Nov. 23, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - All four Boilermaker seniors contributed as No. 22 Purdue volleyball posted a 3-1 win over Wisconsin to wrap up the regular season Friday night. The Boilermakers won the match 25-14, 24-26, 25-14, 25-22 as the team celebrated the final home match of seniors Ariel Turner, Amanda Miller, Courtney Gosewisch and Anna Drewry.
Turner led the way with 24 kills, 17 digs, four aces and three blocks, while hitting at a .377 clip. Freshman Annie Drews chipped in 14 kills, while sophomore Val Nichol added 12 on a team-best .3891 hitting effort. Sophomore Kiki Jones and Drewry rounded out the offensive efforts with eight and five kills respectively.
Defensively, four Boilermakers posted double-digit dig totals led by redshirt junior Carly Cramer's 19. Turner added 17, while redshirt junior setter Rachel Davis (14) and Miller (10) rounded out the group. Davis finished off her double-double with 53 assists. Turner and Drewry each chipped in three blocks to lead the team at the net. The Boilermakers put up seven aces, four by Turner and three by Cramer.
Purdue led Set 1 nearly from start to finish, outhitting the Badgers .500 to .077 en route to a 25-14 win. Drews put down six kills, while Turner had five in the stanza. The Boilermakers scored three of the first four points, but Wisconsin came back to tie the score five times, last at 8-8 and even owned a brief 7-6 lead. Purdue snapped the 8-8 tie with a kill by Drews, followed by a Cramer ace and a kill by Turner. The Badgers were back within one at 11-10, but the Boilers pulled away again, this time with a 6-1 run including kills by four different players. Two kills by Drews and one by Drewry gave Purdue its largest lead at nine at 22-13. The Boilermakers finished off the set with 3-0 run including a pair of stuffs by Drewry, the first with Nichol and the final with Turner.
The Boilermakers trailed by as many as six points in Set 2 before charging back to have a shot at the stanza, but could not finish the comeback. Wisconsin led throughout the stanza, holding a 15-10 edge midway through. Purdue took a timeout and sliced the margin to two at 18-16 as Turner, Nichol and even Gosewisch registered putaways. The Badgers surged ahead to a 22-16 lead, but the Boilermakers were not finished yet. After a timeout, Turner registered three kills and Cramer served up two aces to tie it up at 22. A Badger hitting error and a kill by Jones made it 24-23, but a net violation, a kill and an attack error gave Wisconsin the 26-24 win. Turner racked up eight kills in the set.
Purdue bounced back after intermission with a 25-14 win which saw the Boilermakers outhit the Badgers .270 to .027 despite a 4-1 edge in blocks by UW. Turner chipped in eight more kills in the stanza, while Drews added four and Nichol turned in three. Wisconsin owned an early 4-3 lead, but the Boilermakers rattled off five straight points, including a pair of Badger miscues to go up 89-4. A solo stuff and an ace from Turner made it 10-5 and kills from Nichol and Drewry upped the advantage to 13-6. The teams split the next eight points, before Purdue once again hit its stride thanks to three straight Turner kills and one by Drews which put the Boilers up 10 at 21-11. Turner downed two more kills and a UW service error put Purdue on the hill with Turner at the end line. An ace clinched the stanza.
The Boilermakers held off a late UW charge in Set 4 to clinch the match with a 25-22 win. A balanced offense featuring kills from six different players aided Purdue in the victory. Wisconsin scored three of the first four points, but the Boilermakers took over from there, breaking off a 7-1 run to vault ahead 8-4. Jones and Turner each put down two kills and Turner served up an ace in the stretch. Four different players chipped in kills as Purdue upped its lead to six at 14-8. Wisconsin cut the margin to two four times, last at 19-17, but kills from Drewry, Drews and Nichol held the Badgers at bay. Down 22-18, Wisconsin put together a 4-0 run with a block and three kills to knot it up at 22. A block from the seniors Drewry and Turner stopped the rally and back-to-back UW miscues capped the victory.
No. 22 Purdue wraps up the regular season with a 21-10 record including a 12-8 mark in Big Ten play, good for fifth place in the league. The Boilermakers must now await their NCAA Tournament fate, which will be announced at 4 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU. Fans are invited to join the Boilermakers for a watch party in the Kissell Center, located on the east side of Ross-Ade Stadium.