Nov. 28, 2009
MADISON, Wis. - The Boilermakers finally broke through with a five-set win to wrap up their 2009 season, topping the Wisconsin Badgers 25-23, 25-19, 15-25, 20-25, 15-11 to clinch a seventh-place Big Ten finish.
Senior Carrie Gurnell wrapped up her Purdue career with an 18-kill, 10-dig performance to pace the Boilermakers. Junior Kristen Arthurs chalked up 12 digs, while hitting at a team-best .445 percentage. Freshman Anna Drewry tallied a 10-kill, 11-block double double, pacing the team at the net. Sophomore Tiffany Fisher chipped in eight kills, while freshman Ariel Turner and junior Jaclyn Hart each registered six. Hart also added seven blocks to the team's tally.
Defensively, sophomore Emily Ehlers racked up a team-high 17 digs, while redshirt sophomore Blair Bashen added 15. Gurnell and freshman Carly Cramer each pulled up 10 digs. Purdue outdug Wisconsin 71 to 62 and burned the Badgers at the net with 17 blocks to seven.
Wisconsin led 4-2 in the fifth set, but Purdue charged back with seven of the next 10 to go up 9-7 and prompt a UW timeout. The Boilermakers put up four stuffs in the stretch, including two combined efforts by Drewry, who became the first Purdue player with a double-digit blocking effort in 2009. Fisher tacked on two kills after the break and Gurnell added two more to make it 13-8 Boilermakers. A Wisconsin kill and a Purdue miscue cut the margin to three at 13-10. Arthurs put down a kill to set up the Boilermakers' first match point attempt. A Badger block kept the match going, but Gurnell put down her 18th kill of the night to wrap up the win and her Boilermaker career. Fisher put down five kills in the set, while Gurnell added four as Purdue held UW to a .029 hitting effort.
The Boilermakers charged out to a five-point advantage, leading 11-6 to start Set 1. Four different players contributed kills, while Wisconsin aided the effort with five miscues. The Badgers took a timeout and then countered Purdue with nine of the next 11 points to go up 15-13. Purdue scored three straight on a Drewry kill and a pair of blocks by Drewry and Hart to regain the lead at 16-15. The teams tied at 16 and 17, before the Boilermakers managed a three-point advantage at 22-19 after a block, a kill and three Badger errors. Wisconsin cut the margin to one at 22-21 and 23-22, but a Drewry putaway made it 24-22 Purdue. A UW block kept the stanza going, but Drewry and Hart combined on a stuff to clinch the 25-23 win.
Set 2 was a back and forth battle from the beginning with neither team gaining more than a two point advantage until late in the stanza. The teams split the first eight points, before a kill and an ace by Arthurs put Purdue on top. Wisconsin scored three in a row to take the lead and eventually boasted a 14-12 advantage. The Boilermakers scored three straight on kills by Gurnell and Drewry and a block by Drewry and Hart, kicking off a 7-3 rally which would put them ahead 19-17. After a Badger kill, Purdue tacked on four points and went up 23-18 on a block by Drewry and Fisher. A UW kill slowed Purdue temporarily, but a service error and hitting error gave the Boilermakers a 25-19 win and a two-set lead heading into intermission. Purdue hit .375 in the set , which included five Gurnell kills, four from Arthurs and three Boilermaker blocks.
Down 5-3 in Set 3, Purdue used two kills and a block by Drewry to turn the deficit into a 6-5 lead. Wisconsin scored four in a row to go up 9-6. The Boilermakers pulled within two at 11-9 after a pair of Arthurs putaways, but the Badgers closed out the set with 14 of the last 20 en route to a 25-15 victory. Purdue hit just .108 in the set, while UW posted a .286 effort.
The Boilermakers fell behind 9-4 in Set 4 before rallying with six of the next seven to tie the score at 10 on an ace by Ehlers. Arthurs tallied a kill and was in on two stuffs during the stretch, while Hart also had a great save for a kill. Wisconsin countered with seven of the next to take a 17-12 advantage and force Purdue to use both its timeouts. Trailing by eight at 23-15, the Boilermakers crept back to within four at 23-19 after a pair of Badger hitting errors, an overpass kill by Arthurs and a Gurnell putaway. A service error put Wisconsin up 24-19. A Gurnell kill thwarted UW's first set point attempt, but a Mary Ording putaway sent the match to a deciding fifth set. Gurnell was 5-for-6 in the set.