Purdue Volleyball Gets Swept by Wisconsin

Purdue (18-5, 8-3) was unable to clinch multiple set points in the first set and never was in the same position in the last two sets. The Boiler offense couldn't sustain momentum in the second and third sets. Purdue also had trouble slowing down the Badger front line. No. 4 Wisconsin also was able to take advantage of inopportune Purdue errors in all three sets.

Neither team was able to get any separation from the other early in the first set. With the score tied at 11-all the Purdue offense struck with four consecutive kills to stake out a four point lead. Later Wisconsin cut the Purdue lead to two, 16-14. After that Purdue ran off five points to go up seven, 21-14. With the end in sight, Purdue lost focus and allowed the Badgers to go on a 6-0 run. A Wisconsin service error ended the run. From then the teams traded kills. With the score 22-24 Purdue, Wisconsin fended off the first set point with a kill. The next point Purdue set Annie Drews but she was denied at the net and score became tied. A KiKi Jones kill got us our next set point, but this time we committed an error to retie the score. A Wisconsin hitting error gave us our last set point which we failed to convert. The set ended with two Lauren Carlilini kills as Wisconsin won 28-26.

Trading points to start the score eventually reached a 7-7 tie. It was at this point that the Purdue offense began to fall apart, four consecutive Boiler hitting errors spotted the Badgers a 11-7 lead. With the help of three Drews kills and a Wisconsin hitting error Purdue was able to cut the margin to 13-11. It was around this point that Wisconsin began to dominate. After the teams traded missed serves Wisconsin set the tone for the set with a 7-0 run. Down 22-13 Purdue was only able to get a point at a time and fell 25-16.

As hard as Purdue tried they couldn't get past the Badgers. The third set was close all the way up until the end. Two Danielle Cuttino and an Drews kills helped Purdue break an 8-8 tie and go up 11-8. Wisconsin quickly tied it back up at 13. The tie at 13 started a run of exchanging points. Purdue would go up one and Wisconsin would even the score on the next point. This continued til the score read 18-18. It was at this point that the Badgers went on a 7-1 run to end the set and the match. Five points in the run were Purdue errors. The final score was 25-19.

Annie Drews led Purdue with 16 kills. KiKi Jones finished with nine. Amanda Neill was the dig leader with 16. Val Nichol had 37 assists.

Wisconsin outhit Purdue .379-.203 and outblocked them 10-1. The Badgers tallied 50 kills and only 6 hitting errors. Ellen Chapman and Dominique Thompson finished with 16 and 11 kills, hitting .516 and .786 respectively. Thompson contributed on seven blocks.

Purdue will face the Badgers again in the regular season finale in Madison on November 28th.

Next Purdue faces Minnesota Saturday at 8:30 on BTN.