University of Missouri
Purdue
Purdue Hands Mizzou First Loss of Season
9/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 5, 2004
MADISON, Wis.-- - The Mizzou volleyball team fell to Purdue on Saturday night in its first five-game match of the year to finish 1-1 at the Badger Challenge in Madison, Wis. Purdue took the 3-2 (17-30, 33-31, 25-30, 30-24, 15-9) win to claim the championship of the tournament.
Mizzou used a 13-1 run midway through the opening game to build a 14-point lead and cruised to a 30-17 win to take a 1-0 match lead.
The next two games were much closer as the two teams split games two and three. For the second straight day, the Tigers had a game go to overtime, but this time they fell as Purdue took the 37-35 win in game two. In the third game, MU scored the final four points of the game for a 30-25 win.
Purdue took the lead in game four and remained in control throughout the game. The Boilermakers held a lead of as much as eight and went on to a 30-24 win to send the match to a deciding game five.
Game five began with three straight points by the Boilermakers and they never trailed in the game, on the way to a 15-9 win and a five-game win over Missouri, taking the Badger Challenge title.
Sophomore Shen Danru had a team-high 23 kills and added 10 digs for her second double-double of the weekend. Sophomore Jessica Vander Kooi had 20 kills and 20 digs, tying her career high for digs.
Freshman Tatum Ailes tied Vander Kooi for the team-high in digs with 22. Fellow freshman, Na Yang added 17 kills and 19 digs. Junior setter Lindsey Hunter had 61 assists.
Missouri will open up its home schedule with the 3rd Annual Quality Inn Tiger Invitational next weekend at the Hearnes Center. The Tigers will play at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, opening against Creighton at 2 p.m. on Friday.
