WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 14 Boilermaker volleyball team secured the Monon Spike travelling trophy for the seventh straight season, topping Indiana 3-0 in front of a capacity crowd of 2,876 at Belin Court Wednesday night. Purdue won the match 25-22, 25-21, 25-14 to move to 5-0 in the Big Ten and post its seventh straight victory. The Boilers and Hoosiers will face off again on Saturday in Bloomington to wrap up the season series.
Junior Sam Epenesa led all hitters with 12 kills to pace the Boilermakers, while junior Annie Drews added 11. Redshirt sophomore Faye Adelaja and freshman Azariah Stahl put down nine apiece as the Boilers hit .303 to Indiana's .216 effort. Adelaja also turned in a team-best four blocks as Purdue outblocked the Hoosiers 5-2.
Defensively, junior Amanda Neill pulled up a match-best 14 digs, while senior Val Nichol added eight to her 34-assist, five-kill performance. Redshirt sophomore Kate Workman added seven digs and an ace.
The Boilermakers held off a late Indiana surge in a 25-22 Set 1 win. The teams split the first eight points of the match, but Purdue managed five of the next six points to surge ahead 9-5 and force a Hoosier timeout. Stahl had two kills in the stretch while Workman served up an ace. IU cut the margin to one at 11-10, but the Boilers registered seven of the next nine , including three Epenesa kills to make it 18-12. Purdue had its first chance at the set at 24-20, but Indiana thwarted the next two chances with kills. Drews capped off the win at 25-22 with her second kill of the night. Epenesa had five kills in the set.
Indiana scored two of the first three points of Set 2, but the Boilermakers soon built a 7-3 lead. The Hoosiers were within two at 11-9, but that just sparked a 6-1 Purdue run, which made it 17-10 and forced IU to use both of its timeouts. The Boilers upped their advantage to eight at 22-14 after two kills by Nichol. Indiana answered with a 7-1 run, stopping three Purdue set-point chances along the way. The Boilermakers called timeout up 24-21. A Hoosier foot fault on the next serve ended the stanza at 25-21. Drews put down six kills in the set as Purdue outhit Indiana .317 to .262.
The Boilers started Set 3 on a 9-1 run and held on for a 25-14 win to seal the sweep. Purdue hit at a .345 clip in the final stanza, while holding the Hoosiers to a .067 effort. Evans had an ace, while Epenesa and Adelaja combined on two blocks and each registered a kill in the early rally. Indiana cut the margin to five four times, but the Boilermakers held strong for the win, finishing out the night on a 7-1 run, including kills by Adelaja, Stahl, and the final one by Drews.
No. 14 Purdue (15-2, 5-0 Big Ten) returns to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when the team faces off with the Hoosiers again in Bloomington.