Nov. 27, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - An all-around efficient effort helped the Boilermaker volleyball team to a 3-1 win over No. 10 Illinois Saturday night, its second victory over a Top 10 foe this season. With the 25-19, 25-27, 25-19, 28-26 win, Purdue ties for fourth place in the Big Ten with a 12-8 mark, while moving to 21-10 overall at the end of regular season play.
The Boilermakers, which also beat No. 4 Penn State this season, must now await their NCAA Tournament fate. The NCAA Selection Show will air between 3 and 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 28.
Purdue outdid the Fighting Illini in nearly every major statistical category: outhitting UI .311 to .214, outblocking the team 12-11 and outdigging the Illini 50-45.
Sophomores Anna Drewry and Ariel Turner and redshirt freshman Catherine Rebarchak led the way offensively, with each reaching double digits. Drewry posted 17 kills on a .367 hitting effort, while Turner added 13 kills and three blocks. For her part, Rebarchak registered a 10-kill, 11-dig double-double and added five blocks. Senior Kristen Arthurs and junior Tiffany Fisher added nine kills apiece. Arthurs hit at a team-leading .571 clip and added three blocks, while Fisher managed a team-best six blocks and three aces in addition to her offensive tally.
Defensively, redshirt junior Blair Bashen pulled up 20 digs, while Rebarchak followed with 11. Six other Boilermakers contributed digs to the team's total.
Illinois scored first in the match, but Purdue soon owned a 5-1 lead after a pair of aces by Fisher and kills by Rebarchak and Drewry. The Illini tied the score at five, but the Boilermakers maintained control, going up 14-7 with a 9-2 rally. Arthurs and Drewry posted two kills apiece in the run, which also included three Ilini miscues and a block by Turner and Fisher. Purdue led by seven again at 16-9 after a solo block by Rebarchak. UI closed to within four at 20-16, but the Boilermakers closed out the set with five of the last eight points. Turner posted two kills down the stretch to give Purdue its first shot at the set at 24-18 and Drewry closed out the stanza at 25-19 two plays later.
Set 2 featured 12 ties and six lead changes, but Illinois pulled out the come-from-behind 27-25 win on its third set-point opportunity. Both teams hit over .300 in the stanza, while saw Drewry put down six kills and Fisher add five. The teams split the first 16 points of the match, before Illinois separated itself with a 5-1 run, pushing ahead 13-9. Trailing 14-10, Purdue scored five of the next six, including three straight Drewry putaways. Down 18-16, Purdue against posted a 5-1 run to go up 21-19. Fisher and Turner posted two kills apiece, which Fisher and Rebarchak combined on a block. Illinois called a timeout and the teams split the next four points out of the break leading to a 23-21 score. The Illini scored three straight to get its first shot at the set at 24-23. A Rebarchak kill thwarted the effort. A block by Hart and Arthurs stopped another attempt at 25-24, but Purdue could not stop two final Illinois kills.
The Boilermakers led Set 3 from start to finish, going up by as many as eight en route to a 25-19 win. Purdue outhit the 10th-ranked Illini .259 to .056 in the set and posted four blocks, while six different players managed kills. Ehlers served up an ace to start the stanza, then Purdue surged ahead 6-2 behind two kills from Drewry and a block and kill by Arthurs. With Illini trailing by just two at 7-5, Hart took control, recording two kills, a solo block and an ace as Purdue went up by eight at 14-6. Illinois scored eight of the next 11 to cut the margin to three at 17-14. The Boilermakers used a 5-2 run, including two Arthurs putaways, to push ahead 22-16. A block by Rebarchak and Fisher made it 24-17, but a pair of UI blocks kept the set going. A hitting error finally sealed the set for Purdue at 25-19.
The teams split the first 10 points of Set 4, but Purdue snapped the deadlock with a 5-0 run, including a pair of Turner kills and two UI miscues. The Boilermakers maintained at least a three point advantage over the next several points and led by five again at 19-14 after a pair of Rebarchak kills and another Turner putaway. Illinois sliced the margin to one at 19-17 with a 4-0 rally of its own. The teams split the next eight points before a Turner kill gave Purdue the 24-22 edge. An Illini block and an ace thwarted two Boilermaker match-point chances. A Turner putdown gave the team another shot at 25-24, but UI posted a block and added a kill to keep the match going and take a 26-25 lead. Fisher and Bashen, who was playing in the front row after Purdue ran out of substitutions, combined on a block to level the score at 26. Fisher then served up an ace and the Illini hit the next ball out of bounds to clinch the 28-26 Boilermaker win.
The Boilermakers (21-10, 12-8 Big Ten) finish fourth in the Big Ten Conference and will find out their postseason fate at 3 p.m. ET Sunday. The NCAA Selection Show will air live on ESPN News.