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Purdue defeats Ohio State for its fourth straight win

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WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue outside hitter Chloe Chicoine knew the biggest challenge of the night was getting shots through the deft hands of Ohio State outside hitter Emily Londot.

To that end, Purdue hired assistant coach John Klanac, a former professional outside hitter who competed in Puerto Rico, Finland, Bahrain, Germany and Romania. Klanac's role was to mirror Londot's power and movement in practice.

“Basically in every practice we had John pretend to be Londot and we called him John Dot,” Chicoine said. “He hit it pretty hard and I think we made a point of slowing them down.”

Klanac's training proved useful for Purdue, which overcame an early 18-14 deficit in the first set to beat Ohio State 28-26, 25-19, 27-25 on Wednesday night at Holloway Gymnasium.

More: Purdue volleyball coach Dave Shondell is thinking about becoming the program's all-time leader in wins

Londot entered Wednesday night leading the Big Ten Conference in kills. Ohio State pushed in the first set, but Purdue pushed back.

A block from senior Lourdes Myers clinched the first extra-point set for 10th-seeded Purdue (16-4) and set the tone for the evening. Junior Eva Hudson led Purdue with 19 kills for a .255 hitting percentage, while Chicoine had 11 kills including match point with nine digs. Myers added seven kills with five blocks and senior Raven Colvin had five kills and six blocks.

More: Purdue volleyball savors Mackey Arena history by beating Indiana

“We focused on their offense and focused on blocking Londot, who did a really good job and is a really good hitter,” Myers said. “We focused on them and I thought we did a really good job.”

Londot led Ohio State (8-11) with 14 kills, but also made 10 errors and hit .087 for the match.

Even though the Buckeyes had a losing record entering Wednesday, they were still a threat.

“You come to the Big Ten to play in the Big Ten, to be tough and be ready and know that you have to lace them up every time you step on the floor,” Shondell said. “I like the competitiveness of our team and that wasn’t a cause for concern. I realize their record puts them there right now, but this is a mid-to-upper level team. It's Ohio State. I thought we were going to prepare them and we.'' But give Ohio State some credit.

Purdue's 6-foot-10 sophomore setter Taylor Anderson kept Purdue balanced with her passes and contributed defensively. Anderson extended her Big Ten Conference lead in assists to 38 and added four blocks – the most blocks of any setter in the conference.

“As a setter, I have to do everything and I really enjoy blocking,” Anderson said. “It’s definitely my favorite thing to do.”

The backrow remained consistent, led by senior Allie Hornung and freshman Ryan McAleer. Hornung managed a game with 15 digs and McAleer added 11.

“Ball control was really good tonight,” Shondell said. “We passed and served at a really good rate. They tried to pick on certain people, which is what you do when you pitch. You go after people who think you can make a difference and I was really proud of Hornung. “It's her first year as our libero and she was really tough with her reaction and McAleer was a gem.

Ethan Hanson is a sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at [email protected]on Twitter at Ethan A Hanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.

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