Nov. 19, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 8 Boilermaker volleyball team took the opening set against No. 12 Penn State, but was unable to hold off the Nittany Lion offensive barrage down the stretch, falling 3-1 Saturday night.
Penn State topped Purdue in all major statistical categories including a 10-4 edge in blocking and a 6-4 advantage in aces. The Nittany Lions outhit the Boilermakers .285 to .169 in the match.
Junior Ariel Turner supplied the bulk of the Purdue offense with 18 kills. Freshman Kierra Jones chipped in eight putaways and two blocks, while redshirt sophomores Catherine Rebarchak and Rachel Davis and senior Tiffany Fisher each added five kills.
Redshirt senior Blair Bashen led the Boilermaker defense with 17 digs, followed by Davis's 16 and senior Emily Ehlers' tally of 11. Turner also added nine digs and Bashen served up two aces.
Turner racked up nine kills and the Boilermakers outhit Penn State .213 to .102 en route to a 25-22 Set 1 victory. Purdue jumped out to a 4-1 lead as Turner put down three balls early. The Nittany Lions scored seven of the next nine to vault ahead 8-6. The Boilermakers countered with a 5-1 run, including two PSU miscues, to regain the lead at 11-9. Purdue pushed the advantage to four at 15-11 after a block by Jones and Rebarchak and an Ehlers ace. A solo stuff by Fisher made it 18-13, but Penn State cut the margin to two at 20-18. The teams split the next six points leading to a 23-21 score and a second PSU timeout. A hitting error kept the game going, but a pair of Turner kills capped the set.
Penn State tied the match at a set apiece with a 25-18 Set 2 victory, hitting .303 to Purdue's 188 effort. The teams split the first 12 points, before PSU surged ahead with a 3-0 run, taking a lead which it would not relinquish. The Boilermakers cut the margin to one at 9-8 after kills by Jones and Turner, but would get no closer down the stretch. The Nittany Lions led by six at 18-12, but Purdue battled back with a 4-0 run, including an ace by Davis and two kills by Griffin. Penn State closed out the set, however, with seven of the final nine points, including two aces.
Penn State led 7-5 early in Set 3, but rattled off 11 of the next 13 points to go up 18-7. Purdue would get no closer than nine the rest of the set, but held off two PSU set-point chances with kills by Rebarchak and Davis. A Deja McClendon kill capped the stanza at 25-15. The Nittany Lions hit .545 in the set.
The Nittany Lions carried the momentum into Set 4, jumping ahead 15-6. Purdue slowed PSU momentarily with two points in a row with a Turner kill and an ace by Amanda Miller. The Boilermakers called their final timeout trailing 18-9. Purdue was down but not out, however, scoring three straight out of the break including an overpass putaway by Jones. Penn State pushed its lead to 10 at 22-12, prompting another Boilermaker rally. This time, Purdue scored six of the next seven, including an ace by Ehlers and kills by four different players, to narrow the gap to five at 23-18. A hitting error and a block sealed the win for Penn State at 25-18.
The No. 8 Boilermakers (25-4, 14-4 Big Ten) return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday when they take on Indiana in Bloomington. This is the Monon Spike travelling trophy match between Purdue and the Hoosiers.