Dec. 1, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - It took a come-from-behind effort, but the No. 23 Boilermaker volleyball team advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 3-0 win over Kentucky Friday night. Purdue won the match 30-21, 30-28, 30-26 by utilizing a balanced offensive attack, stout defense and tough serving.
"We are certainly excited to be sitting here tonight, knowing we are headed to the Sweet 16 for the second-straight year," head coach Dave Shondell said. "I feel like we're still a relatively young program and we didn't want to go backwards.
"I thought we did a very good job tonight of preventing the middles to take over like they did last night and that's a credit to our serving and middle blocking as well as our defensive effort. One of the things we did better this weekend than we did all year is understand what we needed to do to be successful. Our players understood what the block was going to do against us and what kind of shot was going to be effective. We thought the game a little bit better, which is something our team hasn't done extremely well, especially during this rough second half of the season."
Sophomore Danita Merlau (New Palestine, Ind./Cathedral) paced the Boilermakers with 17 kills, while also racking up 10 digs, marking her sixth double-double of the season. Junior Samantha Mader (Algonquin, Ill.) followed with 13 kills, while sophomore Stephanie Lynch (New Albany, Ind.) added nine kills and a team-best five kills, including two solo efforts. Junior Lizzie Jacques (Winfield, Ill.) also posted five stuffs on the night in her first major action since being diagnosed with mononucleosis two weeks ago.
Senior Brittany Dildine (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) led the Boilermaker defense with 20 digs in her final action on Belin Court. Sophomore Kelli Miller (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) added 15 digs, followed by Merlau's tally of 10. Merlau also served up three aces, while freshman setter Sam Gray (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebuef) chalked up two perfect serves.
The teams split the opening six points of the match, before Purdue broke the game open with a 6-0 run including two aces by Merlau and four kills by Mader to go up 9-3. After a timeout, the Wildcats chipped away at the deficit, pulling within three at 13-10. The Boilermakers responded with three straight points, including a solo block by Jacques and an ace by Gray, to push the margin back to six at 16-10. A pair of UK kills stopped the Boilermakers temporarily, but Purdue scored six of the next seven including an ace by Merlau to take a 22-13 lead. A kill and a block by the Wildcats again slowed the Boilermakers, but Purdue kept rolling raising its lead to 10 at 26-16 on a block by Lynch. A kill by Merlau gave Purdue its first chance at the game. A UK kill thwarted the effort, but another Merlau putdown, her fifth of the game gave the Boilermakers the 30-21 win. Purdue outhit the Wildcats .368 to 14 in the stanza, while also serving up four aces.
The Boilermakers jumped out to a 5-2 lead in Game 2, but Kentucky charged back to within one at 6-5 and remained close , eventually tying the score at 11-11. A Lynch kill broke the tie and sparked a 3-1 Purdue run. Trailing 14-12, the Wildcats caught fire, scoring five straight points to go up 17-14 and force a Boilermaker timeout. Purdue fought back to tie the score at 18-18 on an ace by Dildine. Freshman Carrie Gurnell (Katy, Texas) chalked up a kill and Merlau posted back-to-back putdowns to put Purdue back on top at 22-21 and prompt a UK timeout. Kentucky scored back to back points out of the break to make it 23-22 in their favor, but the Boilermakers answered with a 3-0 run including an ace by Gray to erase the deficit. A 4-1 Kentucky run turned the tables again and gave the Wildcats a 27-26 lead. A kill by Miller, a block by Mader and Lynch and a UK miscue made it 29-27 in favor of the Boilermakers. On Purdue's second game point attempt, Mader put down a kill to end the stanza at 30-28. Merlau chalked up seven kills in the stanza to lead the Boilermaker offensive attack.
Purdue scored the first four points of Game 3, but saw it slip away as Kentucky rattled off eight of the next 10 points to turn the deficit into an 8-6 lead. Purdue fought back with a kill by Mader and block by Lynch and Miller to tie it at 8-8, but could not take control. The Boilermakers played from behind for much of the rest of the game, trailing by as many as four at 16-12. A solo block by Lynch cut the point-margin to one at 19-18, but the Wildcats pulled away with four straight points, prompting Purdue to use its final timeout. A kill by Lynch and a pair of blocks by redshirt sophomore Emily Williams (Mishawaka, Ind.) made it a two-point game at 23-21. Down 26-23, Purdue was determined to walk away with the sweep, chalking up seven straight points, including four on Kentucky miscues to take the game 30-26. Dildine served the last six points of the match, while Mader posted a solo block to set up Purdue's final point, which came on a kill by Merlau, her 17th of the match.
"I think we have a really balanced offense," Merlau said. "We're tough to read and on any night a player can go off, and it may be a different one every night. I have Sam Mader on one side of me and Stephanie Lynch on the other side me. If I was on the other side of the net I wouldn't know what to do. I wouldn't get any kills without them because the blockers have to pay attention to them too. It's great to have these accomplished hitters next to you because people have to respect them as well."
With the win, the Boilermakers advance to the Seattle regional semifinal where they will face a yet to be determined opponent. Purdue will face the winner of Saturday night's match between No. 3 seed Penn State and Hofstra.