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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 10 Boilermakers rallied to win Set 4 and force a decisive fifth stanza, but could not finish the comeback, falling 3-2 to Illinois on Wednesday. The Illini won the match 21-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-27, 15-11.
Four Boilermakers posted double-digit kill tallies, led by redshirt senior Faye Adelaja and junior Danielle Cuttino, who turned in 14 apiece. Junior Azariah Stahl (13) and redshirt sophomore Sherridan Atkinson (10) followed. Adelaja hit at a team-best .591 clip, committing just one error in 22 swings. Redshirt junior Ashley Evans added seven kills and redshirt freshman Blake Mohler chipped in six to go with a team-leading six blocks. Atkinston and Stahl put up four blocks apiece.
Defensively, freshman Natalie Haben pulled up a match-high 15 digs. Stahl rounded out her third double-double of the season with 14 digs and sophomore Brooke Peters added 10.
Purdue put down 64 kills to 61 for the Illini and managed 53 digs to Illinois' 45, but UI won the rest of the statistical categories, including blocks, 14-11.
The Boilermakers fell behind 3-1 early in the fifth set, but rallied with four of the next five to go ahead 5-4 on a kill by Stahl. Illinois turned the tables with a 6-2 run to vault ahead 10-7. Cuttino downed three kills over the next four points to narrow the gap to one at 10-9. Kills by Cuttino and Stahl kept it close at 12-11, but the Illini used an ace and two blocks to close out the win. Cuttino was 4-for-5 in the set.
Purdue outhit the Illini .348 to .206 in the first set, thanks in part to a 3-for-3 effor tby Adelaja and four kills from Stahl, en route to a 25-21 win. An 8-3 run put the Boilermakers on top 9-6 in the stanza, as Stahl recorded two kills and a solo block and Evans and redshirt sophomore Carissa Damler served up aces. Illinois tied it up at 15, but worked its way to a four-point lead at 21-17 as Illini errors piled up. An Illini service error and a net violation capped the stanza at 25-21.
Illinois led Set 2 nearly from start to finish and boasting a lead of as many at five points. Kills by Cuttino and Mohler gave Purdue a 2-1 edge, but the Illini scored four straight and never looked back. The Boilermakers rallied to slice a 17-12 deficit to just one as Atkinson and Mohler teamed up on a pair of blocks. Up 20-19, Illinois wrapped the set on a 5-1 run. Atkinson tallied four kills in the set, but Purdue hit just .056.
Set 3 was a back and forth affair, featuring 15 ties and seven lead changes, but Illinois managed the final two points of the stanza to take the 25-23 win. Neither team led by more than two in the stanza. After eight ties, the last at 15, Illinois went ahead 17-15, forcing a Purdue timeout. The Boilermakers scored five of the next seven, including three Atkinson putaways, to go up 20-19. The teams tied at 20, 21, 22 and 23, before the Illini used a Purdue miscue and a kill to go up two sets to one.
The Boilermakers had the final run in the see-saw battle which ended in a 27-25 Set 4 win to extend the match. Adelaja and Cuttino added four kills apiece as Purdue outhit Illinois .275 to .184 in the stanza. Purdue turned an early 3-1 deficit into an 11-8 lead with help from kills from four different players. Illinois went ahead 16-14 with eight of the next 11 points. The Boilermakers chipped away, eventually using a 6-0 run to turn a 21-17 deficit into a 23-21 advantage. An Illini error gave Purdue its first chance at the set at 24-23. A Stahl kill gave the Boilermakers another at 25-24. A stuff by Adelaja and Atkinson made it 26-25 and Adelaja put down the final kill to send the match the distance.
The No. 10 Boilermakers (10-2, 0-1 B1G) return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they face Indiana in Mackey Arena.