Nov. 15, 2013
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern Wildcats pulled off the upset and the season sweep of the No. 18 Boilermaker volleyball team with a 3-1 win Friday night. The Wildcats won the match 27-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-18.
Junior KiKi Jones turned in a career-best 17 kills, while hitting at a .640 clip, with just one error in 25 swings. Redshirt senior Catherine Rebarchak added 16 kills, including six in the final stanza, and junior Val Nichol chipped in nine kills.
Defensively, redshirt senior Carly Cramer led Purdue with 23 digs, while senior Hilliary Fox added 15. Sophomore Amanda Neill and Nichol each recorded eight saves. At the net, redshirt freshman Faye Adelaja paced Purdue with six stuffs, while Jones and Rebarchak each added four blocks.
Northwestern came back from a 10-point deficit to steal away a 27-25 win in Set 1. Purdue led 15-5 midway through, before the Wildcat turnaround. The Boilers opened the match with a 6-1 run, including two blocks and a kill by Jones. A stuff by Adelaja and sophomore Annie Drews and an NU hitting error put Purdue up 12-4. A kill by Rebarchak gave Purdue its largest lead at 15-5. Northwestern began the comeback with five straight points and continued to chip away, eventually tying the score at 18 and 19 and taking a 20-19 lead. The Boilers answered the Wildcats point for point, until a hitting error gave NU a 24-23 edge. Jones thwarted that set point attempt and another at 25-24, but a pair of Yewande Akanbi putaways ended the stanza at 27-25. Jones had six kills and three blocks in the stanza.
Purdue rebounded with a 25-14 win, which featured saw the Boilers outhit Northwestern .290 to -.026. Jones added five kills and Rebarchak chipped in four in the set. Purdue jumped out to a 4-1 lead care of a few NU miscues, but the Wildcats soon took a 7-6 lead of their own. The Boilers responded with six of the next seven points, including a stuff block by sophomore Sam Epenesa, to go ahead 12-8. Northwestern cut the margin to three at 15-12, but Purdue closed out the set with 10 of the next 12, including the final seven points. Adelaja, Rebarchak and Epenesa had kills in the final stretch, while Fox added an ace.
Northwestern jumped ahead 13-5 to start Set 3, forcing Purdue to use both of its timeouts. The Wildcats upped their lead to nine at 19-10. Purdue chipped away, pulling within six at 23-17 as Adelaja turned in a kill and a block and Jones, redshirt senior Katie Griffin and Epenesa added putaways. Down 24-17, the Boilers thwarted five straight set point chances with kills by Rebarchak, Nichol and Griffin and stuffs by Jones. Northwestern called a timeout, holding on to a 24-22 edge, and iced the server for a 25-22 win. Jones had six putaways in the set.
The Wildcats led 6-1 out of the gate in Set 4 and went on to a 13-5 lead. Down 15-6, Purdue started to turn it around, scoring five in a row including three straight kills by Rebarchak. Down 21-15, the Boilermakers used a pair of blocks by Adelaja and an ace by Nichol to pull within three at 21-18. A Northwestern kill, two Purdue hitting errors and a block ended the night at 25-18. NU hit .219 and held Purdue to a .000 effort in the stanza, despite six kills by Rebarchak.
The No. 18 Boilermakers (16-10, 7-8 Big Ten) return to action at 8 p.m. ET when they face off with No. 25 Illinois in Champaign.