IU Sucks. We Purdue fans say that quite a bit, even if IU has a championship caliber team. But when it comes to volleyball, IU really does suck.

IU comes into tonight's match as the only Big Ten team to not win a single Big Ten match, as they are currently 0-8 in conference play (sounds like Kevin Wilson is coaching this team). Only one of their games has been close, but it was an impressive one as they took then #4 Nebraska into 5 sets (the night after the Cornhuskers swept Purdue in West Lafayette).

In that game, Jordan Haverly went apeshit crazy on the Cornhuskers with 24 kills and had support from Kelci Marschall, Sam Thrower, and Morgan Leach as they each had 16, 13, and 12 kills respectively. What ultimately killed the Hoosiers in that game was their errors, especially in the 4th set where they committed 10 attack errors and hit a percentage of 0.053 compared to 0.294 for Nebraska, allowing the Cornhuskers to take the game into the 5th set and prevent the upset.

Though IU does suck, they have given Purdue a scare recently when they took the Boilers into 5 sets at home last season. IU could have easily pulled off the upset, but Purdue was able to hold them off in a game that featured game a bad game for the Block Party as well (but it has since improved tremendously). Considering the fact that Purdue was swept by Iowa at home, they have to take IU seriously tonight and play the same way they did against the Buckeyes on Saturday night.

If Purdue wants to beat IU for the 6th straight time, the back court is going to have a great game. We saw that IU can have a great attack when it is on fire, and considering the fact that this is a rivalry game, they are going to try and play their best game since they faced Nebraska. IU likes to come out hot in the 1st set, but does tend to lack in the latter sets.

If Purdue can shut down the Hooisers in the first set on their home court, they can sweep the Hoosiers. Even if IU wins the first set, Purdue still has a better chance at winning if they step up their game and block the way they did against the Buckeyes (16.5 blocks).

The win over Ohio State on Saturday should be a moral booster and momentum starter for this team after being swept in 3 straight games, and now it's time for Purdue to keep that momentum going. It's time for Purdue to learn from its previous mistakes and play amazing volleyball, and why not start that off with a big win over their arch rivals in Bloomington.

Purdue 3, Indiana 1