Aug. 25, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Sixteen Boilermaker players got in on the action as the Purdue volleyball team swept Bradley 3-0 to open the 2006 season. The Boilermakers won the match 30-20, 30-21, 30-15 to kick off action at the Mortar Board Premier.
Redshirt sophomore Emily Williams (Mishawaka, Ind.) wasted no time showing she had returned to form after suffering a knee injury during the spring of 2005, leading the Boilermakers with 11 kills, while hitting .625 for the match and adding six blocks. Sophomore Danita Merlau (New Palestine, Ind.) tallied 10 kills, while junior Sam Mader (Algonquin, Ill.) and sophomore Stephanie Lynch (New Albany, Ind.) added nine and seven respectively.
The Boilermakers took an early 5-2 lead in Game 1 including a kill, a block assist and an ace by Merlau. Bradley narrowed the gap to two at 13-11, but Purdue took control of the game from that point on. Freshman setter Sam Gray (Indianapolis, Ind.) tallied her second kill of the day to make it 29-20, before senior Brittany Dildine (Lafayette, Ind.) served up the ace to give the Boilermakers a 30-20 win. Merlau racked up five kills in the stanza, while Lynch tallied four kills and three blocks.
Purdue scored first in Game 2 on an ace by junior Anne Mastandrea (Downers Grove, Ill.), but the teams traded points over the next seven serves leading to a tie at 4-4. Lynch and Merlau posted back to back kills to give the Boilermakers the edge. Williams chimed in with her first kill to make it 7-5. Kills by Lynch, Merlau and Williams and an ace by Gray push the margin to five at 17-12. The Braves cut the margin to four, but the Boilermakers wrapped up the stanza with a 6-1 run, capped by a Williams kill, her sixth of the game, to make it 30-21.
The Boilermakers raced out to an 11-3 lead in the third game behind kills by Williams, Mader and freshman Lisa Pierce (Darien, Ill.). Merlau also tallied an ace during the run. Purdue bumped its lead to 13 at 23-10 on a block by Williams and Mader. The Boilermakers scored six of the last seven point on kills, four by Mader, one by freshman Meagan Sesselmann (Muskegon, Mich.) and the final by redshirt senior Lindsay Shondell (Muncie, Ind.).
Williams led the Boilermakers with 11 kills, while Merlau posted 10 kills, seven digs and three aces. Sophomore Kelli Miller (Muncie, Ind.) led the Purdue defense with 12 digs. The Boilermakers out-hit the Braves .305 to .080 and out-blocked them 12 to 2.
Purdue returns to the court at 7 p.m. when it takes on the Northern Iowa Panthers.