EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern played some of its best all-around volleyball of the season in its return to Welsh-Ryan Arena Friday night, but the Wildcats came up on the short end of a five-set thriller against the 13th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers, 3-2 (20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-11).
Several key components of Chicago's Big Ten Team produced career-high statistical efforts in the memorable Big Ten battle. Libero Caroline Niedospial was titanic along the back row as she recorded a personal-best 34 digs in the contest, a number that ties her for fourth place all-time in a single match in NU laurels. It is also the first 30-plus dig performance of her career and the first by any Big Ten player this season.
Offensively for the Purple and White, sophomore Kayla Morin posted a career-high, and match-best, 22 kills against Purdue. The Portage, Mich., native also added 10 digs to notch her third double-double of the campaign.
Freshman Taylor Tashima split time as the primary setter for the Wildcats and she just missed her first career triple-double behind career highs with nine digs and 20 assists, to go along with a team-high 28 assists. The other primary setter for NU, Caleigh Ryan, added 26 assists and six digs as the Wildcats implemented a modified 6-2 system for the first time this season Friday night.
Redshirt senior Katie Dutchman played a pivotal role on both sides of the net at home. The Del Mar, Calif., native buried 12 kills at a match-best clip of .625, while leading all players with seven blocks. It was the fourth time in 2014 that she attacked at a mark of .600 or better, and the second time during Big Ten play.
"You always want to be able to close those matches out, and we certainly had our chances tonight, but I couldn't be more proud of how hard this team fought tonight," said Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan. "Purdue is a very talented team and we showed that we can compete at that level. The key is to find that consistency, especially at critical times. We can learn and build on everything that happened on the court tonight and be ready for another tough team tomorrow night."
Northwestern came out and smacked the Boilermakers in the mouth in the first two sets, winning by identical scores of 25-20. The Wildcats came flying out of the chute from the opening serve and they built an 11-6 lead in the early going. Purdue was down 15-8 following a kill from Tashima off a feed from Ryan and head coach Dave Shondell called his final timeout. The home team did not let up and eventually stretched that advantage to 10 points at 22-12 after back-to-back Boiler errors, the first of which was the result of a block by NU's Maddie Slater and Savannah Paffen.
Purdue lunged back, but only came as close as six points in the first frame before Morin fittingly punctuated the five-point triumph with her fifth kill of the night.
The score was knotted at five in the second set before the 'Cats took off on a 10-4 run that was capped by a block from Dutchman and Tashima to give the home side a 15-9 edge. Northwestern later pushed the cushion to seven points at 20-13, but Purdue hung around and pulled to within three points (20-17), forcing NU head coach Keylor Chan to use a timeout. The Wildcats came out of the break and used a 5-3 run to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
Morin had five more kills in the second stanza, while Paffen notched four on six attempts and she was credited with a pair of blocks in the stanza.
Northwestern opened on a 6-0 run, but really the third set was tight the entire way. Northwestern maintained a few separate four-point advantages after the early burst, but Purdue used a 6-2 run with the Wildcats ahead 14-11 to grab its first lead of the frame. Back-and-forth they went and it was NU that held a late lead in the race to 25 with a 23-21 after a three-point run that ended with a kill by Morin and also included blocks from Dutchman, Paffen and the aforementioned outside hitter. Unfortunately that was the last point the 'Cats would score as the Boilermakers ripped off 4-0 run to finish the set, taking a 25-21 win and cutting their deficit in half.
Set four followed a similar blueprint and the adversaries were knotted at 22-22 after freshman Symone Abbott put down one of her 14 kills on the night. The Boilermakers had the first crack at set point with a 24-23 lead, but Abbott answered the call once again off a set-up by Tashima. Morin terminated the next ball and suddenly it was the Wildcats that were in the driver's seat with a 25-24 edge, and in position to knock off the second consecutive ranked foe at Welsh-Ryan Arena. After a Purdue-called timeout, Kierra Jones collected one of her team-high 19 kills and Ashley Evans scored one of her own to put Purdue ahead again. Morin's fourth kill of the fourth set evened the ledger at 26-26, but the Boilermakers tallied back-to-back kills to win the set, 28-26, and force a decisive fifth frame.
Purdue gained control of the fifth frame early on by jumping ahead 5-1. Each time that the Wildcats tried to gain a bit of momentum, the Boilermakers pushed right back. The Black and Gold led 11-6 when NU used a 3-1 run that forced Shondell to use a timeout after a solo stuff by Dutchman on Danielle Cuttino. The 'Cats got to within three one more time, trialing 14-11, but Annie Drews sent down her 13th kill of the match to send her team home with its eighth conference victory of the season.
After winning its first three five-set matches of the season over Colorado, Ohio and Maryland, Northwestern has now dropped back-to-back five-setters to Iowa and No. 13 Purdue.
Paffen finished with season highs in both kills (eight) and blocks (six), while fellow senior Monica McGreal chipped in with a season-best 12 digs. Northwestern's 86 digs as a team are its most the season and the second-most by any Big Ten team this season in a five-set affair.
NU concludes its brief two-match homestand on Saturday night when the Indiana Hoosiers come calling at 7 p.m. The two teams needs five sets to decide both matches a year ago, and both times it was the Wildcats that emerged with the victory against IU. The Hoosiers were swept by No. 10 Illinois on Friday night to open the weekend.
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