Sept. 26, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions were just too much for the No. 19 Boilermaker volleyball team Friday night, handing Purdue a 3-0 loss in the Big Ten opener for both teams. PSU won the match 25-12, 25-15 and 25-21 despite a late Boilermaker surge.
"While I am disappointed that our streak of struggling against Penn State continued tonight, we are not good enough at this point in the year to battle the top team in the country," head coach Dave Shondell said. "We played poorly for the first game and a half and I was disappointed with our lack of confidence and competitiveness. For the second game and a half, we played with more heart and more like we can. We have to move on and be ready to play with determination tomorrow against Indiana."
Senior Stephanie Lynch led the Boilermakers with seven kills, while junior Carrie Gurnell added four. Redshirt sophomore Lisa Pierce and sophomore Kristen Arthurs chipped in three apiece.
Junior Sam Ainsworth and Pierce each served up an ace, while Lynch and Arthurs led Purdue at the net with three blocks each. Senior Kelli Miller tallied six digs, while Pierce added five.
Penn State took an early 9-4 lead, but Purdue cut the margin to three at 11-8 on an overpass kill by Lynch. The Nittany Lions scored 10 of the next 12 before a block by Gurnell and Lynch slowed them down temporarily at 21-11. A service error, PSU's sixth of the night gave Purdue its 12th point, but a service error and hitting error wrapped up the stanza at 25-12.
The Nittany Lions led 17-7 midway through the second set, when Pierce added a kill and ace, sparking a 4-2 Purdue rally. A Lynch putdown and a block by Arthurs and Hart accounted for the other points, cuting the margin to eight at 19-11. The teams split the next six points, including kills by Arthurs and freshman Tiffany Fisher, but PSU closed out the set with three of the next four.
The tables turned in the third set as Purdue scored the first three points of the stanza on a block by Ainsworth and Lynch, an ace by Ainsworth and a PSU hitting error. The Boilermakers would go on to raise their advantage to four at 10-6 after Arthurs added two kills. Penn State tied the score at 10, but Purdue would not relinquish the lead, instead pushing the margin to three at 15-12 after back-to-back PSU miscues. The Nittany Lions tied it up at 16 and 17, before gaining their first lead of the set at 18-17. A block by Pierce and Arthurs tied it up, but the Boilermakers could not overcome the topped ranked Penn State squad, falling 25-21 in the final set after three straight putdowns. Lynch put down four kills, while Gurnell added three in the final set as Purdue hit .240 in the stanza.
The Boilermakers (11-2, 0-1 Big Ten) return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they take on instate rival Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.