Junior Kendra Rowland had 11 digs and seven kills in Friday's loss to Purdue. |
WACO — Kristen Arthurs racked up a match-high 14 kills and hit .778 in leading No. 24 Purdue to a 25-16, 25-21, 25-16 sweep of UTSA in Friday's opening match of the Holiday Inn & Suites Baylor Classic.
Arthurs was flawless in her 18 attacks (no errors), while Carrie Gurnell added 13 winners and setter Jaclyn Hart handed out 37 assists. Defensively, libero Blair Bashem collected a match-best 19 digs and Anna Drewry blocked a half dozen balls at the net.
Purdue (3-1) broke open an 8-all tie in the first set with a 7-0 run and UTSA got no closer than four the rest of the way. The following frame was much closer, as the teams were tied at 16 midway through the stanza. However, the Boilermakers scored nine of the final 14 points to take a commanding 2-0 lead into intermission. Purdue came out of the break firing on all cylinders and used a 14-3 run in the early going to put the match on ice.
The Boilermakers, who have 11 players that measure at least six feet tall on their roster, dominated both sides of the net, hitting .347 while registering 10.5 team blocks.
Outside hitter Kendra Rowland led the Roadrunners with 11 digs and seven kills.
The match was the first of four against Top 25 squads for UTSA over the next two weeks. The Birds will take on No. 11 Stanford and No. 4 Hawai`i at next week's Honolulu Advertiser Challenge before hosting No. 3 Washington in the UTSA Classic opener on Sept. 17.
The Roadrunners conclude tournament play on Saturday with matches against Baylor (5-0) and Central Florida (5-1) at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively.