Hoosiers swept by Boilermakers 3-0

The race for the AT&T Crimson & Gold Cup started with a Purdue win.\nThe IU women's volleyball team was swept by the No. 9 Boilermakers in three games last night (30-24, 30-26, 30-27) at University Gym.\nThe first game was a close one with both teams exchanging points until Purdue closed with six unanswered, taking the game 30-24. IU junior Lauren Ditteon led both teams with nine kills in the game.\nThe first game involved a large amount of serving errors. IU had four serving errors while Purdue had seven, but IU coach Katie Weismiller said her team's errors were momentum killers.\n"Our service errors were at bad times," Weismiller said. "Down the stretch, not being able to make the plays from the (service) line is what hurt us."\nThe second game was another close one with teams exchanging points until Purdue pulled ahead at the end to win 30-26. IU spread the ball around to six different players for kills in the game with Ditteon adding another four to her tally.\nThe third game was a little different than the first two, with IU jumping to an early 4-1 lead. Sophomore Juli Pierce added back-to-back service aces to push the IU lead to 20-12, but Purdue mounted a comeback to tie the game at 25 and eventually won the game 30-27, giving them the match.\nDitteon led the team with 14 kills while Pierce added 23 digs for the match.\nWeismiller said the team is capable of playing with top ranked teams as long as the Hoosiers play on the same level each night.\n"We've got great players on different nights, and we've yet to put them together," Weismiller said. "We generally have two or three players play very well each night. From a coaching standpoint, we have to figure out how to do that."\nDitteon was one of the players who stood out tonight, Weismiller said, but she is still focused on the team.\n"As a team, we need to focus on each other to help the next person get her confidence going," Ditteon said. "If I'm up one night, then I need to be a better teammate and help my teammates who aren't doing as well."\nExecution may be the key to beating Iowa this Friday, Pierce said.\n"Hopefully we can execute," Pierce said. "I hope I can play just as well against Iowa, if not better"