Final Stats LINCOLN, Neb. - No. 13 Nebraska put up 17 blocks and limited the Boilermakers' offensive attack in a 3-0 sweep of the No. 12 Purdue volleyball team Wednesday night. The Cornhuskers won the match 25-21, 25-22, 25-20.
Junior Annie Drews led the Boilermakers with 12 kills, while junior Sam Epenesa added 10 and senior Val Nichol chipped in six putaways as Nebraska held the Boilers to a .098 hitting effort.
Defensively, junior Amanda Neill pulled up 11 digs and freshman Danielle Cuttino added five blocks, including three solo efforts.
Five Nebraska blocks helped the Huskers to a 25-21 win in Set 1, which featured 12 ties and six lead changes. The teams split the first 20 points of the night and neither led by more than two to that point. A kill by Nichol and two Nebraska miscues made it 13-11 Purdue. The Huskers pulled away with a 12-2 run to go ahead 22-15. Kills by Drews and Epenesa and a Nebraska error made it 22-18. The Boilers pulled within one at 24-21 on a stuff block by Cuttino, but a Husker kill ended the set.
Nebraska scored five of the last seven points in Set 2 in a 25-22 win. The Boilermakers led 5-3 early thanks to a pair of Cuttino blocks. Nebraska went up 9-6, but the Boilers tied it up at 9-9 with kills by Nichol and Drews. Trailing 16-14, Purdue got a kill by Cuttino and help from two Husker miscues to go ahead 17-16. A block put Nebraska on top 19-17, but Purdue pulled even at 20-20 on a Drews putaway. The Huskers finished off the set with three four kills and a Boiler miscue. Drews had five kills in the set, which also featured seven Nebraska blocks.
The Boilermakers led 7-5 in Set 3, but could not hold on to extend the match, falling 25-20. The Huskers hit .303 and put up five more blocks in the stanza. Nichol and Epenesa had two kills apiece to put Purdue up 7-5. The Huskers turned the tables with an 8-1 run to go ahead 13-8. A kill and a stuff by Jones and an ace by Evans helped the Boilers cut the margin to one at 14-13, but the Boilermakers could not break through. Up 16-15, Nebraska scored eight of the next 11 to earn its first match point chance at 24-18. A kill by Drews stopped the Huskers temporarily but a hitting error ended the night.
The No. 12 Boilermakers (19-6, 9-4 Big Ten) return to action at 8 p.m. ET Saturday against Iowa in Iowa City.