
Kaitlyn Hoffman reached 10 digs for the ninth time this season and was first in the match to do so. She finished with 18 digs.
Rylee Rader has an ace in seven-consecutive matches and has more than one in three of the last four matches.
Rader recorded the 200^th dig of her career.
S1: The set was tied six times.
S2: The Buckeye defense forced the Boilermakers to hit .179 in the set.
S4: This is the eighth set of the Buckeyes' season to require extra points to decide. OSU is 5-3 in those sets.

What They Said

Head Coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg:
- "It's been a pretty emotional season for Sarah Sue Morbitzer with her mom being diagnosed [with breast cancer] early in the preseason and the journey that they're on as a family but Buckeyes take care of each other. Sarah Sue is part of our family and the parents have done a good job of supporting everybody so to be able to recognize Carole today in front of Buckeye Nation was really special."
- "When you have players like Chelsea Thorpe taking big swings and taking a load off of Londot, that always helps. I think the production is certainly getting better throughout the course of the year. There are a lot of parts of our game that are getting better and it's the losses that keep piling up that are frustrating because the growth that I've seen in this team has been remarkable. Now it's just a matter of closing out sets when we need to."
Sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Thorpe:
- "We just love [Sarah Sue Morbitzer] so much. We love her mom. I remind the team before the game that we're playing for a bigger purpose here and to remember our 'why'. It's bigger than volleyball and we need to keep giving to each other with love and compassion. I think this was a great afternoon to showcase that."
- "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who's hitting it, you just have to make touches and be creatie on how you're going to get that ball up. Getting block touches is going to be really important for us to make it easy for our defense behind us."
Freshman defensive specialist Kaitlyn Hoffman:
- "I think when you're trying to give to other people and getting a better ball for the next person, it really takes a weight off your shoulders and helps you play better."
- "It's hard on the block to know where to go since they have so many options, but as defense, just watching the play and doing whatever you can to get the ball up."

Up Next
The Buckeyes take a mid-week trip to No. 1 Wisconsin on Wednesday for a match broadcast on BTN beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

Tickets for the Buckeyes' 2023 home season are now available. Single match tickets can be purchased HERE and mini plans can be purchased HERE. Applicable service fees will apply to all tickets. Fans with ticketing questions and group ticket requests (10+ tickets and in advance only) should call the Ohio State Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-BUCKS or email?athletic.tix@osu.edu.

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