COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 15 Purdue volleyball team moved to 4-0 in the Big Ten with a 3-1 win over Maryland on Sunday afternoon. The Boilers won the match 24-26, 25-20, 25-16, 25-16.
Juniors Annie Drews and Sam Epenesa led the offense with 17 and 11 kills respectively, while both hit over .400 for the match. Seniors KiKi Jones and Val Nichol and freshman Azariah Stahl put down seven kills apiece.
Defensively, junior Amanda Neill and redshirt sophomore Kate Workman pulled up 12 digs apiece, while Nichol chipped in eight. At the net, freshman Danielle Cuttino put up six blocks, while Nichol added three, including two solo blocks.
The Terrapins held off a late Purdue rally in a 26-24 Set 1 win. Maryland snapped a 12-12 tie with a 5-0 run to go up 17-12. The Boilermakers cut the margin to two at 19-17 as Epenesa, Drews and Jones turned in kills. Down 21-18, Purdue got a kill from Stahl and help from a couple of Terp miscues to knot the score at 22. Maryland had the first chance at the set at 25-23. A kill by Epenesa thwarted that effort, but a service error and hitting error capped the stanza. Jones had four kills to lead the Boiler hitters in the set.
The Boilermakers got six kills from Annie Drews and came back to win the second set 25-20 in spite of six Maryland blocks. Purdue led 10-6 in the early going with help from an ace by Evans and five Terrapin miscues. The Terps tied it up at 10 and the teams traded points for the next 18 serves, leading to another knot-up at 19. A hitting error and a stuff by Cuttino and Epenesa prompted a UM timeout at 21-19. Purdue finished out the stanza with a 4-1 run, including kills by Epenesa and Jones and a tough serve by Neill.
Purdue led Set 3 from start to finish en route to a 25-16 win. The Boilers scored the first three points of the stanza on an ace by Nichol, a Maryland error and a kill by Drews and went on to raise the edge to six at 12-6 on a block by Nichol. A pair of Drews kills and a stuff by Epenesa and Cuttino made it a seven-point game at 16-9. A solo block by Jones and kill by Nichol put Purdue on top 21-14. A Maryland ace cut the margin to five at 21-16, but the Boilers closed out the set on a 4-0 run, including a pair of stuffs and two kills by Drews.
The Boilers built an early five-point lead and held on for the 25-16 win. Nichol got things rolling with a trio of tip shot kills in the run. A stuff by Drews and Cuttino, an Epenesa kill and a Maryland error made it 15-8. Back-to-back kills by Stahl made it 19-12 and forced a Terrapin timeout. The Terps got a kill out of the break, but the Boilers finished out the day on a 6-3 run, including a solo block and kill by Stahl. A putaway by Drews, her 17th of the night, and a stuff by Cuttino and Epenesa ended the afternoon. Nichol and Stahl posted four kills apiece in the final set.