Nov. 18, 2006

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - No. 23 Purdue hit .412 en route to a 30-20, 30-24, 30-26 victory over Illinois in the home finale for the Illini.

Sophomore Kayani Turner led Illinois (15-13, 6-12) in kills with 15 while hitting .209. Illinois also honored its three seniors, all who made significant contributions on the night. Stephanie Obermeier made her second straight start at setter and totaled 38 assists. Beth Vrdsky, who injured her elbow midway through the match, returned to post four digs and add to her fourth-place ranking on Illinois' all-time digs list. Meghan Macdonald, who set a school record for attack percentage in a match on Friday, totaled six on Saturday.

Purdue had three players in double figures in kills, paced by Stephanie Lynch with 16. Illinois had trouble in returning serves as the Boilermakers totaled 10 aces on the night, six from Brittany Dildine.

Illinois was most competitive in game three, overcoming a 14-10 deficit to take a 22-20 lead before Purdue went on a 9-2 run to take control of the match.

The first game was close through the first half of the game. Illinois took a 10-8 lead off the serving hand of freshman Edinger. A Kylie McCulley kill made it 14-14. That's when Dildine's serving helped Purdue pull away. Dildine served six straight aces to make it 21-14 Boilers.

"I was proud of the effort our seniors gave tonight," said Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin. "We came out very prepared on a great run, but a has been the case all year, we lose a key player in Beth and it took us too long to rebound from that."