Nov. 7, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS - No. 17 Minnesota protected its home court Friday night, defeating the No. 18 Boilermaker volleyball team 3-0. The Golden Gophers won the match 25-21, 25-21 and 25-15 despite several hard-fought rallies by Purdue.
Senior Stephanie Lynch chalked up a match-high 13 kills on a .565 hitting effort to move into seventh place on the career kills list with 1427. Senior Danita Merlau and junior Carrie Gurnell added seven kills apiece. Lynch also chalked up four blocks to pace the team at the net. Defensively, senior Kelli Miller registered 15 digs, while sophomore Jessica Ullrich tacked on 12.
"It was a pretty weak effort on our part tonight," head coach Dave Shondell said. "We were doing some nice things and led 17-14 in game one, but the key is to come out and compete and continue to do that. Credit Minnesota, they served us tough and continued to do so after our passing broke down. They are a tough team to beat up here and they certainly have proved that at this point in the season they are a better team than us.
Besides Lynch, who really came out and competed, and Carrie Gurnell, who played at a fairly high level, we didn't have anyone else who played the kind of match we needed to be successful."
Minnesota scored four of the first five points of the match, but Purdue came charging back to tie the score at six after a pair of blocks and putaways by Hart and Gurnell. Trailing 9-8, the Boilermakers chalked up five points in a row, including an overpass kill from Lynch and a block and putdown by Pierce, to go up 13-9. The teams would split the next eight points leading to a 17-13 score. From there, the Gophers took control, scoring eight of the next nine to make it 21-18 in their favor. Kills by Lynch and Merlau cut it to two at 22-20, but Minnesota managed three of the next four points for a 25-21 win.
The Gophers raced out to a 14-6 lead to start the second set, but Purdue shook off the rally, stringing together kills by Merlau and Lynch and a trio of UM miscues to cut the margin to three at 16-13. Minnesota pushed the margin to seven again at 23-16, but the Boilermakers managed five of the next six points, holding off three Gopher set point attempts to make it 24-21. A putaway by Kyla Roehrig, however, ended the stanza at 25-21.
Purdue led 3-2 in the third set after a trio of Lynch putaways, but the Gophers came back with five of the next seven to take a 9-5 lead of its own. A kill by Arthurs and a block by Merlau cut the margin to two, but Minnesota built the advantage to eight at 17-9, including a 5-0 run. A kill and a block by Lynch made it 17-11, but UM tallied five of the next six to go up 10 at 22-12 and prompt Purdue to use its final timeout. A Gurnell putaway and a Gopher miscue followed the break, but a pair of putdowns set up match point at 24-14. An overpass kill by Nichols prolonged the match, but Brook Dieter ended the night at 25-15. The Gophers outhit Purdue .452 to .200 in the final stanza.
The No. 18 Boilermakers (19-6, 8-5 Big Ten) return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City.