Sept. 5, 2008
MUNCIE, Ind. - The No. 18 Boilermakers moved to 4-0 on the season with a sweep of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Friday night. Purdue won the match 25-21, 25-16 and 25-18 behind a balanced offensive attack and a dominating performance at the net.
Seniors Danita Merlau and Stephanie Lynch each racked up 10 kills, while sophomore Kristen Arthurs tallied eight putdowns and a match-high nine blocks. Redshirt sophomore Lisa Pierce added six blocks to the Purdue effort. Sophomore Jaclyn Hart, Lynch and junior Sam Ainsworth assisted Arthurs at the net with stuff tallies of five, five and four respectively. The Boilermakers outhit Tech .252 to .060 and racked up 14 blocks to TTU's three.
Senior Kelli Miller and redshirt freshman Mandy Nichols paced the defense, chalking up double digit totals with 13 and 12. Sophomore Jessica Ullrich tacked on eight digs, while Merlau added seven.
Six different Boilermakers got in on the offensive action in the first set, which featured five lead changes and several scoring runs. Purdue trailed 4-2 in the early going, but capitalized on a pair of Golden Eagles errors to go ahead 5-4. TTU regained the advantage at 6-5, 7-6 and 8-7 before the Boilermakers took control. Purdue rallied with 13 of the next 19 points, included four blocks and an ace by Ullrich, to go ahead 20-13. Tennessee Tech countered with six straight points, slicing the margin to one at 20-19, but the Boilermakers scored five of the last seven to close out the 25-21 win.
After the close shave in the opening set, Purdue came out with guns blazing in the second stanza, racing out to a 6-3 lead as Merlau, Lynch and Hart all contributed putdowns, while Hart and Arthurs added to their blocking tally. Tennessee Tech pulled within one at 6-5, but the Boilermakers countered with three straight kills, two by Pierce, to prompt a Golden Eagle timeout at 9-5. Purdue would not allow TTU closer than three the rest of the way, instead pushing the advantage to seven at 19-12 on a kill by Arthurs, and scoring five of the last six points in the 25-16 decision.
The Boilermakers outhit the Golden Eagles .286 to -.028 in the final set, while also outblocking TTU 6-1 to secure the sweep. However, it was Tennessee Tech that held an 8-5 lead to start the stanza. Purdue erased the deficit with six of the next seven points to go up 11-9, capitalizing on a pair of Ainsworth/Lynch blocks and a few TTU miscues along the way. The teams split the next 12 points, leading to a 17-15 score. But, the Boilermaker blocking machine began to churn, Arthurs and Nichols got things started. An Arthurs redirect followed, before Nichols and junior Carrie Gurnell combined with the sophomore on two more stuffs, giving Purdue a 21-15 edge. A Gurnell kill made it 22-17, before a trio of Tech errors sealed the match at 25-18.
No. 18 Purdue (4-0) returns to the court at 10 a.m. Saturday when it faces off with Southern Illinois to kick off day two action at the Active Ankle Challenge.