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"We did things a little bit differently there at the end," Jones said. "It's one of those things where they do something different and you have to change what you are doing. It was an 'ah-ha' moment for us in that third game." Jones was one of four Boilers to hit over .325 for the match as three different players reached double-figure kills in what was one of Purdue's most balanced, efficient offensive outputs of the season. Riding their current winning streak, the 16thranked Boilermakers play host to a pair of top-15 opponents this weekend in No. 10 Minnesota (194, 7-3) and No. 15 Wisconsin (17-5, 6-4). Both the Badgers and Golden Gophers swept Purdue earlier this season. "We're taking those matches as learning experiences," Jones said. "We match up very well across the board with both of those teams. It is going to come down to the mental side of the game. We have to be Tom Campbell able to do a good job KiKi Jones will lead Purdue into a crucial weekend with of that as a team." matches against a pair of ranked teams. Olympic Sports player-of-the-Week: mark kovacs volleyball knocks off wolverines; big tests ahead BY BRANDAN ALFORD BrandanAlford@Gmail.com victory over With aitsfour-setstreak Purdue No. 17 Michigan, extended win to five matches and moved back into the top half of the Big Ten. After trailing for most of the third set Saturday, the Boilermakers (15-6 overall, 6-4 in the Big Ten) made a few defensive adjustments along the front line to spark the come-from-behind win in Game 3. They won outright a game later. "I thought it was a really terrific win," Coach Dave Shondell said. "It was another comeback story. They played really well, and we took their best shot." Junior middle blocker KiKi Jones may have benefited most from the in-game adjustments as she finished the match with eight kills, five digs and seven blocks. Jones was named Big Ten Defensive Player-of-theWeek for her performance. Purdue Senior Mark Kovacs won the Big Ten Singles Draw Title last weekend. Kovacs, the ninth seed, won six matches over the event's three days, including a straight-set victory over Indiana's Dimitrjie Tasic in the title match. "I'm really happy I could win this tournament," Kovacs said after the match to Purduesports.com. "I was really composed. I had a good warm up, and I played some of my best tennis. I was able to out-perform my opponent. I am looking forward to the (spring) season and playing with the same (type of) performance." It was Kovacs' second career title as a Boilermaker. — Brandan Alford GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 8 • 39