The Spartan volleyball team’s confidence is soaring.
So holding off the struggling Purdue Boilermakers at 7 p.m. today at Jenison Field House shouldn’t be too much reason for concern.
But the team will have to bottle its elation from the 3-1 win over Michigan on Wednesday night - the Spartans (12-6, 5-6 Big Ten) can’t afford to look past the Boilermakers (3-15, 1-9).
“Coming off such a big win (against U-M), we’ll have to re-focus ourselves and play with respect for Purdue,” freshman outside hitter Kim Schram said.
The Spartans previously downed Purdue in four games on Oct. 6 in West Lafayette, Ind.
Spartan assistant coach Todd Dagenais said the team has a goal for the second half of the Big Ten conference schedule, and that’s getting to the NCAA Tournament.
“Our battle is to get into the NCAA Tournament and Purdue can stop us from doing that,” he said.
“I think if we approach each match like this team has something to take away from us, we’ll be able to avoid that complacency bug that tends to bite some teams.”
In the previous battle between the Spartans and the Boilermakers, the Spartans lost the first game before winning three straight in an unimpressive fashion. The Spartans did not have a hitting percentage above .250 in any of the four games.
But sophomore setter Nikki Colson said the Spartans aren’t going to let that happen again.
“I think we can definitely come out and play with a revenge mentality - not because we lost to Purdue, but because we didn’t play well and still won,” she said.
“It’s almost not a challenge for us against Purdue Friday night, but it’s a challenge for us to play well and prove to ourselves that how we played Wednesday night wasn’t a one-time deal.”
But sustaining focus and solid play has been a problem for the Spartans, as the team still seeks consistency.
“Your first concern after a big win is how you come out in the next match, and if you can come out and match the same emotional intensity that you had in the match against your arch-rival,” Dagenais said.
“I fully expect that we will because we’re fighting for something right now.”
Colson said keeping the emotional level high will be a challenge for the Spartans, but the end results of doing so are almost certain.
“I think it’s going to be tough to keep our emotions as high as they were against Michigan,” Colson said. “We play well when we have all that emotion, and we need to show it against Purdue.”
The Spartan’s conference schedule this week gives them a day in between matches to move on from Wednesday’s emotional highs, Dagenais said.
“Having a day off will be nice for us to put the Michigan win behind us and start focusing on Purdue,” he said.
“But we’ll still have to control our side of the net, and put Purdue in a position where they’ll have to try to match our offensive output.”
