Sept. 17, 2011
CHAMPAIGN, ILL. - The No. 14 Boilermaker volleyball team started a season 11-0 for the first time since 2005 with a 3-0 sweep of Cincinnati at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge on Saturday afternoon. Purdue won the match 25-15, 25-16, 25-18 as junior Ariel Turner led the way with a 16-kill, 12-dig double double.
In addition to Turner's offense, redshirt sophomore Catherine Rebarchak put down 10 kills, followed by senior Tiffany Fisher's nine. Rebarchak also served up two aces and accounted for six blocks, while Fisher and freshman Kierra "KiKi" Jones added five stuffs apiece.
Defensively, redshirt senior Blair Bashen pulled up 17 digs and served up three aces. Purdue hit at a .298 clip, while holding Cincinnati to a .103 effort. The Boilermaker defense also stifled the Bearcats with 10 blocks.
Turner racked up six kills on eight swings as Purdue outhit Cincinnati .458 to .161 in the opening set. The Boilermakers raced out to a 6-2 advantage, including aces by Ehlers and Rebarchak and a trio of Turner putaways. Purdue upped its advantage to six at 9-3 on a solo stuff by Fisher, forcing a Bearcat timeout. Cincinnati never got closer than five the rest of the way. A 4-0 Boilermaker run including a pair of Fisher kills pushed it to 21-11. The Bearcats slowed the train temporarily with a pair of points, but a service error and a bock by Jones and Nichol put Purdue back on track. Another pair of Cincinnati points kept things going, before a service error and a termination by Rebarchak sealed the 25-15 win.
Purdue put up three straight blocks, each involving Fisher, in the early going of Set 2, en route to a 4-1 advantage. The Bearcats, however, would not go easily, scoring five of the next six points to go ahead 6-5 on an ace. Down by one again at 7-6, the Boilermakers rallied with a 10-3 run, stretching out to a 16-10 lead. Errors piled up for Cincinnati in the run, which also featured back-to-back aces by Bashen and a pair of Rebarchak putaways. The teams split the next 10 points leading to a 21-15 score. Kills by Turner and Rebarchak made it 23-15 and forced the Bearcats to use their final timeout. A service error and a Turner putdown capped the set at 25-16. Rebarchak and Fisher each had five kills in the stanza, as Purdue outhit Cincinnati .522 to .125.
Set 3 featured several scoring rallies. Cincinnati scored three of the first four points, but Purdue countered with five of the next six. A Rebarchak ace and a pair of Turner kills put the Boilermakers on top 6-4. The Bearcats battled back with a 6-0 run, including three Purdue miscues, to prompt a timeout. The Boilermakers tallied seven of the next eight points out of the break, including an ace by Fisher, to take a 13-11 lead. A kill and a pair of blocks involving Jones made it 16-12, but Cincinnati clawed back to within one at 17-16. After a timeout to talk things over, Purdue went up 21-16 with four straight points, including an ace by Bashen and putaways by Jones, Turner and Rebarchak. A net violation stopped the run, but the Boilermakers closed out the match with four of the last five points. A Bearcat hitting error gave Purdue the 25-18 win.
The Boilermakers (11-0) return to action at 8 p.m. Friday when they take on the Michigan State Spartans live on the Big Ten Network to kick off conference play.