Weekend matches to feature rivalries

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

It's rivalry weekend this Friday and Saturday in the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility as Illinois and Indiana come to town to face the Purdue volleyball team.

Purdue coach Jeff Hulsmeyer, who was an assistant coach at Illinois from 1996 to 1998, will try to improve on his 2-2 record against his former team when the Boilers and Fighting Illini play at 7 tonight.

Hulsmeyer helped recruit Illinois' juniors and seniors, and first-year Purdue assistant Denise Baez helped recruit most of the sophomores at Illinois.

"It's players that we know a lot about and helped bring to Illinois, so of course you always want to do well against them and of course against my former boss," Hulsmeyer said. "We're looking forward to a good match and a good weekend."

Both of Hulsmeyer's wins over Illinois have come when the Illini had a better record than the Boilers.

The Boilers (2-13, 1-7 Big Ten) are coming off another winless weekend. Last weekend, they lost on the road to Northwestern and No. 6 Wisconsin. Illinois (12-5, 5-4) is on a four-match winning streak and senior Shadia Haddad is playing well.

Haddad earned honors as Big Ten player of the week after accumulating 49 kills in Illinois' three wins last week.

But Purdue is getting some offense from one of its top returners — sophomore Joanna Lowry, who struggled at the start of this season after an impressive freshman season. She had 15 kills in the loss to Northwestern.

"I think Joanna Lowry is starting to get back to her old form, and I think having her in there this weekend was a nice positive," Hulsmeyer said.

The woman Lowry replaced, freshman Leah Wischmeier, hurt her ankle in Purdue's win over IUPUI Oct. 9 and has been held out of some drills during practice.

Wischmeier almost played for Indiana and she knows every player on the team, so she'd like to play Saturday when the Boilers take on the Hoosiers (4-13, 1-8) at 7 p.m.

Indiana, which has lost three matches in a row, is tied with Purdue for ninth place in the conference.

"We're trying to win every match that we go into," Hulsmeyer said.

"Any time you play Indiana in just about anything, you're looking forward to a dogfight."

Promotions

Saturday will be Student Appreciation Night. Psychic Kitty Young will be doing free psychic readings from 6 p.m. until the end of the match. In addition, the first 300 fans will receive T-shirts, and the first 100 students will receive free food from Seattle Beanery.

On the tube

The match with Illinois will be filmed and then shown Sunday on Fox Sports Net.

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Weekend matches to feature rivalries

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Doug Healey

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