Oct. 14, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The ninth-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team defeated No. 11 Purdue, 3-1 (32-30, 16-25, 25-19, 25-19) Friday evening. The Nittany Lions are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. at Indiana.
Sophomore Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) led the Nittany Lions with 14 kills, while freshman Nia Grant (Warren, Ohio) posted 10. Freshman Micha Hancock (Edmond, Okla.) paced the offense with 44 assists and led the team with four aces. Sophomore Ali Longo (Littleton, Colo.) had a team-best 19 digs, while sophomore Ariel Scott (Ridgewood, N.J.) tallied 10. Sophomore Katie Slay (Raleigh, N.C.) led the Lions at the net with four total blocks.
Penn State and Purdue both finished the night hitting .250. The Nittany Lions totaled 59 kills, 10 aces, 65 digs and 7.5 total team blocks. The Boilermakers finished the match with 57 kills, three aces, 64 digs and 8.0 team blocks.
The first set started out close with the teams at a 3-3 tie when Purdue's Valerie Nichol pounded three straight kills to give the Boilermakers a 6-3 lead. A Grant kill and a Carpenter ace had the Lions within one, 6-5, but a Purdue kill and a PSU error had the Boilermakers leading by three, 8-5. The Boilermakers continued to control the set, leading by as many as five. With Purdue leading 22-17, the Nittany Lions used a 5-1 run to close the gap to one, 23-22. Kills from Whitney and Grant allowed Penn State to tie the set at 24-24. A service error put the Boilermakers back in the lead, but another Grant kill had the score knotted at 25 all. A Purdue error put the Lions in the lead, 26-25, but the Boilermakers would be back in control thanks to a PSU error and a Purdue kill. Martin put down a kill to tie it up at 27-27, but the score would tie three more times before a Longo ace and a Whitney putdown secured set one for the Nittany Lions, 32-30.
The second frame began much like the first with the score tied early at 3-3. A 4-0 run put the Boilermakers up 7-4 with a lead they would never relinquish. The Lions continued to trail, but a 4-0 run with kills from Carpenter, Martin and Grant had Penn State within one, 12-11. After a Purdue timeout, the Lions kept it close until a 7-1 Boilermaker run had Purdue ahead by eight, 22-14. The Nittany Lions only managed two more points before a 3-0 Purdue run closed out the set for the Boilermakers, 25-16.
The Nittany Lions grabbed a 6-3 lead to start the third stanza. The Boilermakers fought to within one on three occasions, but Penn State continued to control the set and had a 13-8 lead near the midpoint of the frame. Despite a Purdue timeout, Penn State's lead grew to seven, 15-8, after kills from Scott and Hancock. The Boilermakers came within give, 15-10, but a 5-2 PSU run had Penn State leading by eight, 20-12. Tiffany Fisher cut off the Lion run with a kill and two more Purdue points had Purdue within five, 20-15. The Boilermakers came no closer than five points for the remainder of the set as kills from Hancock, Grant and McClendon helped Penn State to a 25-19 third set win.
The fourth set was close from the start. With the score tied at 4-4, a 3-0 Purdue run had the Boilermakers ahead by three, 7-4. The Lions fought to within one, 8-7, but back-to-back Purdue kills pushed the Boilermakers back ahead by three, 10-7. Kills from McClendon and Scott plus a Purdue error brought the Lions within one again, 11-10. A Purdue service error and a solo stuff by Martin knotted the score at 12-12, but it wasn't until a 3-0 PSU run that the Lions took the lead, 15-13. Purdue called a timeout, but the Nittany Lions failed to slow down. Two Hancock aces, a Slay kill and two Purdue errors moved the Lions ahead by six, 21-15. Two Martin kills and one from McClendon help Penn State close out the set, 25-19.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2011 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets.