Nov. 2, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Boilermaker volleyball team put up quite a fight against No. 1 Penn State Friday night, but didn't have enough to pull off the upset. Junior middle hitter Stephanie Lynch racked up her 1,000th career kill, but the Nittany Lions won the match 30-24, 30-14 and 30-28.
Junior Danita Merlau and Lynch led the Purdue offense with nine and eight kills respectively, while sophomore Carrie Gurnell added six putdowns. Lynch became the 20th Boilermaker in program history to reach the 1,000-kill milestone and the third this season, along with Merlau and senior Samantha Mader.
Defensively, the Boilermakers managed eight blocks, including four by Lynch and three by freshmen Kristen Arthurs and Jaclyn Hart. Senior Anne Mastandrea served up three aces in the match.
"There are no moral victories, but when you look at how our team is playing right now, you can see we are getting better, " head coach Dave Shondell said. "We were only down 25-23 late in Game 1 and we lost Game 3 30-28 against the No. 1 team in the nation. The only facet of our game I was disappointed in was our defense.
"We leave this match having gotten the juggernaut out of the way. When we look at the rest of our schedule, there are no excuses. We have as much talent as any of the teams we have left, it will just come down to desire."
The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, capitalizing on PSU miscues. Penn State took the lead at 4-3, but the teams remained close in the game, which featured nine ties and three lead changes. Down 8-7, Purdue chalked up three straight points, including two on Merlau putdowns, to go up 10-8. The Nittany Lions used a 4-1 run to go up 15-13 lead and boosted its advantage to five at 19-14. Purdue rallied to cut the deficit to one twice at 21-20 and 22-21, but could not overcome PSU, which ended the stanza with an 8-3 run. Merlau racked up seven kills to lead Purdue in the game.
Penn State carried the momentum into Game 2 and charged out to a 17-5 lead. Purdue slowed the Nittany Lions with three blocks in a span of four points to make it 18-8. PSU responded to the rally with six straight points to make it 24-8. A kill by Jaclyn Hart sparked a 5-0 run by the Boilermakers, which also included a pair of aces by Mastandrea, before PSU closed out the game at 30-14.
The Nittany Lions led 18-13 midway through Game 3, but the Boilermakers would not go down quietly. Trailing by five at 21-16, Purdue posted a 7-2 run, including an ace by redshirt junior Meghan McCormick and kills from Lynch and Hart, to tie the score at 23-23. Penn State took a timeout at that juncture and scored five straight points out of the break. Purdue was not done yet, though, responding with a 3-0 run of its own to make it 28-26. A kill by Nicole Fawcett set up match point for PSU, but a kill by Mader and an ace by Mastandrea held the Nittany Lions at bay, while cutting the margin to one at 29-28. A kill by Blair Brown, however, sealed the PSU win at 30-28.
The Boilermakers (13-11, 6-7 Big Ten) return to action at 2 p.m. Sunday, when they take on Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. Friday night's match airs at noon ET on ESPN2.