When senior outside hitter Erin Hartley landed on the foot of junior middle blocker Angela Morley and went down with a sprained ankle in the second game Saturday at Purdue, it was reason to be worried.

“She’s the primary player on our team and it takes a lot away from us,” Spartan head coach Chuck Erbe said.

But when Hartley returned midway into the same game, it was reason to be inspired.

“We got a big lift when Erin came back into the game, and she played great,” junior outside hitter Kyla Smith said. “It’s a confidence booster to have her on the floor.

“I think it helps us out knowing she’s going to be there always to back us up.”

When Hartley was still healthy in game one, the unanimous preseason All-Big Ten choice recorded five kills. She added another on the play leading to her injury.

Over the remainder of the match, Hartley added four more kills despite not being able to jump off of her left foot - her primary jumping foot.

Volleyball athletic trainer Lianna Lee said the sprain doesn’t seem to be too serious, but it could present some trouble for Hartley.

“The main thing right now is to work on keeping the swelling down,” Lee said. “Because if it gets bad, we’ll have to fight the swelling before we can work on the ankle.

“It’s not a horrible ankle sprain; we’ll just treat it and see how she is - time will tell. “

Hartley said she knew she wasn’t going to be the same type of threat she usually is if she went back into the game.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to jump, but I was hoping to do some other things like pass, block and serve and help the team out those ways,” she said.

And the Spartans needed her help. Already trailing 1-0 to the Boilermakers, the Spartans were not in control of game two.

“I just wanted to get back in the game,” Hartley said. “I felt like I needed to contribute, and I wanted to contribute and be out there for the rest of the team.”

And Hartley did contribute, whether it was with one of her five blocks or eight digs coming after her ankle sprain.

Hartley said blocking wasn’t too painful, because it involved remaining pretty stationary, but the digs she attributed to desire and court knowledge.

“Any defensive ball more than five feet away from me, I couldn’t get,” she said. “I just wasn’t moving very well.”

But sophomore middle blocker Jenny Rood said the performance was nothing short of match-saving.

“She injured her ankle and could barely even move, and she was making some incredible key digs throughout the match,” she said.