Oct. 7, 2011
LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 11 Purdue volleyball team put up a valiant fight against No. 6 Nebraska, but couldn't overtake the Huskers in a 3-1 loss. Nebraska won the match 22-25, 25-20, 25-14 and 25-22.
Junior Ariel Turner surpassed the 1,000 kill milestone in the match, while leading all hitters with a career-high tying 24 kills and adding 11 digs. Redshirt sophomore Catherine Rebarchak chipped in seven kills and 10 digs, while redshirt sophomore Rachel Davis added five to go with her 39-assist, 13 dig double-double.
Redshirt senior Blair Bashen pulled up 20 digs followed by Davis (13), senior Emily Ehlers (12), Turner (11) and Rebarchak (10). Freshman Kierra Jones paced Purdue at the net with five blocks, while senior Tiffany Fisher added four. Purdue outblocked the Huskers 8-6 in the match and served up four aces, including two by Rebarchak.
Nebraska held off a late Boilermaker charge in a 25-22 Set 1 win. Purdue managed an early 3-2 lead after a Fisher overpass putaway, an ace by Rebarchak and a Husker net violation. Nebraska pushed ahead 7-3 and held a four-point advantage again at 10-6, before a 3-0 Boilermaker run. Turner put up a solo block and Ehlers served an ace in the rally. NU went up by three again at 16-13, but kills by Rebarchak and Griffin made it a one-point game. An ace and a kill by Rebarchak cut the margin to one at 20-19 and forced a Nebraska timeout. A Fisher kill and a pair of Husker miscues kept the game going, but the Boilermakers could not break through. Turner and Rebarchak each posted four kills in the set.
After trailing 3-1 at the start of Set 2, the Boilermakers turned things around with a 4-0 run, taking a lead which they would not relinquish en route to a 25-20 win. Purdue piled up four blocks in the stanza, including one by Davis and Fisher in the early run, while Turner chipped in seven kills. The Boilermakers continued on to lead by seven at 13-6 after solo blocks by Davis and Rebarchak and three Nebraska errors. Another block and a couple of kills by Turner held push the margin to eight at 18-10. The Huskers narrowed the gap to three at 23-20, but a service error and hitting error gave Purdue the set.
Down 3-1 again in Set 3, Purdue used a pair of Turner kills to knot the score, but Nebraska rallied and never looked back in the 25-14 win. The Huskers hit .367 in the set and took advantage of Purdue miscues in the stanza.
The Huskers scored five of the first six points in Set 4 and led by five at 10-5, but Purdue refused to go down without a fight, scoring nine of the next 12 to take a 14-13 lead. Turner pounded down four kills in the run, the second of which marked her 1,000th. Two NU errors and a block by Fisher and Rebarchak also aided the rally. Nebraska turned the tables with a 5-0 run of its own, going up 18-14. The Boilermakers responded by cutting the margin to one at 20-19 as Fisher served up an ace and Turner and junior Anna Drewry managed kills. The teams traded points over the next six serves leading to a 23-22 score, but a pair of putaways by Hannah Werth gave the Huskers the match.
The Boilermakers (14-2, 3-2 Big Ten) return to action at 8 p.m. ET Saturday when they take on Iowa.