Sept. 27, 2013
MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Badgers spoiled the Big Ten opener for No. 20 Purdue, topping the Boilermakers via 3-0 sweep Friday night. The Badgers won the match 25-23, 25-17, 25-23 and outdid Purdue in every statistical category except digs, which Purdue won 61-46.
Redshirt senior Katie Griffin led the Boilermakers with seven kills, while junior Val Nichol, sophomores Sam Epenesa and Annie Drews and redshirt freshman Faye Adelaja each chipped in five kills.
Defensively, redshirt senior Carly Cramer pulled up 21 digs, while senior Hilliary Fox added 11 and redshirt senior Rachel Davis managed nine saves. Drews led the Boilermakers at the net with three blocks, while junior KiKi Jones added two stuffs and two aces.
Wisconsin led 3-1 early in Set 1, which featured five ties and two lead changes, but the Boilermakers battled back to take a 4-3 lead care of two UW miscues and a kill by Epenesa. The teams tied at 4, 5, and 6, before the Badgers used a 4-0 run to go up 10-6 and force a Purdue timeout. The Boilermakers scored five of the next seven points to pull within one at 12-11. Three straight kills by Drews, Nichol and Epenesa capped the rally. The Boilermakers trailed by as many as four, but rallied to cut it to one at 17-16 with help from a Nichol kill and again at 21-20 on an ace by Nichol. Wisconsin went up 24-21, but a kill and a block by Drews prolonged the set. The Badgers won a joust at the net to take the set 25-23. Nichol, Epenesa and Drews each had three kills in the stanza.
Set 2 belonged to the Badgers from start to finish. Wisconsin outhit Purdue .360 to -.136 in the set and picked up three aces. UW scored the first five points of the stanza and went on to a nine-point led at 12-3. Purdue narrowed the gap to four with 13-9 as Jones served up two aces and the Badgers contributed four errors. Wisconsin upped its lead to seven at 17-10 and did not allow the Boilermakers closed than five the rest of the way in a 25-17 win.
The Boilermakers took a 5-3 lead in Set 3 as Jones and Griffin added kills and UW gave up three points on errors. The Badgers used a 6-0 run to counter and go up 9-5 and continued on to an 18-10 edge. Purdue used its final timeout at that point and rallied with nine of the next 11 points to cut the margin to one at 20-19. Griffin had three putaways in the stretch, while Fox, Jones, Nichol and Adelaja also put down kills. A net violation kept the Boilers from tying it up, but a Badger miscue made it 21-20. A kill by Adelaja and a stuff by Drews and Jones kept Purdue in it at 23-22. Wisconsin had its first shot at the match at 24-22, but a service error kept the game going. A Boilermaker service error, however, wrapped up the night at 25-23.
No. 20 Purdue (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten) returns to action at 2 p.m. ET Sunday when it faces off with No. 9 Minnesota in Minneapolis.