MATCH STATS
- No. 25 Purdue def. Alabama 3-0 (25-21, 25-12, 25-14)
- Purdue moves to 3-0; Alabama drops to 2-1
- West Lafayette, Indiana
- Attendance: 2207
- Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Boilermakers crushed the Crimson Tide 45-19 in kills and hit at a .304 clip in a sweep to claim the Mortar Board Premier title and start the 2017 season at 3-0.
Purdue dominated the stat sheet, besting Alabama .304 to .010 in hitting percentage, 51-29 in digs, 7-5 in blocks and 6-5 in aces.
Senior outside hitter Danielle Cuttino and redshirt junior outside Sherridan Atkinson led the way for Purdue with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Senior outside Azariah Stahl paced the team defensively with 17 digs to go with her eight kill tally. Atkinson and redshirt sophomore middle Shavona Cuttino put up a team-best four blocks apiece. Junior libero Brooke Peters added 15 digs.
Alabama managed just 19 kills in the match with sennior middle Abolanie Onipede, senior middle Leah Lawrence and sophomore middle Hayley McSparin turning in four apiece. Onipede added three blocks. Freshman outside Christine Jarman led the defense with eight digs.
Purdue hit .471 in the opening stanza, setting the tone for the match. Four players tallied kills in the early going as the Boilermakers built a 6-3 lead. The Crimson Tide tied the score at 7-all, but Purdue pushed ahead with seven of the next nine points, incluidng four straight kills by Danielle Cuttino. Down 23-17, Alabama scored four of the next five, thwarting two Purdue set-point chances along the way, before Stahl capped the set at 25-21.
Alabama fought back from down 7-1 in Set2, making it a one-point game at 9-8. The errors piled up and the Purdue offense turned on as the stanza became a 25-12 drubbing. Atkinson and redshirt sophomore middle Blake Mohler downed three kills apiece and Alabama committed five erorrs as the Boilermakers cruised to the victory.
The Crimson Tide regrouped at intermission and started Set 3 with a 4-3 lead. It was short-lived, however, as the Boilermakers scored 10 straight, including three blocks by Shavona Cuttino and three Atkinson putaways, to vault ahead 13-4. Alabama never got closer than eight the rest of the way. Kills from six different players and six Crimson Tide miscues aided the Boilermakers in the final set victory. A Stahl kill marked the final point of the sweep.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Purdue Athletics
No. 25 Purdue (3-0) claimed its 12th Mortar Board Premier title with a sweep (25-21, 25-12, 25-14) of Alabama (2-1) on Saturday afternoon in Holloway Gymnasium. Purdue was firing on all cylinders, hitting .304 with 45 kills on 92 swings while holding the Crimson Tide to a .010 hitting percentage with 19 kills on 97 attempts thanks to seven blocks and 51 digs by the Boilermakers.
Alabama was able to keep the contest close in the first set until Purdue used a 7-2 run to take a 16-10 advantage over the Crimson Tide. Of the seven points, six were kills by Purdue seniors, including a stretch of four-consecutive kills by Danielle Cuttino. The Boilermakers were able to control the second and third sets after posting 9-0 runs in each of the two sets. The dominant effort claimed Purdue its third-straight three-set victory to open the season.
With Alabama’s defense focusing on holding off Cuttino, Ashley Evans was able to find a number of other contributors in order for the team to produce as well as it did offensively. The redshirt-senior setter finished with 38 assists and was able to connect with Cuttino for a team-leading 11 kills en route to a .259 hitting percentage on the outside despite the extra attention from the Crimson Tide.
Sherridan Atkinson posted a match-best 13 points thanks to 10 kills, four block assists and an ace. Overall, the redshirt junior had an efficient day on the pins as well, hitting .263 in the match. Azariah Stahl finished just two kills shy of a double-double as she complimented her eight kills with a block assist and match-best 17 digs.
Alabama struggled to contain Purdue’s middle blockers as Blake Mohler and Shaven Cuttino combined for 11 kills and just three errors on 19 swings for a .421 hitting percentage. The duo also combined for seven block assists. Mohler led the way with seven kills, three errors, 13 attempts and three block assists while Shavona Cuttino was four-of-six without an error and four block assists.
In the backcourt, Brooke Peters registered her third-straight effort with 10 or more digs with an ace. Julianna Reisinger aced the Crimson Tide twice while Jena Otec managed to dig six of Alabama’s attempts to go along with an ace of her own.
The Boilermakers hit the road for their next tournament as the Wyoming Invitational awaits them in Laramie, Wyoming. Friday, Sept. 1, Purdue will open with Jacksonville at 6 p.m. ET and is set to conclude the tournament Saturday, Sept. 2, with matches against Eastern Michigan at 12 p.m. and Wyoming at 9 p.m.
Courtesy: Alabama Athletics
Alabama volleyball dropped its weekend finale Saturday at the Mortar Board Premier, falling in straight sets to No. 25 Purdue by scores of 21-25, 12-25 and 14-25.Alabama (2-1) fought to a close finish in the opening frame, losing to 25th-ranked Purdue (3-0) by just four points but the Boilermakers posted double-digit wins in the remaining two sets to complete the sweep. After hitting .310 in the opening set, the Tide struggled offensively to end the match with a .010 clip. Freshman Christine Jarman led the team with a season-high eight digs, while Abolanle Onipede, Leah Lawrence and Hayley McSparin combined for 12 of the team’s 19 kills.
With Purdue holding an early 6-3 lead in set one, back-to-back kills by Alabama and a service ace by Kaylee Thomas quickly tied things up at 6-6. A 7-3 run by the Boilermakers gave the home team a 13-9 edge at the halfway mark and the Tide took its first timeout following a kill by Purdue in the next rally to make it 14-9. The Boilermakers kept the Tide at arm’s length, pulling ahead by six points before Alabama took its final timeout down 22-16. Purdue reached set point, 24-19, but consecutive kills by Lawrence forced the Boilermakers to take a timeout with its lead cut down to three points. Purdue finished it on the next ball however, winning 25-21.
Purdue got off to a strong start in set two, pulling ahead 6-1 as Alabama was forced to regroup with an early timeout. After a point by the Boilermakers, the Tide cut the deficit with four-straight points to draw within two, down 7-5. Purdue jumped back ahead by five however, leading 13-8 at the halfway mark as Alabama took its final timeout. The home team continued to pull away, eventually building a double-digit lead down the stretch and winning set two, 25-12.
Alabama led 4-3 early in set three but a 7-0 run by Purdue flipped the game back in the home team’s favor with the Tide taking a timeout down 10-4. Three more unanswered points by the Boilermakers after the break forced the Tide to quickly burn its final timeout, now down 13-4. An ace gave Purdue a double-digit lead, 19-9, and the Boilermakers held on to win set three, 25-14, and complete the sweep.
Next weekend, Alabama heads south to Mobile, Ala., for the Jaguar Invitational, hosted by South Alabama. The Tide opens the weekend against the Jaguars on Friday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. CT before facing Southern Miss and McNeese State on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. CT and 4:30 p.m. CT, respectively.
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