Sept. 19, 2008
DAYTON, Ohio - Just call them the comeback kids. The No. 20 Purdue volleyball team did it again, overcoming a 2-1 deficit to top the Dayton Flyers Friday night. The Boilermakers won the match 25-17, 24-26, 8-25, 25-23, 15-11 to move to 9-1 on the year after playing their third-straight five-set match.
"The one good part of the night was that we did win, especially after coming back from the third set loss," head coach Dave Shondell said. "A lot of teams might have crumbled, but we were able to narrow our focus and come back. We still have a lot of young players on the floor and they are learning and getting better. We did have too many players not rise to the level they are capable of tonight. One positive, however, was that we were able to achieve one of our goals, which was to come in and slow down their middles and not let their setter take over the match."
After clawing their way back and forcing a fifth set, the Boilermakers raced out to a 7-4 lead behind the play of their seniors. Libero Kelli Miller served up an ace, while middle hitter Stephanie Lynch and outside hitter Danita Merlau chalked up kills and a block in the early goings. Dayton tightened it up, cutting the margin to one at 8-7, but Purdue responded with back-to-back block assists by sophomore Kristen Arthurs. The Flyers made it 12-10 prompting a Boilermaker timeout. The team answered the call with three of the next four points, two on kills by Lynch and the final on a UD hitting error to seal the 15-11 win and the match.
Merlau paced the Boilermaker offense with 16 kills, while Lynch added 12 on a .429 hitting effort. Miller posted 16 digs to led the defense, while sophomores Jaclyn Hart and Jessica Ullrich added eight apiece. Sophomore Kristen Arthurs chalked up seven blocks, while Hart added four.
The Boilermakers kicked off the opening set with eight of the first 11 points, capitalizing on five Flyer miscues. Down 8-3, Dayton posted a 7-2 run to knot the score at 10 all. Purdue responded with nine straight points, including three on kills by Lynch and four on UD miscues, to go up 19-10. The Flyers tightened the score with six of the next nine points, but Purdue closed out the set at 25-17. Lynch chalked up five kills in the set as the Boilermakers outhit the Flyers .290 to .056.
The second set was not a pretty one, as neither team posted a positive hitting effort. The Boilermakers led early, but Dayton tied it at 9-9, marking the first of 16 knot ups in the set. Purdue went ahead 19-18 on a service ace by Miller, but the Flyers managed to tie it up and eventually take a 24-22 lead of their own. An overpass kill by Arthurs and a UD miscue thrwarted two set point attempts, but a hitting error and a block gave Dayton the 26-24 win.
Dayton won the third set in a runaway. The Flyers led 5-4 early and posted a 10-0 rally before going on to a 25-8 win.
UD led 6-4 to start the fourth set, but the Boilermakers shook off the deficit, racking up five kills en route to 10-9 lead. After a tie at 10, Purdue scored six of the next eight points including a kill and a block by Arthurs. The lead evaporated as Dayton scored four straight. marking the first of six ties, last at 21-21. The Boilermakers jumped ahead 24-22 after two UD hitting errors and an overpass putaway by Arthurs. A Flyer kill thwarted Purdue's first chance at the set, but a Dayton service error gave Purdue the 25-23 win and sent the match to a fifth and deciding set.
The Boilermakers (9-1) return to action at 11 a.m. when they take on Louisville.