Aug. 31, 2012
HOUSTON - It was a true team effort as the No. 7 Boilermakers squeaked out a five-set win over Rice Friday night. Three hitters reached double-digit kill tallies and four players managed 10 or more digs in the victory.
Senior Ariel Turner slammed down a career-best 28 kills, while also adding 10 digs and four blocks. Freshman Annie Drews blasted the Owls for 16 kills, while hitting .520 on the night. Sophomore Val Nichol added 12 kills, 29 assists and two aces. Sophomore Kiki Jones added nine kills and five blocks.
Defensively, redshirt junior Carly Cramer posted her second career 30-dig effort to lead the way. Redshirt junior setter Rachel Davis put up a 14-dig, 32-assist double-double and redshirt senior Amanda Miller pulled up 13 digs. .Redshirt freshman Kaisley Fisher paced Purdue at the net with seven stuffs.
The Boilermakers pulled out the five-set win with a 15-9 victory in the decisive fifth set, hitting .346 to Rice's .107 effort and with help from six Turner putaways. Purdue went up 4-0 early, thanks to a block by Nichol and Fisher and two Turner kills. The Owls knotted it up at 4, 5 and 6. A pair of Jones kills, including an overpass putaway, gave Purdue some breathing room at 8-6. Rice was within one at 10-9, but Purdue closed the door with five-straight points. A Nichol kill and a block by Nichol and Fisher started the final rally and forced Rice to use its last timeout. A pair of Turner kills and an Owl hitting error sewed up the Boilermaker win.
The Boilermakers played from behind for much of Set 1, taking a brief lead at 18-17, but never managing to take control in the 25-23 loss. Rice led 5-1 early, but a pair of Jones kills and an ace by Nichol cut the margin to one. Purdue tied it up at 8-8 on a Griffin putaways, but trailed by four at 14-10 soon after. The Boilermakers scored eight of the next 11 points to take their lone advantage of the stanza on an ace by Turner. Rice turned things around with a 6-2 run of its own, going up 23-20 and forcing a Purdue timeout. A hitting error and kills by Fisher and Turner knotted the score at 23, but the Owls stole away the set with a pair of kills. Turner and Jones posted four kills apiece in the stanza.
Purdue returned to form in Set 2, hitting .571 with kills from seven different players, en route to a 25-13 win. Turner racked up six kills and Nichol added four as the Boilermakers spread the offense around. Purdue had 20 kills in the stanza accounting for nearly all of its points. The teams split the first 10 points of the set, but the Boilermakers took control after that. Purdue scored 11 of the next 14 points to double up on the Owls 16-8. Turner downed four kills in the stretch. Rice pulled within six at 18-12 and 19-13, but that prompted the Boilermakers to close out the stanza with six straight points. Kills by freshman Annie Drews and Griffin started the run. Two kills apiece by Nichol and Fisher end it.
Set 3 was a back and force battle featuring 11 ties and four lead changes. Purdue had four chances at set point, but each was thwarted by the Owls. Down 27-26, Rice got a kill from top hitter Nancy Cole and added a kill by Mariah Riddlesprigger to go up 28-27 and prompt a Boilermaker timeout. A stuff clinched the Owls the 29-27 win. Turner had six kills in the set, while Drews added five. Purdue trailed 16-10, but chipped away, knotting the score at 21. As Turner racked up a trio of kills and Drews got in on a pair of blocks. A Drews kill made it 24-23, setting off the string of Boilermaker set point attempts. Kills by Griffin, Drews and Nichol kept the back-and-forth swing going.
The Boilers led Set 4 nearly start to finish, save a momentary 4-3 deficit, en route to a 25-21 win to send the match to a deciding fifth set. Purdue led 12-8 at the midway point after a stretch including aces by Jones, Davis and Miller. Rice fought back to tie it up at 17-17, but the Boilermakers pulled away with a 4-1 run, including a pair of blocks by Jones and Turner. Drews pounded down three kills in the final seven points, including the penultimate score. A net violation gave Purdue the win.
No. 7 Purdue (4-1) finish out the Tiger Classic with a 2 p.m. Saturday contest against LSU.