Aug. 24, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 9 Purdue volleyball used a balanced offense attack and gutsy comebacks in each of the first two sets to post a 3-0 sweep of No. 21 Northern Iowa Friday night in the season opener for both squads. The Boilermakers won the match 25-23, 25-23, 25-18 in front of 2,745 fans, taking their season opener for the 11th straight season and defeating a ranked foe to start the season for just the second time in program history.
Redshirt junior setter Rachel Davis dished out the ball to five different players in the match and also scored five times off kills of her own. Sophomore Val Nichol led the stat sheet with 11 kills, while senior Ariel Turner and redshirt junior Catherine Rebarchak added nine apiece. Senior Anna Drewry and sophomore Kiki Jones also got in the offensive action with four and three putaways respectively. Rebarchak, Drewry and Jones led the Boilermaker block with three stuffs each.
Defensively, redshirt junior Carly Cramer racked up a team-best 12 digs in her return from nearly a year's absence due to injury and surgery. Turner followed with nine digs. Turner and Cramer each served up two aces, while Jones also added a perfect serve.
Purdue outhit UNI .245 to .193 thanks in large part to a .364 effort in Set 3. The Boilermakers also bested the Panthers in aces (5-2), blocks (6-5) and digs (39-35), although UNI led in nearly every statistical category through two sets.
Northern Iowa took a 3-1 lead in Set 1, but the Boilermakers rallied to go up 9-7 thanks to a handful of Panther miscues and a trio of Nichol putways. UNI responded with a 5-0 run to jump ahead 12-9. Purdue played from behind, trailing by four at 17-13, slowing chipping away at the deficit. Back to back kills by Drewry cut the margin to one at 19-18, and a stuff by Drewry and Rebarchak again made it a one-point game at 21-20. UNI held on to the advantage, going up 23-21, before the Boilermakers snuck away with the 25-23 win courtesy of a 4-0 run. Jones, Nichol and Turner registered the final three putaways.
Purdue took the early lead in Set 2, scoring six of the first eight points, but the Panthers battled back with an 11-3 run to go ahead 15-9 and force the Boilermakers to spend both of their timeouts. Purdue scored seven straight points, all on UNI miscues, out of the final break to jump ahead 16-15. Rebarchak and Jones teamed up for a block but the rest were unforced errors. After a tie at 16, the Boilermakers went up 18-16, but the Panthers countered with four straight points to take a 20-18 lead. Purdue tied it up at 21 on an error and 22 on a kill by Drewry, before earning its first shot at the set at 24-22. A Rebarchak kill and an error set up the opportunity. A UNI block thwarted the first chance, but Nichol ended the set at 25-23.
UNI scored three of the first five points of Set 3, but from there it was nearly all Boilermakers as Purdue cruised to a 25-18 win to secure the sweep. Down 3-2, the Boilermakers managed nine of the next 10 points, including aces by Turner and Jones and a pair of Davis putaways. Two more Nichol kills gave Purdue its largest lead of the night at 14-5. The Panthers pulled within five at 18-13, but would get no closer. A kill and solo block by Nichol made it 20-13 and the teams traded points from there. Drewry also had a solo stuff as Purdue went up 23-15. UNI made one last push with three of the next four points, but a Rebarchak putaway capped the night.
The No. 9 Boilermakers (1-0) return to action at noon Saturday, when they take on George Washington (0-1). Purdue wraps up its home Mortar Board Premier with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Pittsburgh.