Sept. 2, 2005
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Boilermakers opened competition at the Nike Invitational with a three-game win over Saint Louis Friday evening. Purdue again used strong serving and a variety of offensive weapons in the win.
After three early ties, the last at 9-9, the Boilermakers used a balanced offensive attack and capitalized on Billiken miscues to take control of Game 1 en route to a 30-21 win. After the knot up at 9 all, Purdue rattled off six straight points behind kills from senior Leah Wischmeier (Brownstown, Ind.) and sophomore Lizzie Jacques (Winfield, Ill.) and a pair of SLU errors. The Boilermakers kept rolling, boosting their lead to 10 at 26-16 on an overpass kill by Jacques. Saint Louis then took five of the next seven points to make it 28-21. A kill from freshman Stephanie Lynch (New Albany, Ind.) set up Purdue's first attempt at the game. Wischmeier sealed the deal with an overpass kill to give the Boilermakers a 30-21 win. Sophomore Samantha Mader and Jacques each had five kills as Purdue hit .552 in the stanza.
Game 2 featured tied at one, two, three and four, before either team took control. Saint Louis went ahead 6-4 on a service ace, but Purdue quickly tied it up on a kill by senior Renata Dargan (New Lenox, Ill.) and a Billiken hitting error. SLU scored two in a row to regain the lead, but again the Boilermakers answered with a pair of their own. A block by Lynch and freshman Danita Merlau (New Palestine, Ind.) made it 9-9. A kill by Jacques coupled with a trio of service aces by junior Melanie Ukovich (Minooka, Ill.) gave Purdue a 13-10 advantage. The Boilermakers posted a 7-2 run including an ace by Dargan and kills by four different players to go up 22-14. A kill by Merlau made it a seven-point game at 26-19, but Saint Louis would not give up. The Billikens mounted a 6-1 rally to pull within two at 27-25. A Mader kill set up Purdue's first game-point attempt, but the effort was thwarted. A SLU service error on the following play gave Purdue the 30-26 win.
The Boilermakers turned a 3-3 tie into a 7-3 lead in the opening moments of Game 3. Saint Louis pulled within two at 8-6, but Purdue countered with a 5-0 run including kills by Dargan, Lynch, Merlau and freshman Kelli Miller. Not to be outdone, the Billikens scored six of the next eight points to make it 15-12. Purdue fought back with 6-2 run including an ace by junior Brittany Dildine and a pair of kills by Jacques. The back-and-forth battle continued as SLU put up five of the next six point to make a three-point game at 22-19. A pair of aces by Mader highlighted a 6-0 stretch that brought the score to 29-20 in favor of Purdue. A kill by outside hitter Tatyana Menshikova kept the Billikens alive, before a block by Jacques gave the Boilermakers the 3-0 win at 30-21.
"The key to this win was our being able to sustain good play long enough to win," head coach Dave Shondell said. "We would build a quality lead and then relax and our lead would diminish. I am not overly satisfied with how we played, but it is early in the season and we can't expect to put on a clinic every match."
Jacques led the Boilermaker offense with 13 kills on a .579 hitting percentage. She also chalked up five blocks on the night. Wischmeier and Mader followed with eight kills each, while Lynch and Merlau tallied seven putdowns apiece. Sophomore Anne Mastandrea (Downers Grove, Ill.) led the defense with 13 digs.
"I thought Lynch did better offensively tonight than she did on Tuesday," Shondell said. "Renata did a good job delivering the ball and she also scored us some points. Kelli Miller was solid tonight. She is someone that people may not notice because she is a ball control player and makes it look easy, but she had a lot of key digs for us."
Purdue outhit Saint Louis .312 to .219 for the match and served up nine aces to the Billikens' four.
The Boilermakers (2-0) return to action at noon (PDT) against the Bradley Braves.
"We need to continue to improve our ball control," Shondell said. "When we are in system, we are difficult to handle. We also need to block better. We did a good job tonight of blocking (Menshikova) , but early on we let her get too many of the same angle shots. We need to adjust better to stop the big hitters."