WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 14 Boilermaker volleyball team gutted out a five set win over No. 22 Ohio State to with a stellar offensive night and a big night of blocking. Purdue won the match 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 17-25, 15-9.
The Boilers hit .360 in the match, including a stellar .643 hitting efficiency in Set 5, while holding Ohio State to a .255 effort. Junior Annie Drews put down 21 kills and junior Sam Epenesa added 12 to pace the Boilermaker attack. Liberty Township, Ohio, native, Ashley Evans and redshirt sophomore Faye Adelaja chipped in nine kills apiece, each hitting over .600 and freshman Azariah Stahl managed seven kills to round out the offense.
Defensively, the Boilers outblocked the Buckeyes 15-7 as Epenesa, Adelaja and freshman Danielle Cuttino put up five stuffs apiece and Drews chipped in four. In the backcourt, junior Amanda Neill pulled up 11 digs, while redshirt sophomore Kate Workman added eight and senior setter Val Nichol registered seven.
In the decisive fifth set, the teams split the first 10 points before Purdue surged ahead with a 5-0 run and continued on to the 15-9 victory. Senior KiKi Jones had two kills and two blocks in the final set as Purdue hit at a .643 clip with just one error. After the tie at 5, Purdue scored five in a row with kills by Drews, Jones and Epenesa and the two stuffs by Jones. Kills by Drews, Jones and Evans made it 13-8 and an ace from Nichol, her second of the night, set up match point. Two serves later, Evans ended the match at 15-9 with her ninth kill.
A Boilermaker block party and a balanced offensive attack set the tone for the night in a 25-19 Set 1 win. Purdue posted six blocks in the set and saw six players post at least one kill. Down 4-2 early, Purdue scored four of the next five to go up 6-5 on an OSU miscue. Ohio State scored five straight to force a Purdue timeout and later led 14-9. The Boilers narrowed the gap to one at 16-15 thanks in part to three Buckeye miscues and a stuff. Down 18-16, Purdue mounted a comeback, finishing the set on a 9-1 run. The Boilermakers had four blocks in the final rally including two solo efforts by Drews.
Purdue jumped out to a 10-4 lead in Set 2 and cruised to a 25-17 win as five different player posted two or more kills and the Boilers outhit the Buckeyes .464 to .188. Purdue led by as many as eight, first at 14-6 after an ace and a solo block by Nichol. A kill by Adelaja maintained the eight point edge at 19-11. OSU narrowed the gap to four at 21-17, but the Boilermakers ended the set with a 4-0 run, including a stuff by Cuttino and Stahl. Stahl was 4-for-4 in the set, while Epenesa also added four kills.
Set 3 was a back-and-forth battle featuring 14 tie scores and six lead changes, but Ohio State won it 25-23 to extend the match. The teams split the first 12 points, but two hitting errors gave OSU the 8-6 lead. Purdue scored four straight to surge ahead 10-8 and later led by three at 14-11 after kills by Drews and Adelaja and a stuff by the duo. The teams tied at 15, Purdue then surged ahead by four including a kill and block by Adelaja, but OSU countered to tie it up at 19 before taking a 21-20 lead. The Boilermakers scored three of the next four to go up 23-22, but the Buckeyes wrapped up the stanza with a 3-0 run.
Set 4 was nearly all Buckeyes as OSU took an early 6-1 lead and led by as many as seven en route to the 25-17 win. Purdue narrowed the gap from seven at 17-10 to just three at 18-15 with two kills by Evans and help from Epenesa and Drews. Ohio State, however ended the set on a 7-2 run. Drews had seven kills in the set and Evans had five as the Boilers hit .357 in the loss.
The No. 14 Boilermakers (17-3, 7-1 Big Ten) are still tied for first place in the Big Ten standings heading into next weekend's road matches at Northwestern and Illinois.