Nov. 8, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 14 Boilermaker volleyball team fought hard against No. 2 Penn State, but could not hold off the Nittany Lions in a 3-0 loss. Penn State won the match 25-18, 25-22, 25-21.
Redshirt senior Catherine Rebarchak led the Boilers with 12 kills, while junior Val Nichol added eight. Junior KiKi Jones and sophomore Sam Epenesa added five apiece, while sophomore Annie Drews and redshirt freshman Faye Adelaja chipped in four each.
Defensively, senior Hilliary Fox led the way with 13 digs, while redshirt senior Rachel Davis added seven.
Penn State outhit Purdue .316 to .149 and outblocked the Boilers 10-5. Purdue outdug the Nittany Lions 39-27.
Penn State led 4-3 early in Set 1, but the Boilermakers took the lead at 5-4 on a block by Drews and Jones and held the edge until 13-12 when PSU scored three straight. Down 15-13, Purdue took a timeout and scored three straight out of the break to regain a 16-15 edge. Epenesa, Nichol and Rebarchak had kills in the rally. The Nittany Lions, however, closed out the set on a 10-2 run. Jones and Rebarchak had three kills piece in the set, but PSU outhit the Boilers .412 to .125.
Purdue mounted a mid-set rally in Set 2 and held off two Penn State set points, but fell 25-22. The Nittany Lions carried the momentum into the stanza, going up 8-3 after a 3-3 tie. A 4-0 run made it 14-6 Penn State and PSU went on to take a nine-point lead at 19-10. The Boilermakers were not done yet, however, rallying to cut the margin to two at 24-22, before falling 25-22. A pair of two point runs narrowed the gap to six at 20-14, but it was a 5-1 rally, featuring two kills each by Rebarchak and Nichol, that pulled Purdue to within three at 22-19 and forced a PSU timeout. Penn State scored two of the next three out of the break, but a kill by Drews and a Nittany Lion hitting error thwarted a pair of set point chances. A kill by Megan Courtney ended the set at 25-22. Nichol had five kills and Rebarchak added four in the stanza.
The Boilermakers scored the first two points of Set 3 and went on to an 8-5 edge thanks to kills by Rebarchak, Jones and Adelaja and a pair of blocks, including a solo stuff by Epenesa. Four straight Purdue hitting errors and a PSU ace turned the Boiler lead into an 11-8 deficit. Penn State led it 15-12 at the midway point, but Purdue chipped away, knotting the score at 18 on a stuff by Adelaja and Drews. Nichol chipped in an ace and a kill in the rally. The Nittany Lions scored four straight to go up 22-18, but the Boilermakers scored three of the next four, including a block by Nichol and Adelaja to cut the margin to two at 23-21. A kill and a net violation, however, ended the set and match at 25-21.
The No. 14 Boilermakers return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they take on Ohio State in Columbus.