Oct. 17, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team leapfrogged its way up the Big Ten standings with a sweep of Iowa Saturday night. With the 25-23, 25-12, 25-22 win, Purdue moved into a tie for sixth in the conference standings after beginning the weekend tied for last.
Senior Carrie Gurnell and freshman Ariel Turner led the way with 11 kills apiece. Purdue posted a .383 hitting percentage as a team and all but one Boilermaker hitter hit at .350 or above. Junior Kristen Arthurs added eight kills and sophomore Tiffany Fisher tallied seven. Fisher boasted a match-high .538 hitting effort, while Arthurs served up two of Purdue's six aces.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore Blair Bashen racked up 13 digs, while junior Jaclyn Hart added seven and Turner chipped in six.
"Anytime that Carrie and Kristen give us the kind of performances they did tonight, it takes the pressure off the rest of our players and we need that," head coach Dave Shondell said. "They have been trying, but we have been playing good team that have done a good job against them. Overall, tonight proved what can happen if you continue to work hard and persevere even when you have lost five straight matches, like we had until the weekend."
Iowa took an early 3-1 lead in Set 1, but Purdue charged back, going up 6-5 on a kill by Gurnell. The Boilermakers capitalized on three Hawkeye errors en route to the lead. Down 8-6, Iowa scored five straight to turn the deficit into a 11-8 advantage of its own and prompt a Purdue timeout. Down 16-13, the Boilermakers began chipping away, finally tying the score at 20 on a Fisher putaway. A Turner kill put Purdue on top 21-20 and forced an Iowa timeout. The Hawkeyes tied it at 22 out of the break, but a hitting error and an ace by Turner put Purdue on the hill. A hitting miscue after Iowa burned its final timeout, kept the set going, but a Turner putaway, her sixth of the stanza, was the final nail in the 25-23 win.
The teams split the first six points of Set 2, which included an ace by Arthurs. A kill and a solo block by Turner put Purdue up 5-3, giving the team a lead it would not relinquish. A pair of kills and a solo block by Gurnell made it a five-point game at 10-5. Iowa cut the margin to three at 10-7, but Purdue was soon up by eight at 19-11. Arthurs and Hart each added two putaways in the rally. A service error slowed the Boilermakers temporarily, but the team closed out the set with a 6-0 run. Bashen served up five of the final six points, including an ace, while Gurnell chalked up three kills, including the final blow in the 25-12 win. Purdue hit .625 as a team, while holding Iowa to a .125 effort.
Five different Boilermakers contributed to the offense in Purdue's 25-22 win in the match-clinching third set. The stanza featured 14 tie scores and three lead changes and saw Purdue come from behind midway through the set. The teams were tied 13-13 midway through as neither team could put together more than two points in a row. The Hawkeyes went up 15-13 after a kill and a block by Emma Krieger Kittle, prompting a 5-1 Boilermaker rally. Arthurs tallied a kill and contributed to two blocks in the run. Iowa tied it up at 18, but Purdue responded with three straight points, including an ace by Arthurs to make it 21-18. UI pulled within one at 22-21 and 23-22, but the Boilermakers wrapped up the match with a Gurnell kill and a Hawkeye hitting miscue.
The Boilermakers (11-8, 3-5 Big Ten) return to action on Friday, when they take on Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.