The Purdue University women’s volleyball season ended this past weekend in Fort Collins, Colorado as they lost to Number 6 Hawaii in a 3-1 overall match. It was 18- 25, 25- 22, 25- 23, 25-20, so it was a really close game but the Boilermakers just seemed to not be able to do that little extra to earn another win and to make their appearance in the Elite Eight. Here is a quote from the Purdue’s Head coach about their loss.
"I can't find anything negative to say about our team tonight," head coach Dave Shondell said. "I feel bad for our three seniors who did all of things they needed to do to get us here, but unfortunately it didn't work out, at time for obvious reasons and at times for strange reasons. I felt bad about game three. We felt like we were in the driver's seat and should have been ahead 24-20, but wound up tied at 22-22. Even still, we thought we were in position to win, but we didn't seize it. That is when the match was won or lost; that was the real turning point."
For the team stats, sophomore Kristen Arthurs led the team with 14 kills, senior Stephanie Lynch followed right behind with 13 kills and 6 blocks, senior Danita Merlau had 8 shut downs, and junior Carrie Gurnell added 7 to the total. On the defense side of the game, Kelli Miller, a senior libero had 11 digs, freshman Emily Ehlers and sophomore Jaclyn Hart each had 10 dig. Hart also added 34 assists (sets). Blocking wise, Merlau had 5, and Arthurs had 4. Purdue won the overall blocking to a 13-9 win but that still was not enough to pull off the win.
The Boilermakers started the match off strong with a 7-3 lead over the Rainbow Wahines, including 2 blocks from Lynch and an ace from Pierce. Hawaii came back and closed the gap to 7-5 and maintained to stay close behind until Purdue scored 3 points in a row. Falling behind 14- 9, Hawaii came back with a 4- 0 run and closed the game up to 14- 13. The Boilermakers got the ball back on a service error and took advantage of that and added some aces and blocks and kills to their record. The final score of this set was 25- 18.
Purdue started off to a good start and gaining the lead early of 7- 2. Purdue kept the lead until it was 18- 17 and Hawaii came back with a four point lead and made it 22- 18. There were a few errors that caused Hawaii to give the Boilermakers two more points but in the end, Hawaii ended the game with a kill by Jaimie Houston at 25- 22.
In the third set, Purdue and the Rainbow Wahine split the first 12 points. The lead changed four times within the first 12 points. At the end of this match, it was tied 22- 22, but Purdue gave the last three of the four points to Hawaii by having errors on hitting and serving. The final score was 25-23.
In the fourth and final match of the night, Purdue scored 3 out of the 4 first points with the help of Merlau with two kills and Lynch with one. Purdue Boilers lost the lead early on in the set. Hawaii pulled ahead at 13-9 and kept it. Purdue almost gained back the lead and closed the score up to just 13-12 but they did not have enough to pull through and take the lead one more time. This set ended the Purdue Womens’ Volleyball season this year, and ended three senior’s career here at Purdue University. They will be missed by everyone. They were all great leaders and had records beat.
The Boilermakers wrap up the season at 26-9, the program's best mark since 1985, as seniors Stephanie Lynch, Danita Merlau and Kelli Miller finished out th
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