Oct. 15, 2010
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The No. 8 Illinois Fighting Illini prevented the Purdue volleyball team from adding another Top 10 win to its resume, topping the Boilermakers 3-1 Friday night. The Illini won the match 25-19, 25-23, 16-25, 25-12.
"I can't really explain it," head coach Dave Shondell said. "It was a team loss and we didn't play well as a team, but for the first time this year I looked out on the court at the get-go and saw that some of our players didn't have the looks on their faces that we needed to get a win on the road at Illinois. We just didn't have everyone playing at 100 percent. Illinois is a good team, but we needed to jump on them early and didn't do it. We made inroads in Game 3, but before we knew it we were facing an onslaught in Set 4.
"(Catherine) Rebarchak had 13 kills and gave all she could for us tonight. Kristen Arthurs was good offensively, but after that there were not a lot of bright spots."
Sophomore Ariel Turner led the Boilermakers with 14 kills, while redshirt freshman Catherine Rebarchak put down a season-high tying 13. Redshirt freshman Katie Griffin and senior Kristin Arthurs each chipped in eight putaways while junior Tiffany Fisher added six and put up a team-high four blocks and an ace.
Defensively, four Boilermakers reached double-digits led by sophomore Carly Cramer's 18 and redshirt junior Blair Bashen's 15. Junior Emily Ehlers added 13 saves as did Turner, who rounded out her fourth double-double of the year.
Purdue fell behind 2-0 after a pair of blocks to start the match, but rebounded with three straight, all on Illini miscues. After a series of ties, Illinois led 6-5, but Purdue countered with a trio of points, including kills by Turner and Griffin, to surge ahead. An Arthurs putaway made it 9-7, but Illinois scored six of the next seven to take a 13-10 lead and prompt a Boilermaker timeout. A Rebarchak kill and Illini hitting miscue narrowed the gap to one, but Purdue could not break through. The Boilermakers trailed by just one at 16-15, but Illinois stretched its advantage to five at 22-17 with six of the next eight points. An Illini hitting error made it a four-point game, but Illinois closed out the set at 25-19 with four of the last five. UI served up two aces in the set and outblocked Purdue 3-0.
The Boilermakers scored three of the first four points in Set 2 with kills by Rebarchak and Turner. Trailing 4-3, Illinois managed a 5-1 run to surge ahead 8-5. Kills by Griffin and Rebarchak stopped the Illini temporarily, but UI raised its advantage to five at 16-11. Purdue put together an 8-3 run to tie it up at 19-19, forcing Illinois to burn both its timeouts in the stretch. A kill from Griffin, an ace by Fisher and a block by Hart and Arthurs made it a two-point game at 16-14. The Boilermakers continued to battle back as Arthurs pounded down a pair of kills and combined on a block with Rebarchak to complete the rally. A net violation and hitting error gave the Illini a 21-19 advantage. UI managed a 24-21 advantage, but a kill by Turner and an Illinois hitting error kept the set going and cut the margin to one at 24-23. A Michelle Bartch kill capped the 25-23 Illini win. Rebarchak put down six kills in the stanza, while Turner added five as Purdue outhit Illinois .324 to .257 in the stanza.
The teams split the first 16 points of Set 3, but from then on, it was nearly all Boilermakers as Purdue cruised to a 25-16 win. A balanced offensive attack led to the win as Turner managed six kills, while Griffin added five kills, Rebarchak tacked on four and Arthurs added three. Purdue outhit Illinois .357 to .152 in the stanza, while also chalking up four blocks. After the tie at 8-8, Purdue scored seven of the next eight, including a pair of blocks involving Fisher and a pair of kill by Turner. Two Griffin putaways made it a six-point game again at 18-12. Illinois pulled within four at 19-15, but the Boilermakers managed six of the last seven to take the set. Rebarchak downed three kills and helped with a block in the closing stages.
Purdue carried the momentum into Set 4, starting the stanza with a 3-1 lead as Ehlers set the ball over for a point, Fisher pounded down an overpass and the Illini contributed a hitting error. Illinois countered however, dominating the rest of the stanza en route to a 25-12 win and the match. After the opening four points, UI put up seven of the next nine points to go ahead 10-5. A kill by Fisher stopped the Illini temporarily, but Purdue could not hold off the Illinois attack which scored 11 of the next 12, surging ahead 21-7. An Illinois hitting error halted a 10-0 run. A block and a kill made it 23-8 Illini, but a trio of UI miscues put Purdue in double-digits. A kill by Colleen Ward set up match point at 24-11. A Rebarchak kill kept the match going, but a service error was the clincher.
The Boilermakers (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) return to action at 2 p.m. ET Sunday when they take on the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, Wis. Live stats for the match as well as a live audio broadcast will be available at purduesports.com.