Champaign, Ill. - The No. 10 Fighting Illini continued their hot streak by taking down their third top-15 opponent in three weeks, gritting out a 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 26-28, 26-24) victory over No. 13 Purdue in front of 3,873 screaming fans at Huff Hall. The win moves the Illini (16-5) into a tie with the Boilermakers (18-4) for second place in the Big Ten standings at 8-2, just a half match behind first-place Wisconsin (8-1).
In a true defensive grudge match, Illinois held Purdue to hitting just .056 with the help of long rallies and 20.0 team blocks.
"It was a heavyweight bout," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "It was two really physical teams. I don't know who we've played that's more physical."
"We talk about being patient, but still swinging to score and I thought we did that tonight," said senior Liz McMahon of the numerous long rallies in the match. "We stayed in rallies when we could,because it was a defensive match, and I think we had the edge on that at the end."
Reigning Big Ten Defensive Player Katie Stadick stuffed a whopping 12 blocks in the match, including one solo, to tie for seventh all-time in single-match blocks, posting the most since Anna Dorn tallied 13 in five sets at Penn State on Oct. 8, 2011. Jocelynn Birks followed with a career-high eight blocks, while McMahon had seven and Dorn had five. Setter Alexis Viliunas tallied three blocks, including her first two career solo blocks.
As a team, the Illini tied both their rally-scoring and four-set match records with 20 blocks in the match, while posting five solo blocks for just the second time since 2005. Tonight marked the second time this season that Illinois registered 20 blocks in a match, tying the Illini's five-set win at Iowa on Oct. 15.
"The block was the thing that was kind of our staple," said Hambly. It was "kind of our bread and butter tonight and that's how we got a lot of our points. Dorn and Stadick both worked their butts off. Stadick did an exceptional job, especially against a really challenging player in [Annie] Drews."
"Our middles did a phenomenal job from the start, which was what was so cool," said McMahon. "From point one, they made it known that they were going to block a lot of balls."
Morganne Criswell was the Illini's most efficient attacker, leading the match by hitting .278 with 15 kills.
"I think that our middles did a good job early on of establishing themselves," said Criswell. "That definitely opened up some shots for the outside. Lex was doing a really good job of putting the ball where I needed it so we connected pretty well. That was big key component for me."
Birks overcame an uncharacteristically slow start to slam six kills on nine swings in the fourth set and tie McMahon with 12 kills in the match.
"She's a warrior," said Hambly of Birks. "I knew she'd come through. I also knew she was doing a great job on [Annie] Drews and that was a big key for us."
Viliunas fed the attackers with 42 assists, posting a double-double with 14 digs, while Birks narrowly missed a triple-double, adding 11 digs to tie Wisconsin's Lauren Carlini for tops in the Big Ten with 11 double-doubles on the year. Libero Brandi Donnelly recorded her sixth 20-dig performance with 24 in the match to go along with two service aces.
Across the net, Sam Epenesa and Annie Drews led Purdue with 13 kills apiece, but also committed a combined 23 errors, while middle blocker Danielle Cuttino hit a team-high .227 with 11 kills and seven blocks. Fellow middle Kierra Jones assisted on the Boilermakers' other seven blocks as the team totaled 14, and Drews teamed up with a middle on six of them. Setter Val Nichol had a double-double with 37 assists and 16 digs to go with four blocks and four kills, while libero Amanda Neill tallied 16 digs and Ashley Evans put up an additional 15.
Donnelly served the Illini to a 6-2 lead early in the first set with the help of three Illinois blocks, and that was all the advantage the Orange and Blue needed to take the opening frame. Purdue pulled within three, 16-13, on a few Illini errors, but Viliunas served Illinois back ahead 22-16, and a solo block by the Illini setter closed the first set at 25-20.
Illinois jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead to start the second set, but Purdue came right back to tie the score at six with kills from three different Boilermakers. Illinois went back ahead 7-6, but Purdue continued to battle, taking its first lead of the set, 14-13, on an attack error by Stadick. The Boilermakers continued to lead late in the frame, 23-21, but a kill by Birks and a Stadick-McMahon block tied the score at 23. Purdue reached set point first, but the Illini ran off the next three straight, including back-to-back Birks kills, to take the frame, 26-24, and head to the locker room ahead 2-0.
Purdue controlled the pace of the third set, opening up a quick 8-3 lead. The Illini battled right back and back-to-back blocks by Stadick and McMahon tied the score at 13. Purdue pushed back ahead 21-18 on a kill by Jones, then reached set point, 24-22 on a Drews kill. However, Illinois fought off a pair of Boilermaker set points then reached its first match point, 25-24, on a block by Birks and Stadick. The Huff crowd went crazy as McMahon and Stadick stuffed down an overpass to end a long rally on the next play, but a net violation call tied the score at 25, and Purdue went on to take the third set, 28-26.
"We talked about how we didn't come in expecting to sweep them," said Criswell on the team's response to dropping the third set. "Purdue is a good team and they put up a big fight. At the beginning of the fourth [set] we just talked about being ready to pounce and getting a big lead."
Illinois overcame a slow start to use a six-point run served out by Julia Conard to take a 9-5 lead in the fourth. The Illini continued to drive, running out in front 20-11 on a Birks kill, but Purdue would not go quietly. The Boilermakers battled back with a 13-3 run to tie the score on a kill by Azariah Stahl, and an ace by Neill made it set-point Purdue, 24-23. Criswell erased the Boilermakers' first attempt with a kill, and a block and a kill by McMahon closed the lid on the match as Illinois fought back to win it, 26-24.
Illinois has a full week to prepare before heading north next weekend to face Michigan State and Michigan in Big Ten play. The Illini take on the Spartans live on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 31, then face the Wolverines at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
