Nov. 14, 2009
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Boilermaker volleyball team will look to its home court to get back on the winning track after falling to Michigan State 3-0 Saturday night. The Spartans won the match 25-23, 25-21 and 25-18.
Freshman Anna Drewry and sophomore Tiffany Fisher offered bright spots for the Purdue offense. Drewry paced the team with 13 kills on .524 hitting effort, while Fisher chipped in 11 kills at a .409 clip. The Boilermakers hit .306 for the match, but allowed the Spartans a .396 hitting effort.
Defensively, freshman Courtney Gosewisch and sophomore Emily Ehlers added eight digs apiece. Redshirt sophomore Blair Bashen added six, while junior Jaclyn Hart chipped in five digs and five kills.
The Boilermakers topped Michigan State in nearly every statistical category in Set 1, but found themselves on the short end of a 25-23 score, thanks in part to four service miscues. Kills by Arthurs and Turner put Purdue on the board first, but MSU pushed ahead by three at 7-4. The teams split the next 10 points. Down 12-9, Purdue scored three in a row, on two Hart putaways and a third by senior Carrie Gurnell, to tie the score at 12-12. MSU scored eight of the next 11 to go up by five at 20-15. After a timeout, the Boilermakers rallied to narrow the gap to one at 23-22. A kill and an ace by Fisher and a block by Hart and Drewry capped the run. After an MSU timeout, a service error put the Spartans on the hill. A Drewry putaway kept the set going, but another Spartan kill sealed the 25-23 MSU win. Hart was 4-for-4 on hitting attempts to lead Purdue in the set.
Michigan State led 4-2 in the early going of Set 2, but Purdue rallied with three straight points, including a pair of MSU miscues, to take the lead at 5-4. The Spartans evened the score at five, six and seven before breaking into the lead. MSU would push its advantage to seven at 18-11 before Purdue mounted a comeback. A pair of kills by Drewry and another by redshirt junior Lisa Pierce cut the margin to four at 20-16. Trailing 23-18 later in the set, the Boilermakers made another push, scoring three in a row with a Pierce putaway and overpass kills by Fisher and Arthurs to make it 23-21. After a timeout, MSU tacked on a pair of kills to take the 25-21 win. Fisher posted six kills in the stanza, while Drewry added four.
The Spartans scored four of the first five points in Set 3, but Purdue was soon within one at 6-5, thanks to a pair of MSU miscues and kills by Fisher and Gurnell. Michigan State scored three straight to pull away and never allowed Purdue closer than three points the rest of the way. Down seven at 19-12, Purdue scored three of the next four, two on Drewry kills and one on a Spartan error, to pull within five at 20-15. MSU scored five of the last eight to close out the sweep. Kills by Pierce, Fisher and Gurnell broke up the run. Drewry added six kills in the final stanza, but Purdue was outhit .481 to .267 in the loss.
The Boilermakers (12-15, 4-12 Big Ten) return to action at 7 p.m. Friday when they welcome the No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions to Belin Court. The match will be streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com and will air live on the radio at 1410 AM in Lafayette and purduesports.com.