Box Score Box Score
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Portland Pilots volleyball team opened the Kansas State Invite falling 3-0 to the Purdue Boilermakers on Friday at the Ahearn Field House. Purdue won by scores of 25-21, 25-23 and 25-16.
Portland senior Maria Clemens had a team-high seven kills, while senior Shelley Sievers recorded six with a .625 hitting percentage. Junior Danielle Duper got behind a team-high 11 digs. Freshman Madison Smith dished out 13 assists and also added two service aces.
The Boilermakers (5-2) jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the first set. Portland responded with a 6-0 run capped by a Kate Bostwick kill to make it 8-5. Purdue inched its way back taking the score to a 12-12 tie but the Pilots countered by taking control, and an Ariel Usher kill gave Portland a 19-15 lead. From there, Purdue raced ahead on a 10-2 run to secure the set victory.
In the second set, Purdue dominated early to take a 9-2 lead. Portland snapped back to pull within two points at 10-8 before the Boilermakers rattled off seven straight points and eventually led 18-10. Portland refused to go away and scored nine of the set’s next 13 points capped by a Marissa Plummer kill bringing the score to 21-19 in favor of Purdue. The teams exchanged points from there until an ace from Madison Smith pulled the Pilots within one point at 24-23. But the Boilermakers would finish it off to claim the second set win.
The third set saw the Pilots grab hold of the early advantage at 5-2. Purdue rallied back to even up the score at 7-7 only to have Portland regain the lead with the help of a Kati Hronek kill moving the score to 10-8. The tug-of-war continued with two straight kills from Purdue bringing the score to 10-10. From there a battle waged with Portland’s Sievers and Purdue’s Lisa Pierce exchanging kills. Two from Sievers and three from Pierce plus some team errors on both sides brought the score to 14-13 in Purdue’s favor. From there, the Boilermakers launched an 11-3 run to end the match with a 25-16 set victory.
Purdue, who was ranked No. 24 in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll (8/31/09), was led by Carrie Gurnell and Ariel Turner, who had 12 and 10 kills respectively.
Portland next sees action at the Kansas State Invite on Saturday with two matches against No. 21 Kansas State followed by No. 17 Kentucky. UP-Kansas State begins at 10:30 a.m. and UP-Kentucky starts at 3:30 p.m. Live stats available at www.k-statesports.com
