Nov. 18, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It took extra points in the final set, but No. 8 Purdue managed to escape St. John Arena with a 3-0 sweep of No. 25 Ohio State Friday night. The Boilermakers won the match 25-21, 25-21, 28-26 to pick up their sixth win over a ranked foe in 2011, matching the 1983 team's feat, while extending their current win streak to 10 matches.
Junior Ariel Turner paced the offense with 17 kills, while adding 11 digs and three blocks, including two solo stuffs. Senior Tiffany Fisher and freshman Val Nichol each added seven kills as Purdue outhit Ohio State .280 to .183.
Defensively, redshirt senior Blair Bashen led the way with 14 digs. Turner (11), setter Rachel Davis (10) and senior Emily Ehlers (9) followed. Davis rounded out her double double with 35 assists. Freshman Kierra Jones led the Boilermakers at the net with four blocks, while Turner added two and Purdue racked up nine stuffs to OSU's three.
Purdue overcame an early deficit and took their first lead of the night at 16-15 en route to a 25-21 Set 1 victory. Down by three at 11-8, Purdue used a pair of OSU miscues and a solo stuff by Rebarchak to knot the score. The teams tied four more times, before a kill and a solo block by Nichol put Purdue on top at 16-15. A pair of Buckeye kills put OSU back on top, but that just sparked a 5-0 Boilermaker run, including an ace by Ehlers and a pair of blocks. Ohio State used up both of its timeouts during the rally, and scored four of the next five points out of its second break to narrow the gap to 22-21. After a timeout of its own, Purdue picked up two Turner putaways and an ace by Amanda Miller to cap the set at 25-21. The Boilermakers hit .300 and put up four blocks, while limiting OSU to a .118 effort.
The Boilermakers carried the momentum into set 2 and led from start to finish in a 25-21 victory. Purdue scored the first four points of the stanza, including a kill and solo block by Turner, and went on to a 10-6 advantage as OSU miscues piled up. The Buckeyes scored four straight to tie it up at 10, but Purdue boosted its advantage to 15-11 with two more Turner putaways and an ace by Bashen. Miller added another ace to make it 17-14, but OSU cut the margin to one at 18-17. A 4-0 Boilermaker run pushed it to 22-17 on a block by Jones and Davis. The Buckeyes scored three in a row to make it 22-20, but Purdue wrapped up the set with three of the last four, including a pair of kills by Jones.
In a set that featured 17 ties and eight lead changes, the Boilermakers pulled out a 28-26 win on their second match-point attempt after thwarting two OSU set point attempts. Purdue hit .300 and Turner put down six kills in the final stanza. The teams split the first 12 points, then OSU surged ahead 13-7. The Boilermakers chipped away, scoring nine of the next 11 to turn the deficit into a 16-15 lead. Turner, Fisher, Ehlers and Davis picked up kills during the stretch. Ohio State went up by one three times, last at 20-19, before a pair of errors put Purdue back on top 21-20. Kills by Jones and Turner made it 23-21, but Ohio State scored three straight to get its first shot at the set. A Turner kill stopped that effort. A Fisher putaway thwarted another to make it 25-25. A Nichol kill gave Purdue a shot at the match at 26-25, but a Buckeye kill knotted the score again. Another Nichol putaway set up the final point, which the Boilermakers scored on an OSU hitting error to take the 28-26 win and the match.
The No. 8 Boilermakers (25-3, 14-3 Big Ten) have now beaten six Top 25 foes in 2011, matching the 1983 team's effort. Purdue will face another ranked opponent Saturday night when it takes on No. 12 Penn State in University Park. The match will be streamed live on BTN.com. Live audio and stats will be available on purduesports.com.