Player hits sophomore slump

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Last season she played well enough to make the Big Ten's inaugural all-freshman team, but this year Joanna Lowry has struggled just to play.

She's not hurt and she's not in any trouble. She's just not playing as well as she did last season when she led the team with 444 kills and was the lone Boilermaker to appear in all 114 of Purdue's games.

This weekend when Purdue (1-7, 1-1 Big Ten) played twice at home, Lowry played in just two of the Boilers' six games and had just four kills.

The 6-foot-2 outside hitter has not seen much playing time because Purdue's starting outside hitters, senior Maegan Petersen and freshman Leah Wischmeier, have been outstanding.

Purdue coach Jeff Hulsmeyer said that while Wischmeier's emergence has been positive, Lowry's presence on the bench makes the Boilers deeper at outside hitter.

"I'd like to be playing more," Lowry said. "I'll play wherever they put me. I'm eager to try any position or play any position.

"I want to help the team out."

Hulsmeyer said he hopes to see Lowry come back.

"I think Joanna's getting back into the groove," Hulsmeyer said. "We just need to get her stronger and get her to work on a few things."

Moving on

Junior Lisa Parker has left the team and may transfer for the 2002 season. The 6-foot junior, who won the team's award for being the most improved in the weight room after her freshman year and was Academic All-Big Ten after last season, hadn't played this season due to mononucleosis.

During this weekend's matches in the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility, she sat in the stands in street clothes.

She played in just 12 of the team's 114 games last season and just 10 of the team's 112 games her freshman year.

"Lisa has been happy with her education, role on the team and development as a player here at Purdue," Hulsmeyer said. "Unfortunately, since she got mono at the beginning of the season and is still recovering, the odds of her breaking into the starting lineup as a senior are unlikely. She has decided to focus on academics this semester and look into transferring next season."

Parker, a native of Southfield, Mich., who was all-state at Franklin Road Christian High School, will be eligible to compete at a Division I institution during the fall of 2002.

Although there is still one player on the Boilers without a scholarship, sophomore Lynn Takala, a walk-on, Parker will keep her scholarship because it is a one-year contract.

"If she leaves mid-semester, then there's some possibilities, but we're not really looking to use (the scholarship) until 2002 or 2003 when she would have graduated anyway," Hulsmeyer said.

Hulsmeyer doesn't want the distribution of his players among the different classes to be too unbalanced, so he may not use the scholarship until 2003 when only one player, Tiffany Yoskey, will have departed the team.

Schedule update

Of the four matches that Purdue didn't play in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, two have been rescheduled and two have been canceled.

Purdue's road match with Valparaiso, scheduled for Sept. 11, will be played Oct. 23. Purdue's home match with Indiana State, scheduled as the Boilers' second match of the Mortar Board Purdue Premier Sept. 14, has been moved to Nov. 6.

Hulsmeyer said the midweek, nonconference matches will help the Boilers as they go through the rigors of playing in the Big Ten, which, along with the Pac-10, is considered the nation's toughest conference.

The Boilers will not play the other two opponents they were supposed to play in the Mortar Board Purdue Premier, Notre Dame and Tulane.

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Sports editor:
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