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Nov. 27, 2007
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker volleyball team treks to Athens, Ohio, this week for NCAA Tournament action. Purdue is slated to face the host Ohio Bobcats in the first round. This marks the fourth-straight trip to the Big Dance for the Boilermakers, who advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2005 and 2006. Multimedia The Book on the Boilermakers Junior outside hitter Danita Merlau and junior middle hitter Stephanie Lynch lead the Purdue offense with 3.79 and 3.60 kills per game respectively. Lynch boasts a team-best .321 hitting percentage and racks up 1.36 blocks per game, while Merlau contributes 3.17 digs per game in addition to her kill tally. Senior outside hitter Samantha Mader (2.92) and sophomore outside hitter/middle hitter Carrie Gurnell (2.08) also average more than two kills per game. Freshman outside hitter Kristen Arthurs (1.42) also contributes to the offense. Arthurs and Gurnell also add 0.98 and 0.86 blocks per game respectively. Junior libero Kelli Miller leads the Purdue backcourt with 4.69 digs per game. Senior defensive specialist Anne Mastandrea and Merlau provide 3.81 and 3.17 digs per game respectively. Freshman defensive specialist Jessica Ullrich (1.77), sophomore setter Sam Gray (1.59), redshirt junior Meghan McCormick (1.49) and freshman setter Jaclyn Hart (1.34) follow. Eleven different players have accounted for the team's 108 aces, led by Miller's tally of 28. Four other players also have served up double-digit aces tallies. An Overview of Ohio Three Bobcat players average more than 2.00 kills per game. Senior middle hitter Melissa Griffin (4.15), sophomore outside hitter Ellen Herman (4.02) and senior outside hitter Stephanie Blackburn (2.88) lead the offense. Griffin paces Ohio with a .362 hitting percentage, while Blackburn adds a team-best 3.76 digs to the team's tally. Blackburn also has served up 35 aces, leading a group of six Bobcat players who have served up double-digit ace tallies. Defensively, Blackburn leads the way with 3.76 digs per game, while four other players average more than 2.00 digs per game. Senior defensive specialist Janice Matacic (2.42), freshman setter Michelle Jantsch (2.28), junior defensive specialist Molly Mangan (2.10) and sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Petrulis (2.09) make up the group. At the net, sophomore middle hitter Meghan Simons (0.99), sophomore middle hitter Jane Sytsma (0.91) and Griffin (0.87) make up the blocking front. As a team, Ohio is hitting .276 and has served up 155 aces. The Bobcats are coached by Geoff Carlston, who is in his fifth year with the team. Series Information Xavier (Purdue leads the series 2-0): The Boilermakers have won both previous meetings with the Musketeers in the series which began on Sept. 10, 1999, at the Northern Arizona Fiesta Bowl Tournament in Flagstaff, Ariz. Purdue also won the next meeting via sweep at the 2005 Mortar Board Premier in West Lafayette. Cal Poly (Purdue leads the series 2-1): Cal Poly won the first meeting in the series taking a 2-0 decision on Sept. 26, 1980, at the San Jose State Invitational. Purdue swept the Mustangs in the next two contests, at the Illinois State Invitational on Sept. 10, 1983, and at the Mortar Board Premier in West Lafayette on Sept. 1, 1990. Comparing the Opposition Category Purdue Ohio Xavier Cal Poly Hitting % .201 .276 .241 .233 Kills 15.19 16.81 16.20 15.29 Assists 13.88 15.61 14.95 14.09 Aces 0.96 1.40 1.30 1.84 Blocks 3.02 2.45 2.24 3.21 Digs 17.85 15.69 17.95 16.82 What a Difference a Win Makes... If the Boilermakers top No. 19 Ohio on Friday ... • They will advance to the NCAA second round for the fourth-straight season. • They will move to 12-10 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches. • They will have beaten their second ranked foe of the season, and 13th in the Shondell era. • They will extend their current win streak to two matches. • They will improve to 163-124 all-time when playing in the month of November, including a 4-2 mark when playing on Nov. 30. Musings About the Musketeers Senior middle hitter Jill Quayle leads a group of five Xavier players averaging more than 2.00 kills per game. Quayle has put down 3.74 kills per game, while also boasting a team-leading .388 hitting percentage and a team-best 1.31 blocks per game average. Sophomore outside hitter Kelly Ruth (3.40), sophomore outside hitter Hillary Otte (2.84), freshman middle hitter Katie Russell (2.35) and senior outside hitter Jenni Horvath (2.29) round out the group. Ruth leads the Musketeers on defense with 3.75 digs per game. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Kaminsky (3.18), Horvath (2.88), Russell (2.42) and freshman setter Claire Paszkiewicz (2.04) follow. At the net, Quayle tallies 1.31 blocks, followed by Russell (0.71) and Ruth (0.70). Seven different Xavier players have served up double-digit ace tallies to help the team to its total of 156. Xavier is coached by Floyd Deaton, who is in his 18th year with the team. Chatting About Cal Poly Junior outside hitter Kylie Arherstone leads the Mustang offense with 4.74 kills per game. Three other Cal Poly players add more than 2.00 digs per game. Junior outside hitter Ali Waller (3.66), junior middle hitter Jaclyn Houston (2.21) and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Gaby Rivera (2.03) make up the group. Atherstone has served up a team-best 50 aces, while Houston leads the team with a .340 hitting percentage and 1.52 blocks per game. Defensively, senior libero Kristin Jackson leads the way with 5.22 digs per game. Waller (2.63), Atherstone (2.59) and senior setter Chelsea Hayes (2.36) also add more than two digs per game. At the net, Houston posts 1.52 blocks per game, followed by freshman middle hitter Dominique Olowolafe (1.19), Hayes (0.97) and Waller (0.90). As a team, Cal Poly has served up 193 aces and average 3.21 blocks per game. The Mustangs are coached by Jon Stevenson, who is in his third year with the team. Connect the Dots Xavier sophomore outside hitter Lauren Kaminsky played high school volleyball at Muncie Burris High School under Steve Shondell, the brother of Purdue head coach Dave Shondell and assistant coach John Shondell. Kaminsky is one of three players from the state of Indiana on the Xavier roster. Three players on the Ohio roster hail from the state of Indiana. Hey, We Played Them Too... Ohio battled Minnesota on Aug. 31 at the Diet Coke Classic in Minneapolis and won the match 3-2. Purdue lost both of its contests with the Golden Gophers in 2007. Xavier played Michigan to a five-game match on Sept. 7 at the Michigan Pepsi Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines won the match 3-2. Purdue won a pair of four-game decision over the Wolverines in 2007. Cal Poly faced off with Penn State at the Holiday Inn Downtown Classic on Aug. 31, falling to the Nittany Lions in five games. PSU took both contests against Purdue in 2007. Big Ten Honors Defense Across America Movin' On Up Senior defensive specialist Anne Mastandrea is right on Miller's heels, in third place on the career digs list with 1,338. Junior outside hitter Danita Merlau sits third in career attempts with 3,879. Merlau also ranks among the Top 10 in career kills with 1311, a mark which ranks eighth. Junior middle hitter Stephanie Lynch ranks among the career top 10 in solo blocks, block assists and total blocks. She sits third on the block assists list, just 13 behind career leader Kim McConaha's mark of 382. Lynch also ranks fifth in solo blocks with 83 and fifth in total blocks with 452. Sophomore setter Sam Gray ranks ninth in career assists with 1,566, while senior outside hitter Sammi Mader ranks ninth in career kills with 1,297. Academic Accolades Merlau, a communications major, was one of 12 student-athletes named to the two Academic All-District V teams. The District V accolade is the second straight for the New Palestine, Ind., native, who received second team honors last season, as well. Against the Top 25 During the Dave Shondell era, Purdue has beaten 12 Top 25 teams, including three Top 10 opponents. The Boilermakers posted wins over No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 9 Minnesota in 2005 and a victory over No. 9 Colorado State in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Purdue owns a 50-160 all-time record in matches against the Top 25. Offensive Options Senior outside hitter Sam Mader has registered a team-leading kill tally six times, while sophomore outside/middle hitter Carrie Gurnell has posted a team-best twice and junior outside hitter/libero Kelli Miller has done so once. Mixing It Up Eight other players have been among the starting six in at least one match: senior middle hitter Lizzie Jacques, senior outside hitter Sammi Mader, redshirt junior defensive specialist Meghan McCormick, sophomore setter Sam Gray, sophomore outside/middle hitter Carrie Gurnell, freshman middle hitter Kristen Arthurs, freshman setter Jaclyn Hart and freshman defensive specialist Jessica Ullrich. A Record Night Miller racked up her record mark in just four games, helped out by a 15-dig effort in the opening stanza. The Muncie, Ind., native also became the first Purdue player to surpass the 30-dig milestone three times in her career. In addition, the 40-dig effort established a four-game match record, surpassing the mark of 31 set by teammate Anne Mastandrea earlier this season. Digging Up a Record Turning a Negative Into a Positive A Century's Worth of Digs The Right Stuff As a team, Purdue racked up 24.0 blocks in the contest vs. Utah, the third highest single-match total in program history. The blocking tally is the most for a Boilermaker team since 1991. Purdue is averaging 3.02 blocks per game this season, behind the strength of Lynch (1.36), freshman Kristen Arthurs (0.98), sophomore Carrie Gurnell (0.86), freshman Jaclyn Hart (0.77) and junior Danita Merlau (0.65). On Sept. 22, 2007, vs. Iowa, the Boilermakers chalked up 18.0 blocks in a three-game sweep, marking the second-highest blocking tally in a three-game match in program history. Only the Sept. 10, 1983, match with Illinois State featured more Purdue stuffs in a three-gamer, with 19.0. Ain't It Grand Senior outside hitter Samantha Mader became the 18th player in Purdue history to reach the 1,000-kill milestone during Game 4 of the team's Aug. 25 contest with No. 18 Duke. Mader entered the season with 967 kills, just 33 away from the milestone. With 34 kills at the Duke Invitational, Mader boosted her career tally to 1,001. On Aug. 31, senior Anne Mastandrea became the 11th Boilermaker player to reach the 1,000-dig milestone. She entered the Mortar Board Premier opener with Dayton just 10 shy of the mark, and posted 65 on the weekend. Coming into the 2007 season, the Downers Grove, Ill., native had pulled up 907 digs. Junior Kelli Miller posted her 1,000th-career dig in Game 2 of Purdue's Sept. 7 match with Florida A&M. Entering the 2007 season, Miller had pulled up 889 digs. Junior outside hitter Danita Merlau, who entered that weekend with 975 kills, racked up her 1,000th-career putdown in Game 3 of the team's match vs. Florida A&M. Coming into the 2007 season, Merlau had recorded 883 putdowns. Junior middle hitter Stephanie Lynch posted her 1,000th career kill against No. 1 Penn State on Nov. 2. She entered the match needing just seven kills to reach the milestone. Coming into the 2007, Lynch had put down 663 kills. Super Stephanie The Player of the Week honor is the second of Lynch's career and her first defensive accolade. She was named the conference's Player of the Week on Nov. 20, 2006, when she also was named National Player of the Week by the AVCA. Marvelous Miller Amazing Annie Tournament Honors Junior middle hitter Stephanie Lynch was named to the all-tournament team at the Mortar Board Premier, Aug. 31-Sept. 1. Lynch racked up 4.08 kills per game, while putting up 1.85 blocks per game. She tallied 15 blocks in Purdue's contest against Utah, just one shy of the Purdue record of 16 and the most for a Purdue player since the 1992 season. Lynch was named MVP of the Big Orange Bash, while Merlau and freshman setter Jaclyn Hart were named to the all-tournament team. Lynch posted 4.91 kills per game on a .495 hitting percentage. Merlau added 4.55 kills per game, 4.00 digs per game and 10 blocks, while Hart accounted for 14.36 assists, 1.82 digs, 1.09 kills and 0.91 blocks per game. Preseason Predictions Fabulous Freshmen Dig For A Cure The campaign will include one event from each Boilermaker team that will be designated as a cancer awareness day/event and will feature opportunities to donate and special recognitions or educational materials. To celebrate this event, Follett's Purdue Pride stores will have a commemorative t-shirt on hand at events for fans to purchase, with $3 from each shirt sold going directly to the cause. As part of the campaign, the volleyball team hosted Dig for a Cure night on Oct. 13. Fans pledged funds for each dig the team tallied during the match against Michigan State, raising more than $1,200. The team wore pink ribbons and fans received pink rally towels to show support.
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