5 Takeaways From No. 12 Purdue Volleyball's Weekend Wins Over Minnesota, Northwestern

12th-ranked Purdue picked up two important wins over the weekend, defeating No. 20 Minnesota in five sets and sweeping Northwestern in Big Ten play.

Grace Heaney celebrates a point with her teammates. | Purdue Athletics

After splitting matches against Iowa and No. 1 Nebraska last week, Purdue returned to West Lafayette and picked up a pair of victories this weekend. The Boilers defeated No. 20 Minnesota on Friday and followed it up with a sweep of Northwestern on Sunday to improve to 13-6 on the year and 6-4 in Big Ten play.

Multiple players stepped up for the Boilers in the two victories, helping them get comfortably over the .500 mark with only seven matches remaining in the regular season. Here are a few quick thoughts from the two wins Purdue had over the Golden Gophers and Wildcats.

Ryan McAleer cheers after Purdue wins a point. | Purdue Athletics

Grace Heaney had a huge weekend

As the season has progressed, Heaney has only gotten better and more comfortable in her role. She had 19 kills, 11 digs, six blocks and four aces in Purdue's five-set victory over Minnesota on Friday. The hitter also finished the match with a .390 hitting percentage.

She followed that up with nearly another double-double performance in the three-set victory over Northwestern. Heaney ended the afternoon with 10 kills, nine digs, five blocks and a pair of assists. She hit over .300 again, posting a .321 percentage for the match.

For the weekend, Heaney totaled an impressive 29 kills, 20 digs, 11 blocks, five aces and four assists. She may be in line for Big Ten Player of the Week honors with those numbers.

Aggressive behind the service line

Purdue has been much more aggressive behind the service line this year and it has paid off. The Boilers have frequently gotten teams out of system early and taken advantage of those opportunities. But the ace numbers have still been low, ranking 18th in the Big Ten.

That changed this weekend, as the Boilermakers racked up 14 service aces in eight sets over the weekend. That's not an incredibly high number, but it's better than the 1.00 aces per set they had been averaging.

Heaney led the charge with five aces, MaryKate Scheumann had three, and Elle Schara and Ryan McAleer each had two. All four of those players provided a major spark behind the service line.

Ryan McAleer hits 1K milestone

Speaking of McAleer, the Purdue libero joined elite company after accounting for 18 digs in the win over the Golden Gophers on Friday. The junior had a team-high 18 digs and joined the program's 1,000-dig club. It's an impressive milestone for the team leader.

McAleer didn't let up on Sunday, as she hit double digits in the dig category again against Northwestern. She finished that match with 10 digs in the sweep. For the weekend, the libero had 28 digs and nine assists for the Boilermakers.

All season, McAleer has been a dominant defensive player for the Boilermakers, keeping Purdue in points because of her defensive play.

Taylor Anderson doing Taylor Anderson things

You're never surprised when Taylor Anderson does big things on the volleyball court. She's become one of the top setters in the country and put together a pair of stellar efforts for the Boilermakers this past weekend.

Anderson had a big night against Minnesota, totaling 48 assists, 14 digs and five kills in the five-setter. She followed that up with 35 assists, five digs and a pair of kills on the Sunday match against Northwestern.

Anderson continues to put her teammates in position to score points. She was a huge part of Purdue's 2-0 weekend, not that it should come as a surprise.

Grinding out victories

Over the last two years, Purdue's identity has been labeled as a team that never quits. Purdue found itself in some tough battles against Minnesota and through the first two sets against Northwestern. Even when things looked rough, the Boilers perservered.

Minnesota was dominant in the fourth set on Friday night, taking down Purdue 25-19 and seemingly carrying momentum into the final set. But Purdue bounced back and took the fifth set 15-12 to get a much-needed ranked win.

Then, Northwestern marched into Holloway Gymnasium trying to get its first Big Ten win of the season. They put up a fight in the first two sets, but the Boilermakers made enough plays down the stretch to get an important sweep.

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