Sept. 6, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Western Kentucky (7-0) handed Purdue (4-1) its first loss of the season after a two-and-half hour marathon match, ended 3-2 in favor of the Lady Toppers. Purdue won the first game, 30-22 before WKU countered with a 30-23 win of its own. The Boilermakers then won a 31-29 overtime game, but it was not meant to be as Western Kentucky took the final two matches, 30-28 and 17-15.
Purdue led 4-1 in the opening minutes of the deciding fifth game, but WKU capitalized on six Jessie Wagner kills to keep the game in a back-and-forth battle. The Boilermakers went up 11-9, before a tie at 11-11. The Boilermakers then broke the WKU lead with ties at 14-14 and 15-15, but a Purdue error and a kill by Lyndsey Broerman gave the Lady Toppers the win.
The Boilermakers outhit WKU .326 to .292 in the fourth game and led 20-12 midway through, but Western Kentucky went on two four-point runs to bring the game to 24-20 in favor of Purdue. Just minutes later the Lady Toppers tied the game at 28-28 after a couple of key blocks. WKU knotted up the match at two games each with one of their 19 kills in the game.
Purdue went up 2-1 in the first game of its home-opener with Western Kentucky, before allowing the Lady Toppers back in for a moment to take a 3-2 lead of their own. From that point on, the Boilermakers took charge, rattling off a 7-1 run to take a 9-4 lead. WKU edged back to within one point at 9-8 and 11-10 but that is as close as the Lady Toppers would come. Purdue expanded the margin to as many as 10 at the 26-16 mark, before closing it out at 30-22 on a Kim Cappa (So., Lafayette, IN) kill.
Game two was a different situation for Purdue, as the squad saw a 4-1 lead turn into a 11-10 deficit after a 10-6 run for the Lady Toppers. The Boilermakers tied the game twice before taking a 16-14 lead, but Western Kentucky would not go away, eventually tying the match at 18 before going on a 12-5 run to close it out at 30-23.
The Boilermakers continued their streak of come-from-behind game three wins, with a break-out eight kills from McConaha. After a tie at 5-5, the game featured six more ties before the Lady Toppers made their move with a 5-2 run to go up 16-13. Purdue would not give up, going on a 9-4 run of their own including a Tiffany Yoskey (Sr., Canal Fulton, OH) ace and four McConaha kills to make the score 22-20 in favor of the home team. The game was knotted up several more times including a 29-29 tie up, before McConaha and Cappa took matters into their own hands. McConaha registered the kill to make it 30-29 and served the final point, which was won on a Cappa block.
Junior Joanna Lowry (Glen Ellyn, IL) registered the first 20-20 game for the Boilermakers since Julie Doud achieved the feat on Oct. 25, 2000 at Illinois. Lowry tallied a team-high 21 digs to go along with 20 kills. McConaha led Purdue with a career and match-high 29 kills, nearly twice her previous high of 14, and seven total blocks. (Only 28 20-kill, 20-dig matches have occurred in Purdue history.) Amanda Schiff led WKU with 23 kills, while Tracy May tallied 20 digs for the Lady Toppers.
Purdue (4-1) is slated for a 7:30 p.m. match against IPFW later Friday. The Boilermakers also have 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. matches on Saturday versus Delaware and Butler respectively.
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