WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 16 Boilermaker volleyball team was clicking on all cylinders in a 3-0 sweep of Northwestern Saturday night. Purdue won every statistical category and never trailed in the 25-21, 25-17, 25-17 victory, which saw the Boilers hit at a .419 clip and six players put down five or more kills.
Redshirt sophomore Faye Adelaja pounded down 10 kills, while hitting at a .643 clip, to lead the way offensively, while juniors Sam Epenesa and Annie Drews added nine apiece. Freshman Azariah Stahl chipped in eight putaways, while seniors KiKi Jones and Val Nichol turned in six and five respectively. The Boilermakers hit over .500 in the final two sets and did not commit a hitting miscue in the third stanza.
Defensively, junior Amanda Neill pulled up 16 digs to pace the Boilermakers, while freshman Lydia Dimke added eight digs and redshirt freshman Ashley Evans posted seven saves. Eight different Boilers contributed at least one dig in the match. At the net, junior Sam Epenesa and senior KiKi Jones put up three stuffs apiece.
The Boilermakers raced out to a 10-5 lead in Set 1 and never looked back, holding off two Northwestern rallies in a 25-21 win. Adelaja had six kills in seven swings in the stanza. A pair of Adelaja putaways and two Northwestern errors pushed the Purdue advantage to eight at 17-9. Northwestern rallied to within three at 18-15, but a pair of kills by Jones and two more by Adelaja and Stahl made it 22-17 Boilermakers. The Wildcats cut the margin to one at 22-21, but the Boilers finished off the win with kills by Adelaja and Drews and a solo stuff by Epenesa.
Purdue rolled to a 25-17 win in Set 2 by spreading the ball around to seven different players, while still hitting at a .536 clip. Epenesa and Adelaja had four kills apiece to lead the effort. The Boilers cruised to a 10-4 lead with help from a pair of Jones blocks and kills from across the board. The Wildcats pulled to within three at 13-10 and the team split the next 10 points leading to an 18-15 score. A Northwestern ace made it a two-point game but that sparked a six-point Purdue rally, including an ace by Neill to give the Boilers a shot at set point. Northwestern thwarted the first effort, but an Epenesa kill sealed the stanza.
Junior Annie Drews went 4-for-4 in Set 3 and Stahl also chipped in four kills as Purdue hit at a stellar .556 clip, without a single hitting miscue, in the 25-17 win to cap the sweep. A pair of aces by Neill and two kills and a solo block by Epenesa gave the Boilers a 10-2 lead to start the stanza. The Wildcats narrowed the gap to four at 13-9, but Purdue traded blows with them the next 10 points leading to an 18-14 score. A service error kicked off a 6-2 run, which included three kills by Stahl and made it 24-16 Boilers. A kill by Drews two serves later ended the night.
The No. 16 Boilermakers (21-7, 11-5 Big Ten) return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when the team faces off with Rutgers on Senior Night. The match marks the final home contest for All-America players Val Nichol and KiKi Jones.