IU set to battle No. 9 Purdue tonight

The first half-point of the AT&T Crimson & Gold Cup -- an annual duel for bragging rights between several Purdue and IU varsity sports -- will be decided Wednesday.\nThe IU women's volleyball team takes on in-state rival No. 9 Purdue Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the University Gym. This is the third straight ranked opponent the Hoosiers will play in a five-day stretch.\n"It's great to play competition like that because we're always looking for the big upset," junior middle blocker Annie Moddrell said. "This is a great opportunity for our program to hopefully climb the ranks and get a few votes next week with a win."\nThe rankings don't play a factor in how the Hoosiers look at the game though, said senior defensive specialist Sara Diehl.\n"In the Big Ten, this is just another game," Diehl said. "Half the teams are ranked at all times, so you can't look at numbers."\nThe Hoosiers come into Wednesday's game after a tough weekend losing to both No. 2 Penn State and then-No. 13 Ohio State, dropping their Big Ten record to 1-3 and their overall record to 10-6.\nThe Boilermakers travel south carrying a Big Ten record of 3-1 and an overall record of 13-2 after splitting their games this weekend with a win against Ohio State and a loss to Penn State.\nThe Hoosiers know they have a tough task ahead without a lot of time to prepare, IU coach Katie Weismiller said.\n"It's a short week coming off a tough weekend," Weismiller said. "(Tuesday) we jumped right back into it, but we kept the ball down a little. (Wednesday) we will be up in rotation going full speed. We will be full-go (Wednesday)."\nWeismiller said that time shouldn't be a factor since both teams played Saturday. Plus, IU doesn't have to do the traveling.\nHome advantage might help, but IU hopes to continue its team blocking to defeat Purdue, she said.\n"Our blocking has been very good," Weismiller said. "We have been working on lining up your second line of defense to help take away some of their shots they like to hit."\nAfter breaking the attendance record Saturday night with the "Jam the Gym" event, IU hopes to have another big crowd.\n"The fans were great," Weismiller said. "We would love to get all those people back as repeat offenders Wednesday night. Purdue is a great challenge for us, and if we can get the fans loud, I promise it will be a fun and exciting match"