Stats / Shondell Quotes / Highlights
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- No. 7 Ohio State edged the No. 18 Boilermaker volleyball team in five sets Friday night. The Buckeyes won the match 25-15, 25-27, 24-26, 25-23, 15-9.
Senior Annie Drews registerd 17 kills and 11 digs to lead the way for the Boilermakers. Freshman Alexa Smith added 13 kills, 13 digs and two aces. Sophomore Danielle Cuttino and senior Sam Epenesa turned in nine kills apiece and redshirt junior Faye Adelaja added eight. Cuttino and Adelaja paced the Purdue block with four apiece.
Defensively, senior libero Amanda Neill pulled up 20 digs, followed by Smith (13), freshman Brooke Peters (12) and Drews (11). Redshirt sophomore Ashley Evans added nine digs, five kills and three blocks to her 53-assist tally.
The Buckeyes scored the first two points of the decisive fifth set, but Purdue came back with five of the next six, including a kill and a block by Adelaja. OSU scored six straight to go up 9-5 and force a Boilermaker timeout. Purdue got back-to-back kills from Drews out of the break, but OSU finished the match on a 6-2 run.
The teams split the first 10 points of the night, but OSU scored three of the next four to go up 9-6 and force a Purdue timeout. The Buckeyes did not allow Purdue closer than two the rest of the set en route to a 25-15 win. Ohio State hit a .429 clip and the Boilermakers managed just a .162 effort. Purdue managed back to back points just one in the set with kills by Stahl and Cuttino to cut the margin to 19-13 and force a Buckeye timeout. Adelaja led the Boilermkaers with four kills in the stanza.
Ohio State scored the first seven points of Set 2, but the Boilermakers charged back with 11 of the next 14 points to go up 11-10. Cuttino and Adelaja put down two kills apiece in the stretch, which also featured an ace by Smith. Purdue held onto a one-point edge at 18-17, but the Buckeyes scored three straight to take a 20-18 lead of its own. Down 22-20, kills from Drews and Smith leveled the score. OSU had set point at 24-23, but a Cuttino kill and an ace by Neill gave Purdue its first shot at 25-24. A kill and a block by Smith capped the Boilermaker comeback at 27-25. Drews had five kills in the set, while Cuttino added three.
The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in Set 3, including an ace by Evans, and went on to lead it 10-7 after an ace by Smith and back-to-back putaways by Epenesa. OSU pulled within one at 11-10, but Purdue answered with five straight points, including back-to-back stuffs by Drews and Cuttino and a pair of Smith kills, to go ahead 16-10. A stuff by Evans and Adelaja made it 19-13, but Ohio State rallied with nine of the next 11 to take a 22-21 lead of its own. Kills by Epenesa, Cuttino and Drews put Purdue on the hill at 24-23 and prompted an OSU timeout. The Buckeyes scored first out of the break, but a kill by Cuttino and an ace by Neill gave the Boilermakers the 26-24 win. Smith had six kills in the stanza as Purdue outhit OSU .371 to .265.
Purdue scored seven of the first eight points of Set 4 and went on to a 15-9 lead, but Ohio State charged back with 10 of the next 12 points to take a 19-17 lead of its own. The Boilermkaers scored three of the next four, including a kill and a block by Epenesa, to tie the score at 20, forcing the final Buckeye timeout of the stanza. A trio of kills and a block put OSU ahead 24-22. A hitting error kept Purdue in the game, but OSU sent the match to a decisive fifth set with another putaway. OSU hit .237 to Purdue's .205. Drews had five kills, while Smith and Epenesa tallied four apiece.
The No. 18 Boilermakers (15-3, 6-1 B1G) return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday against No. 5 Penn State in University Park, Pa.