Illinois sent more than 50 Purdue fans home unhappy Wednesday night. The Illini volleyball team defeated No. 14 Purdue in five games (28-30, 30-19, 30-24, 28-30, 15-12) to snap a four game losing streak and a six game skid against ranked opponents.

“It’s an amazing story,” said head coach Don Hardin. “For those who know what we’ve gone through with all the injuries, to beat a nationally ranked opponent is remarkable.”

Senior outside hitter Rachel VanMeter had a career night, breaking the Illinois school record with 99 attacks and tying a career-best mark with 39 kills, hitting .232 on the night.

“I was just thinking ‘jump as high as you can and hit it as hard as you can and just try to find a way to get the kill,'” VanMeter said. “I’d say that every time I went up. I just wanted to try and help the team.”

This was VanMeter’s third match this year with 30-plus kills, but she’s still not worrying about postseason awards.

“I just try to do the best I can,” VanMeter said. “Awards are superficial.”

Although Purdue pushed the match to five games, Illinois had a chance to win in all five games, losing by a combined four points in the two games Purdue took.

In game one, Purdue was up 16-8, but Illinois climbed back and made it close. Purdue pulled ahead again 27-20, but back-to-back kills from VanMeter and junior middle blocker Meghan Macdonald helped pull Illinois to within striking distance. Despite their efforts, a wide serve cost the Illini game one.

Illinois dominated game two, taking a quick lead and never relinquishing it. Macdonald and VanMeter factored in all of Illinois’ first five points of the game as the Illini took a quick 5-2 lead.

Purdue pushed the score to 6-4, but eight of the next 10 points went in favor of the Illini, and it was all Illinois the rest of the way.

The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in game three with back-to-back aces from freshman middle hitter Stephanie Lynch.

Illinois went blow-for-blow with Purdue until the Illini went on a nine point run highlighted by three VanMeter kills, three straight aces from senior outside hitter Rasa Virsilaite, and a block from freshman setter Lizzie Bazzetta and sophomore middle blocker Vicki Brown, pushing the score to 27-19.

“(Assistant coach) Mary Hambly did a great job of calling of serving strategies tonight,” said Hardin. “She really had them back on their heels. They were passing more poorly, I think, than they have in a long time.”

Purdue battled back, but freshman outside hitter Rachel Henderson ended the game with a drop shot.

Game four was just as tight as game three, with 17 tie scores and nine lead changes, but Purdue was able to hold off a late charge from Illinois to take the win to push the match to a fifth game.

An ace from junior defensive specialist Lindsay Shondell tied game five at 11, but another three kills from VanMeter put the game out of reach for Purdue.

Illinois kept the Boilermakers to a dismal .182 hitting percentage for the night.

This is the same Purdue team that’s ranked 29th in the nation with a .259 hitting percentage, a stat that Hardin said was directly related to Illinois’ serving.

“For us to win the serve-pass game against Purdue is big,” Hardin said.

VanMeter credited the upset win to a change in attitude.

“Right now we decided to not focus on winning anymore, just play great volleyball,” VanMeter said. “Whatever the outcome, we’re okay with that as long as we left it all out on the court.”