Jan. 9, 2006

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team placed itself firmly in the national spotlight in 2005, spending 13 weeks among the nation's top 25, while advancing to the program's first Sweet 16 appearance since 1987. Individually, senior setter Renata Dargan became Purdue's first All-American since 1989 by garnering honorable mention accolades from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

No. 17 Purdue finished the 2005 season with a 25-9 mark, including a 12-8 Big Ten record, after falling in the Sweet 16 to eventual national champion Washington. The Boilermakers swept both Virginia Commonwealth and College of Charleston in the first and second rounds to earn the Sweet 16 bid. The third-round contest marked Purdue's first since 1982. The 12-8 conference record earned Purdue a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten, marking the team's best league finish since 1990, while the 25 wins were the most for the team since 1985. The team knocked off three Top 25 opponents, including two ranked in the Top 10 for the first time 1985.

In the Polls
Purdue was been ranked among the nation's Top 25 for 13 straight weeks, marking the first time the Boilermakers had achieved that feat since 1983. The 1983 squad was ranked for 13-straight weeks beginning with the preseason poll and lasting through the final poll.

Purdue was mentioned in the 2005 CSTV/AVCA listings beginning with the preseason poll when they received votes, and peaked at No. 14 in the Nov. 7 poll. That ranking was Purdue's highest poll position since the final poll of 1985, in which the team was ranked 10th.

In a Nutshell
The Boilermakers kicked off the year with an 11-0 non-conference record, including a win over then-No. 16 Tennessee, who ended the season in the NCAA Final Four, to seal the Mortar Board Premier title. Purdue won all three of its non-conference tournaments, the Nike Invitational, the GlaxoSmithKline Classic and their own Mortar Board tournament. Senior setter Renata Dargan earned MVP honors at the first two tournaments, while redshirt senior Leah Wischmeier garnered MVP accolades at the Mortar Board. Wischmeier played her best match of the season against Tennessee, but suffered a career-ending ACL injury in Game 3 of the contest.

The Boilermakers began the Big Ten season with matches against three top-20 opponents in No. 16 Ohio State, No. 4 Penn State and No. 8 Wisconsin. Although the team lost all three contests, Purdue took the Nittany Lions to five games, marking the first time the Boilermakers had taken two games from PSU since 1984. The team then posted nine-straight conference victories, including an upset win over then-No. 9 Minnesota, season sweeps of Michigan and Michigan State and a win against Indiana in the Monon Spike traveling trophy match. The Boilermakers kicked off the win streak with a three-game sweep of Northwestern in front of a crowd of 8,512 at a special Pack Mackey promotion. The Wildcats won the rematch on Nov. 4 to snap the win streak, but Purdue rebounded with a 3-1 win over then-No. 10 Wisconsin, who advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, marking the team's first win over the Badgers in Madison since 1992. After a five-game heartbreaker in Champaign, Ill., the team finished season sweeps of Indiana and Iowa. A four-game loss to No. 17 Minnesota marked the final game of the regular season.

All in all, Purdue posted a 19-2 record in three-game matches, with the losses against No. 3 Penn State and No. 3 Washington. The team won 18-straight games, the fourth-most in program history, from Sept. 9 to Sept. 17, then followed with a 20-game win streak from Oct. 2 to Nov. 4, third-best all-time. The team boasted a 6-2 record in four-game matches, with the two losses coming to No. 16 Ohio State and No. 17 Minnesota. The Boilermakers dropped all five of their five-game contests, three against Top 25 opponents.

Dargan set the Purdue record for career assists during the team's Sept. 7 contest and became the first Boilermaker player to reach the 5,000 assists milestone on Sept. 30. She then began climbing up the Big Ten career assists list, finishing the year fifth all-time with 5,871. The setter also earned a spot among the Purdue career block assists top 10 (7th with 318).

Freshman Stephanie Lynch and sophomore Anne Mastandrea made their marks on the single-season top 10 lists. Lynch ranked third on the block assists list with 136 and eighth on the total blocks list with 160, while Mastandrea ranked second on the digs list with 571, while tallying the highest digs-per-game average in Purdue history with 4.76. Mastandrea finished the year just 35 digs shy of the Purdue single-season digs record of 606, while Lynch was just 12 block assists away from the single-season block assists mark. Lynch also earned spots among the single-season top 10 in hitting percentage (5th with .343) and blocks per game (6th with 1.37), while Dargan ranked third in hitting percentage (.347) and in assists (1,488).

As a team, the Boilermakers ranked among the Purdue top five in assists (4th with 1,762), block assists (4th with 526) and digs (5th with 2,033). The squad also posted the eight-best all-time hitting percentage (.244) and eighth-most attempts (4,991).

Awards and Honors
The Boilermakers' team success brought several players recognition on both the Big Ten and national level. Senior setter Renata Dargan earned honorable mention All-America honors, while also garnering first-team All-Mideast Region and unanimous first-team All-Big Ten acclaim. Freshman middle hitter Stephanie Lynch earned honorable mention All-Mideast Region and honorable mention All-Big Ten honors, while also being named to the conference's all-freshman team along with outside hitter Danita Merlau.

Purdue players also were honored with Big Ten Player of the Week or Defensive Player of the Week accolades four times during the season, marking the most individual conference honors for the team in program history.

Dargan became the first Purdue player ever to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors three times in the same season when she was so honored on Nov. 28. The New Lenox, Ill., native garnered MVP honors at each of the Boilermakers' first two tournaments and followed them up with Big Ten accolades each time. The first came on Sept. 6, then the second followed on Sept. 12. Her back to back honors marked the first time Purdue had won two-straight weekly accolades since Nov. 6 and 13, 1990. Dargan wrapped up the conference season with her third weekly accolade, earning Defensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 28 for her performances against Iowa and No. 17 Minnesota.

Sophomore libero Anne Mastandrea accounted for Purdue's fourth Player of the Week honor as she was so honored on Oct. 10 after her performances against Michigan and Michigan State.

In the Classroom
In addition to their success on the court, several Boilermaker players were honored for their work in the classroom in 2005.

Setter Renata Dargan was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V second team on Nov. 10. Dargan, a physical education teaching major, was one of 23 student-athletes named to the three Academic All-District V teams. The District V accolade is the first for the New Lenox, Ill., native, who also is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

When the Academic All-Big Ten honors were announced in December, seven Boilermaker volleyball players appeared in the listings. Dargan, along with fellow seniors Leah Wischmeier and Sarah Vitali; junior Mel Ukovich; and sophomores Meghan McCormick, Sam Mader and Lizzie Jacques all own higher than the 3.0 cumulative GPA required of student-athletes, who must be in their second year at the institution in order to earn the conference accolades. The seven Academic All-Big Ten honorees tie the highest total in Purdue volleyball history. Seven players also garnered the accolade in 1995, 1996 and 2004.

Statistically Speaking
Freshman left side hitter Danita Merlau led a group of four players averaging more than two kills per game. Merlau put down 3.64 kills per game, while sophomore outside hitter Sam Mader (3.01), freshman middle hitter Stephanie Lynch (2.86), and sophomore middle hitter Lizzie Jacques (2.02) followed. Senior setter Renata Dargan led all hitters with a .347 hitting percentage, while Lynch posted a .343 hitting effort while also tallying a team-best 1.37 blocks per game. Jacques boasted a .292 hitting percentage, while also adding 1.14 blocks per game and 23 aces.

Dargan dished out 12.61 assists per game, while also tallying 1.54 kills per game of her own on a .347 hitting percentage and 1.90 digs per game. Sophomore libero Annie Mastandrea led the Purdue backcourt players, pulling up an average of 4.76 digs per game. The libero led the Boilermakers in digs in 26 of their 34 contests, including 12 20-plus dig efforts. In addition to putting down 1.64 kills per game, freshman left side hitter/defensive specialist Kelli Miller tallied 3.33 digs per game in the back court. Junior defensive specialist Brittany Dildine pulled up 2.87 digs per game.

The Boilermakers served up 185 aces in 2005, led by Dildine's tally of 48. Twelve different players served up at least one ace, while seven reached double-digit ace tallies.

Among the Big Ten
Several Boilermaker players earned spots among the top 10 in the Big Ten statistical rankings, while the Purdue team ranked among the conference's top five in nearly all statistical categories.

Dargan ranked third in assists per game (12.61) and fourth in hitting percentage (.347), while junior defensive specialist Brittany Dildine served up 0.40 aces per game to rank third in the conference. Freshman middle hitter Stephanie Lynch ranked fifth in both hitting percentage (.343) and blocks per game (1.37). Freshman outside hitter Danita Merlau ranked seventh in kills per game (3.64), while sophomore libero Anne Mastandrea and freshman left side hitter/defensive specialist Kelli Miller ranked seventh and 10th in digs per game with 4.76 and 3.33 respectively.

In statistics reflecting only conference matches, the Boilermakers placed at least one player among the top 10 in each category. Dildine ranked second in aces per game (0.39), while Lynch was fifth in blocks per game (1.43) and sixth in hitting percentage (.338). Dargan ranked fifth in assists per game (12.29) and eighth in hitting percentage (.321). Merlau finished conference play sixth in kills per game (3.80), while Mastandrea ranked seventh in digs per game (4.57).

In overall team statistics, the Boilermakers led the Big Ten in digs per game (16.94) and were among the conference's top five in all five other major statistical categories. Purdue ranked second in aces per game (1.54), third in kills per game (16.14), fourth in hitting percentage (.244) and fifth in assists per game (14.68) and blocks per game (2.80).

In conference matches, Purdue ranked among the top five in all but one statistical category. The Boilermakers ranked third in aces per game (1.36) and digs per game (16.44) as well as fourth in hitting percentage (.227), kills per game (15.76) and blocks per game (2.87). The team also ranked seventh in assists per game (14.33).

Packing The Stands
The Purdue volleyball team hosted a Pack Mackey promotion, offering one dollar tickets to its Oct. 2 match against Northwestern, in hopes of achieving a new NCAA attendance record. The team fell short of its goal, but packed 8,512 fans into Mackey Arena, the second-most in Purdue volleyball history. The total was second only to the original Pack Mackey event, which brought in 10,645 fans on Oct. 29, 1985.

The Oct. 2 match attendance of 8,512 marked the 10th-largest crowd to see a collegiate volleyball match in 2005. The Boilermakers also ranked 10th on the national attendance average list with an average of 2,183 fans at their 14 home matches.

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