Senior KiKi Jones led the Boilermaker attack with a career-high 19 kills, while junior Sam Epenesa (15), redshirt freshman Ashley Evans (13) and junior Annie Drews (13) also reached double-digits. Freshman Danielle Cuttino added nine putaways. Jones paced Purdue at the net with five blocks, while Epenesa and Cuttino put up four stuffs apiece.
Defensively, junior Amanda Neill led the way with 23 digs, while Evans rounded out a double-double with a season-best 16 digs and redshirt sophomore Kate Workman chipped in a career-best 14 saves. Freshman Lydia Dimke served up four aces.
The Boilermakers and Wildcats tied in hitting percentage at .245 apiece and Purdue won the serving battle 5-1.
The Boilers led the decisive fifth set from start to finish en route to a 15-11 win. Purdue raced out to a 5-1 lead as Northwestern committed three errors and Drews pounded down two kills. Northwestern narrowed the gap to two at 6-4, but the Boilers scored four straight, including two kills by Jones to surge ahead 10-4. Down 11-5, the Wildcats scored four of the next five to prompt a Purdue timeout. A kill by Jones and an NU net violation put the Boilers on the hill at 14-9. Northwestern thwarted two match point efforts, but Drews pounded the final kill for the win.
Northwestern took an early 4-1 lead in Set 1 and held the Boilermakers at bay the remainder of the stanza in a 25-20 win. Purdue was within one at 5-4, but extended its lead to 10 at 22-12 forcing the Boilers to use both of their timeouts. The Boilermakers scored seven of the last 10 points in the set, rallying to within four at 24-20. Jones had two kills and a block, Dimke had an ace, a kill and a block and Cuttino had a solo stuff and a kill in the rally. A kill by Kayla Morin finally ended the set. Jones had five kills and two stuffs in the set for Purdue.
The Boilermakers took a 5-4 lead in set 2 on an overpass kill by Epenesa, but Northwestern rallied, leading by as many as seven and holding off a late Purdue charge in a 25-20 win. After a tie at 5-5, Northwestern pushed ahead 10-6. Trailing 15-9 later in the set, the Boilers got two kills from Drews and an ace from Dimke to slice the margin to three at 16-13. Down seven at 20-13, the Boilermakers put together another rally, forcing a Wildcat timeout at 20-17. Cuttino added two kills down the stretch as Purdue held off a set point attempt, but a service error clinched the 25-20 Wildcat win. Cuttino and Evans each posted four kills in the stanza.
Purdue rallied from a 23-21 deficit in Set 3, scoring four in a row to extend the match with a 25-23 win. The Boilers trailed 7-1 early and were down 13-9 midway through, but chipped away, scoring 11 of the next 14 to take a 20-16 edge and force Northwestern to use both of its timeouts. Four players tallied kills and the Boilers put up two blocks and got an ace by Dimke in the scoring run. The Wildcats rallied to take a 23-21 lead, but kills by Jones and Evans, a stuff by Cuttino and Nichol and an NU hitting error capped the Purdue win. Epenesa had five kills in the set, while Jones added four.
The Boilermakers carried the momentum into Set 4 and pulled out a 28-26 win to push the match to a decisive fifth set. Purdue went up 7-3 as Jones put down two kills and Dimke added an ace. The Wildcats were within one at 12-11, but Purdue scored three straight, including a kill and block by Epenesa, to make it 15-11 and force an NU timeout. Northwestern tied it up at 18, but kills by Evans and Drews kept Purdue on top at 20-18. The teams tied again at 21, 22, and 23. A kill by Epenesa gave Purdue its first shot at the set at 24-23, but the Wildcats thwarted that attempt and went up 25-24. A kill by Jones and another by Evans gave the Boilers another chance at 26-25. Northwestern tied it, but Cuttino and Drews came through with putaways to clinch the 28-26 win. Jones had six kills in the stanza, which saw the Boilers hit .327.
The No. 13 Boilermakers return to action at 6 p.m. ET Saturday against No. 10 Illinois, live on the Big Ten Network.