Volleyball Action

Purdue Girls Volleyball had a very intense game on October,22 against what was number 19 Conference opponent University of Illinois. Up until that point Purdue was ranked 18th with a record 16-4 ( 5-3 Big Ten) pretty impressive, but the stats had no effect on the Fighting Illini who went to win 3-0 with the first game being 25-18 second: 25-20 and third: 25-21. All three games on the other hand was not as much of a blow out as the 3-0 seems. In the first set it was a back and forth battle almost the whole time with twelve different times of being tied and each time Illinois would just barely score a bit more until the end of the first set where Illinois took over and scored 11 out of the last 15. The second set was just as if not more exciting than the first Purdue came off with a strong 5-3 lead to show that they weren’t just a push over with the first set after a back and forth battle again a few times for lead purdue managed to keep it with a 8-7 lead. After more of a back and forth exciting game UI had three different mess ups which put Purdue at 15-14. Nichols put away two more after UI which put it at 17-16, this point all fans on the edge of their seats if not all ready standing up cheering with everything they have, but just like the first set at the end UI scored the next 9 out of 12 points to take the win over the second set 25-20. The intense battle continued on into the third set where out of the first ten points it was split right down the middle 5 to 5, but just like déjà vu Illinois shot off with the next 8 of the next 12 points making it 13 to 9. With the help of Arthurs and Pierce’s put-aways they managed to close the gap to a 14- 13 score. After Illinois tried to take off with another giant take off with the points, But due to some service mistakes and some kills from Lynch made it another one point lead 18-17. For the next six serves Purdue and UI would trade the points. At this point Purdue knew they would have to give it everything they had and not mess up. There was no room for mistakes. With the score in the 3rd set being 21 to 20 Illinois lead. Purdue was just unable to finish through in this set as well as all three sets. They were only able to score one more point taking it to 25 to 21. In the very end of the third set Lynch tallied up 6 kills while Arthurs was able to get 4. Sadly it was all in vain for it was just not enough to take out the Illini. In all Seniors Stephanie Lynch and Danita Merlau paced the Purdue offense with 10 kills apiece, while redshirt freshman Mandy Nichols and junior Kristen Arthurs added six each. Defensively, senior Kelli Miller had 14 digs, while Nichols added nine. The Boilermakers had everything they needed to beat Illinois but when it came down to the last bit when it mattered the most they just couldn’t pull through. What I personally think they need to work on is more team work because when it came time to crush and seal the deal they almost broke apart. Things were just not clicking like they were towards the beginning. Either way through thick and thin… BOILER UP!!