Sept. 21, 2013
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - After dropping the first set, the No. 21 Boilermakers charged back to win three straight to take a 3-1 win over Northern Kentucky Saturday morning. Purdue won the match 20-25, 25-11, 25-8, 25-13 and committed just six hitting errors over the final three sets.
Five Boilermakers posted eight or more kills in the match as Purdue outhit NKU .356 to .017. Junior Val Nichol led the way with 12 kills on a .400 hitting effort. Sophomore Sam Epenesa followed with 10 kills, while junior KiKi Jones, sophomore Annie Drews and redshirt freshman Faye Adelaja added eight putdowns each.
Defensively, redshirt senior Carly Cramer posted a match-high 15 digs, while also serving up three aces. Redshirt senior setter Rachel Davis added nine saves, while sophomore Amanda Neill tallied eight. At the net, Jones posted a team-high six blocks while Drews managed four stuffs. Purdue outblocked the Norse 12-4.
In the first set, Northern Kentucky's fast paced offense hit at a .286 clip, while Purdue managed just a .037 effort. Nichol and Jones each put down three kills, but the Norse led the set from start to finish. NKU went up 10-6 early on as the Boilermaker committed five hitting miscues. The Boilers scored four of the next five points, including an ace by Cramer, to cut the margin to one at 11-10. The teams split the next six points before Northern Kentucky pulled away with seven of the next 11 to go ahead 21-17. A pair of Nichol kills and a block by Adelaja and Griffin made it a two-point game at 22-20, but NKU finished off the set care of three Boilermaker miscues.
Purdue turned things around in Set 2, hitting .471 as five different players downed kills including Jones' three. Epenesa, Neill and Cramer also turned in aces in the stanza. After taking a 9-6 lead, the Boilermakers rattled off seven straight points including a block by Drews and Jones, a Cramer ace and four NKU miscues, to jump out to a 16-6 edge. The Norse scored two of the next three points, but that just prompted another Boilermaker rally. Purdue closed out the set with eight of the final 11 points. A service ace by Neill capped the stanza at 25-11.
The Boilermakers kept things rolling in Set 3, pounding down 15 kills, while holding NKU to just three and a -.097 hitting percentage. Epenesa racked up five putaways in the set, while Nichol added four. Epenesa had three kills and Drews added two as Purdue raced out to a 9-0 lead and forced the Norse to use up both of their timeouts. The lead grew to 16-3 with the three NKU points coming on Boilermaker miscues. Northern Kentucky scored three of the next five points, before Purdue wrapped up the set on a 7-2 run, including two kills each by Nichol and Adelaja. A setting error sealed the 25-8 win.
Purdue scored five of the first six points in Set 4 and hit at an outstanding .500 clip en route to a 25-13 win. A block by jones and Nichol made it 13-8 Boilers and prompted an NKU timeout. Back-to-back putaways by Nichol made it 17-10 soon after and forced the Norse to use their final timeout. Two Adelaja kills and a third by redshirt senior Katie Griffin pushed the margin to 11 at 23-12. Drews and Epenesa downed kills to put the final nails in the match.
The Boilermakers (7-2) wrap up the Active Ankle Challenge at 7:30 p.m. when they take on Florida International.