Nov. 9, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 14 Boilermaker volleyball team took Set 1 of the match with Ohio State Saturday night, but fell in four sets 25-20, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22.
Junior Val Nichol paced the Purdue offense with 16 kills, while redshirt senior Catherine Rebarchak added 11. Sophomore Annie Drews put down seven kills followed by junior KiKi Jones and sophomore Sam Epenesa who chipped in six apiece. Redshirt freshman Faye Adelaja added five putaways.
Defensively, senior Hilliary Fox posted a team-best 15 digs, followed by sophomore Amanda Neill's 13. Jones and redshirt senior Rachel Davis added eight digs apiece. Jones also led the Boilers at the net with six blocks, while Adelaja and Rebarchak added four each.
Purdue outhit OSU .225 to .203, outblocked the Buckeyes 12-5 and outdug them 59 to 44, but Ohio State had 57 kills to Purdue's 51.
After trailing 5-2, the Boilermakers mounted a comeback, gaining the edge at 7-6 and holding it throughout the rest of Set 1 en route to a 25-20 win. Purdue outhit Ohio State .333 to .143 in the set with help from five kills off the hand of Nichol. An 8-1 run turned the early three-point deficit into a 10-6 lead for the Boilers. Nichol turned in two kills, while Jones added a kill and an ace in the stretch. Three straight Buckeye miscues also helped the Purdue cause. Putaways by Nichol, Adelaja and Griffin put Purdue up five at 13-8. The teams split the next six points, last on a stuff by Griffin and Jones, to make it 16-11 Boilers. Ohio State pulled to within one at 19-18 forcing a Purdue timeout. The Boilersmakers scored the next four out of the break, including an ace by Nichol, to go up 23-18. A kill by Jones made it 25-19 and an OSU error gave the Boilers the 25-20 win.
Ohio State led early in Set 2 and overcame a mid-set rally by the Boilermakers to steal away a 25-23 win. The Buckeyes led 8-4 when Purdue began to chip away, using a 5-1 run to tie things up at 9-9. The rally featured kills by Nichol and Adelaja as well as a stuff by that duo. The teams tied at 10 and 11, before OSU pushed their edge to 14-12. The Boilermakers scored four straight, including two Nichol putaways, to take a 16-14 lead of their own. The Buckeyes regained the lead at 17-16, but a kill by Nichol and an OSU error put Purdue back on top at 18-17. Trailing 19-18 after an Adelaja kill, Ohio State turned things around with a 6-2 run, which put the team on the hill for the set at 24-21. A service error and a stuff by Griffin and Jones kept the stanza going and forced an OSU timeout, but a Kaitlyn Leary kill out of the break wrapped the set at 25-23. Ohio State outhit Purdue .200 to .171 in the stanza, which featured five kills by Nichol.
The Boilermakers had to play from behind again in Set 3 and worked their way from a 10-7 deficit into a 16-14 lead, before watching it slip away in a 25-23 loss. Kills from Nichol, Drews and Jones and four Buckeye miscues accounted for Purdue's mid-set rally. OSU scored three straight to go up 17-16. Purdue tied it up at 17 and 18, but Ohio State soon led 21-18. The Boilermakers scored four of the next five, including a pair of Sam Epenesa kills to tie it up at 22. A trio of Purdue miscues gave the Buckeyes the set at 25-23.
Purdue managed to overcome a four-point deficit to go ahead 16-14, but could not hold off the Buckeyes in a 25-22 loss. Down 10-6, the Boilermakers put together a 10-4 run, including kills by four players, a pair of blocks and an ace by Jones. Ohio State answered with a 4-1 run to take the lead at 18-17. A triple block by Adelaja, Rebarchak and Drews tied it at 18, but the Buckeyes went on to a 21-19 lead. Kills by Rebarchak and Jones narrowed the gap to one at 22-21, but a pair of errors gave OSU a 24-21 edge. A block by Jones and Drews kept the set going, but Ohio State called timeout and recorded a block of its own after the break to end the night at 25-22.
The No. 14 Boilermakers (16-9, 7-7 Big Ten) return to action on Friday when they face off with Northwestern in Evanston.