Final Stats / Stats / Shondell Quotes / Highlights / Photo Gallery
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 18 Boilermakers moved to 12-2 on the season, including a 3-0 mark in the Big Ten, thanks to a 25-17, 25-22, 25-14 sweep of Rutgers Friday night.
Thirteen players got in on the action, with seven posting at least one kill and nine registering at least one dig. Purdue hit at a .360 clip, including better than .400 efforts in Sets 1 and 2. Senior Annie Drews put down 13 kills, while hitting at a .500 clip. Sophomore Danielle Cuttino added 10 while posting a team-best .667 effort and putting up a team-leading four blocks.
Senior Sam Epenesa chipped in seven kills, redshirt junior Faye Adelaja added five and sophomore Azariah Stahl put down four. Adelaja and Stahl put up three blocks apiece as Purdue outblocked Rutgers 8-5. Senior Amanda Neill pulled up 11 digs to lead the way defensively.
The Boilermakers raced out to a 5-2 lead in the match with help from two blocks. Rutgers knotted the score at seven and eight, but Purdue used a 7-1 run to stretch the advantage to six at 15-9. Cuttino pounded down four kills and combined on two blocks in the rally. Freshman defensive specialist Brooke Peters recorded her first career block, pairing up with Cuttino for the stuff to make it 13-9 after being stuck in the front row after the officials denied Purdue a substitution. Rutgers cut the margin to four at 19-15, but the Boilermakers wrapped up the stanza on a 6-2 run. Stahl had a solo block in the rally, which ended with an ace by redshirt sophomore Ashley Evans. Drews and Cuttino posted five kills apiece in the set at Purdue hit .419 to Rutgers' .119 effort.
Rutgers led 8-6 early in Set 2, but the Boilermakers turned things around with six-straight points to go ahead 12-8 and kept the lead the rest of the way. Cuttino and Drews had two kills apiece in the run, which also included a pair of Scarlet Knight miscues. Trailing 19-15, Rutgers narrowed the gap to one at 19-18 on an ace. The teams traded points over the next four serves, but a kill by Evans made it 23-20 Boilermakers and forced Rutgers to use its final timeout. An error out of the break put Purdue on the hill at 24-20 and a kill by Adelaja three plays later capped the win. Drews had seven kills on nine swings with no errors in the stanza as Purdue hit .452.
Purdue scored six of the first seven points in Set 3 and led by as many as 11 en route to a 25-14 win. Six different players tallied kills in the stanza. Rutgers took its first timeout as the Boilermakers went up 9-2. Cuttino put down two kills and combined with Epenesa on a block as Purdue upped the margin to 10 at 16-6. A pair of Scarlet Knight errors as well as a stuff and a kill by Stahl boosted the lead to 22-10. A kill by sophomore Lydia Dimke made it 23-12. A Rutgers service error and an ace by Evans capped off the sweep.
The No. 18 Boilermakers (12-2, 3-0 Big Ten) return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they face off with Maryland on Belin Court.