WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 14 Boilermaker volleyball team went the distance with the defending national champion No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions, but fell 3-2 in front of a sellout crowd Friday night. PSU won the match 26-24, 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-9.
The Boilermakers outhit the Nittany Lions .242 to .216, holding PSU well below its season average of .352, which is best in the nation. Purdue also outdug Penn State 64 to 59 and was within half of block of the Nittany Lions (11.5-11). PSU won the serving battle with 11 aces to Purdue's two.
Purdue's offensive attack was led by juniors Annie Drews and Sam Epenesa, who put down 23 and 17 kills respectively. True freshmen Azariah Stahl and Danielle Cuttino added seven kills apiece. Cuttino hit at a team-best .545 clip and also added a team-leading eight blocks.
Defensively, junior Amanda Neill led the way with 19 digs followed by redshirt freshman Ashley Evans (13) and senior setter Val Nichol, who added 11 digs to her 53 assists and four blocks.
After four hard-fought back-and-forth sets, Penn State spoiled Purdue's upset bid with a 15-9 Set 5 win. The Nittany Lions hit .353 to Purdue's .067 effort in the set and also got help from two aces. PSU led 4-1 early and boasted an 8-4 lead at the changeover. Two Penn State errors and a block by Cuttino and Evans cut the margin to three at 10-7, but PSU closed out the night on a 5-2 run.
The first set featured 13 times and the lead changed hands seven times before PSU won it 26-24. Penn State took an early 5-1 lead, but the Boilermakers caught up, tying the score at six and seven before taking an 8-7 edge on an ace by Drews. Purdue upped the advantage to four at 14-10 after three kills from Drews. PSU countered with an 8-3 run to go up 18-17 and force a Boilermaker timeout. Purdue scored three straight out of the break, including two on Epenesa putaways, but Penn State answered with three of its own. A kill by Drews and a stuff by Nichol and senior KiKi Jones made it 22-21 Boilers. The Nittany Lions called timeout and earned their first set-point chance at 24-23. A kill by Cuttino thwarted the first effort, but a kill and an ace sealed the 26-24 win for Penn State. Drews had seven kills in the set, which also featured four aces by PSU setter Micha Hancock.
The Boilermakers evened the match at a set apiece, gutting out a 25-23 Set 2 win in a stanza that saw 13 ties and four lead changes. The Boilermakers started strong, going up 5-2 early with kills from three different players. PSU scored six straight to go ahead 8-5, but the Boilermakers countered to knot the score at nine on a block by Cuttino and Nichol. Purdue built a two-point lead at 15-13, but the Nittany Lions fought back to earn a 21-19 edge. Three kills from Drews and another from Epenesa made it 24-22 Boilers and a Drews kill sealed the set two serves later.
Purdue led Set 3 from start to finish, outhitting PSU .438 to .250 with help from eight Drews putaways and three stuffs by Cuttino. The Boilers took a 9-4 lead to start the stanza as Drews put down four kills, Epenesa added two and Evans served up an ace. Penn State cut the margin to two at 12-10, but Purdue scored five of the next six to make it 17-11. The Nittany Lions rallied to within one again at 18-17. The Boilermakers held PSU at bay, going ahead by three at 22-19 on a block by Cuttino and Epenesa. A kill by Drews made it 24-21 and an Epenesa putaway capped the stanza.
Penn State held off a late Purdue rally in a 25-23 Set 4 win to force the decisive fifth set. The Boilers scored three of the first four points, but Penn State surged ahead at 5-4 and save ties at 5-5 and 18-18 maintained the lead the rest of the way. PSU led by no more than three points and Purdue erased a 17-14 gap with three kills by Stahl, which tied it at 18. The Nittany Lions went up 23-20, but kills by Drews and Epenesa kept Purdue in it. PSU had its first set point chance at 24-22, one which was thwarted by a Epenesa kill, but the Nittany Lions got a kill on their second chance to send the match five.
The No. 14 Boilermakers (16-3, 6-1 Big Ten) are now tied for first in the Big Ten standings with Wisconsin heading into Saturday's matchup with No. 22 Ohio State.