ST. LOUIS -- The No. 24 Boilermaker volleyball team wrapped its stay in St. Louis by outlasting the host Billikens 3-1 Saturday night. Purdue won the match 25-23, 25-18, 23-25 and 25-22 as senior Annie Drews tied a Chaifetz Arena record with 23 kills and senior Amanda Neill matched the arena digs record with 26.
Drews paced the Boilermakers with 23 kills, while also adding seven digs, five blocks and an ace. Redshirt junior Faye Adelaja and senior Sam Epenesa, who hails from 20 miles away in Glen Carbon, Illinois, also posted double-digit kill tallies with 12 and 11 respectively. Adelaja hit at a team-best .476 clip.
Defensively, Neill posted a team-best 26 digs followed by redshirt sophomore Ashley Evans (16) and freshman Alexa Smith (11). Evans rounded out a double-double with 47 assists. At the net, sophomore Danielle Cuttino put up seven blocks, followed by Drews (5). Smith and freshman Brooke Peters served up two aces apiece.
The Boilermakers outhit Saint Louis .229 to .156 and outblocked the Billikens 11-8.
Adelaja and Epenesa were named to the all-tournament team for their efforts on the weekend.
Drews pounded down seven kills and Epenesa added five more as the Boilers staved off a late SLU run for a 25-23 Set 1 win. Purdue led 3-2 thanks to a block and kill by Drews, but the Billikens pushed ahead 5-3. An ace by Drews tied it up at five and the Boilermakers upped the advantage to 9-6 after a 4-0 run including kills by Epenesa and Evans and an ace by Smith. Purdue took its largest lead at 13-8 and held SLU at bay until a 3-0 run knotted the score at 18. A stuff by Cuttino and Evans and two Drews putaways made it 22-19 Boilermakers and forced the final Billiken timeout. An Epenesa putdown and a block by Drews and Cuttino put Purdue at the brink at 24-20, but the team had to fight off three SLU points before Drews ended it.
Purdue led Set 2 from start to finish, save the opening point. An ace by Peters and kills from four different players put the Boilermakers on top 6-3. SLU tied it up at seven, but the Boilermakers boosted the lead to five at 15-10 with help from a pair of Cuttino stuffs. Saint Louis would get no closer than four the remainder of the set and called its final timeout down 23-17 after kills by Smith, Drews and Adelaja. The Billikens got a kill out of the break but an Adelaja kill and SLU hitting error capped the set at 25-18. Drews has seven kills and Adelaja added four as Purdue outhit Saint Louis .533 to .250.
Saint Louis outscored the Boilermakers 5-3 down the stretch en route to a 25-23 Set 3 win to extend the match. Drews put down five kills, Adelaja added four and Purdue put up five stuffs, but it was not enough. SLU used a 6-1 run to turn a 4-2 Purdue lead into a 9-5 lead of its own. The Boilermaker chipped away, cutting the margin to one at 14-13 after back-to-back blocks by Adelaja and two stuffs by Cuttino and Drews and again at 15-14 on a solo block by Adelaja. Purdue tied it up at 16 and took an 18-17 lead after a solo block and kill by Epenesa. SLU went up 20-19 and a Drews kill knotted the score, but SLU scored three of the next four to make it 24-21. A kill by Drews and a Billiken error prolonged the set, but Saint Louis got a kill to win it at 25-23.
Set 4 was a back-and-forth battle filled with big scoring runs. The team split the first 14 points of the stanza before Saint Louis took a 10-7 lead. Purdue countered with a 7-1 run, including three kills by Cuttino, to go ahead 14-11. The teams tied at 14, 15, 16 and 17 before the Boilermakers broke free with a 5-0 run, including an ace by Smith and three SLU miscues, to go up 22-17. A kill by Adelaja and a solo stuff by Evans gave the Boilermakers their first chance at match point at 24-18. The Billikens prolonged the match with a kill, an ace and a Purdue error, before the hometown girl, Epenesa, slammed home the final kill of a 25-22 win to give the Boilermakers the match.
The No. 24 Boilermakers (5-1) return to action on Friday when they take on LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.