Sep 8, 2013
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The No. 22 Boilermaker volleyball team rode the arm of junior Val Nichol to a 3-0 sweep of Bowling Green to wrap up the Golden Dome Invitational. Purdue won the match 27-25, 25-23, 25-16, but had to overcome Falcon rallies in each set.
Nichol paced the Boilers with 16 kills, 18 assists, nine digs and four blocks, while hitting at a stellar .464 clip. A late surge by junior KiKi Jones gave her an 11-kill night and a .450 hitting effort. Redshirt senior Catherine Rebarchak managed eight kills and sophomore Annie Drews added six to round out the Purdue offense.
Senior Carly Cramer led the Boilermaker defense with 19 digs, while Nichol, redshirt senior Rachel Davis and sophomore Amanda Neill managed nine each. Jones led Purdue at the net with five blocks, while Nichol added four. Cramer also served up three aces.
Nichol and Rebarchak combined for eight kills as Purdue raced out to a 10-1 advantage in the opening stanza. Bowling Green charged back, however, pulling to within two at 15-13, prompting a Boilermaker timeout. The Falcons tied it up at 15, but Purdue used a kill by Nichol and two BGSU miscues to push the edge to three at 18-15. A pair of kills by Jones and another Falcon error gave the Boilers a 22-19 edge, but Bowling Green replied with four straight to go up 23-22. The Falcons had two shots at the set at 24-23 and 25-24, but Purdue thwarted both efforts and used kills by Nichol and Rebarchak and a BGSU hitting error to seal the 27-25 win. Nichol racked up eight kills in the stanza, which saw Purdue overcome four Bowling Green stuffs.
The Boilermakers took the early edge again in Set 2, going up by six at 11-5 care of an ace by Cramer and kills by four different players. The Falcons crawled back into the set with 11 of the next 15 points, earning a 16-15 edge. Purdue played from behind from that point, trailing by as many as three at 22-19. Kills by Nichol and Rebarchak and a BGSU hitting error tied it at 22. With a 23-23 tie on the scoreboard, Jones pounded down an overpass forcing a Bowling Green timeout with set point on the line. Nichol added her 15th kill of the match to secure the 25-23 win. Nichol downed seven kills in the stanza.
Purdue led 9-4 in Set 3, courtesy of a Cramer ace and a trio of kills by Jones. Bowling Green did not go away, however, cutting the margin to two at 10-8, but the Boilers were resilient, pushing the edge to eight at 18-10. Aces by Cramer and Nichol and a pair of Jones putaways aided the rally. The Falcons scored three straight to make it 18-13 prompting a Purdue timeout. Out of the break, the Boilermkaers scored four of the next five, including two more kills by Jones. A kill by redshirt senior Katie Griffin and back-to-back stuffs by Nichol and redshirt freshman Faye Adelaja capped the 25-16 win and the sweep.
The Boilermakers (3-2) return to action on Friday when they take on Florida Atlantic at 4 p.m. Friday in Tampa, Fla.