Huskies Fall To No. 9 Purdue In Match Of Runs

Friday, November 29

Seattle, WA

4:30 PM

University of Washington

19-11,9-11Big Ten

Purdue

25-6,16-4Big Ten

Purdue

Washington

November 29, 2024 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – The Husky home volleyball season came to a close tonight with a loss to No. 9 Purdue that was much more dramatic than a final 3-0 set score would indicate. But for now Washington has to hope that its final home match was not the final match of its 2024 campaign, as the Huskies will be squarely on the bubble come NCAA Selection Sunday.

Each team erased an eight-point deficit at one point tonight, Washington rallying back from 10-18 in the second set, and Purdue fighting back from down 14-22 in the third set. With the second set tied at 23-23, Purdue won the final two points, and then in the third set, Purdue saved three Husky set points to ultimately finish off a 25-14, 25-23, 29-27 sweep in front of 3,875 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Washington finished the regular season at 19-11 and 9-11 in its first go in the Big Ten. Purdue goes to 25-6 and 16-4 in league play. The Boilermakers are a lock for NCAA selection, but the Huskies will be hoping to hear their name called during the bracket reveal at 3 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, Dec. 1, on ESPN.

"I really wish we were still playing right now," said Head Coach Leslie Gabriel after UW fell agonizingly short in set three. "I thought we were going to take that third set, just couldn't finish it off. But I was proud of the effort and I thought there was a lot of grit throughout the match. We talked about staying connected within a rally and taking care of the little plays. We did a good job of that … just had a hard time putting the ball away."

Washington honored seven seniors both pre- and post-match tonight. Four of those seven took the home court for the final time: Lauren Bays, Madi Endsley, Kiune Fletcher, and Sophia Tulino. Three more juniors could potentially return next year if they so choose but were honored today as well: Emoni Bush, Audra Wilmes, and Molly Wilson.

"The seniors that have come through our program have done a lot. They've helped us through transitions to a new coaching staff and a new conference. They've put in a lot of time and energy and left their mark here, and people will pass on stories about them down through Husky volleyball."

Purdue ultimately outhit the Huskies, .264 to .183, and held an 8.0 to 6.0 edge in blocks, a 5-4 lead in aces, and a 68-55 advantage in digs. Washington didn't help its cause with 10 service errors, while Purdue only missed a single serve.

Kierstyn Barton had perhaps her best match since coming back from injury, with 13 kills, a .294 attack percentage, and nine digs. Fletcher had 10 kills on a .233 mark. Bush had six kills and four blocks, and Elise Hani had six kills out of the middle, hitting .357. Lauren Bays had 18 digs, a three-set season-high, including a huge 12 digs in the second set.

Dawgs on a 6??-0?? run!!#PointHuskies x ?? @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/4CGiC2IhPy
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 30, 2024

Up Next: The NCAA Selection Show is set for this Sunday, Dec. 1, at 3 p.m. Pacific time on ESPN. If selected, the Huskies will start the tourney next week.

Set One: The first set opened with a kill from Kierstyn Barton followed by the teams trading errors. UW took a 4-2 lead with a kill from Elise Hani and a block from Emoni Bush. Purdue then went on a 7-2 run with Bush and Fletcher grabbing kills for the Huskies that put the score at 6-9 Boilermakers. The teams traded points for a bit with Fletcher registering her second kill of the game and a couple errors from Purdue put the score at 8-11. Purdue then went on a four point run before the media timeout with the Huskies down 8-15. Out of the media timeout, the teams traded kills where Barton grabbed two while Hani, Bush, and Fletcher all record their second kills of the set. Madi Endsley grabbed an ace that made the score 14-21. Purdue got two more kills before UW called their first timeout of the set down 14-23. Post timeout, Purdue picked up two more kills to win the first set 14-25.

Set Two: Set two started with Purdue on a 5-2 run. An error from Purdue and a Kill from Julia Hunt puts the score at 2-5. The teams traded points with Barton and a couple errors from Purdue that put the Huskies down 5-7. The teams traded points again where kills from Hani and Barton, plus a block from Bush pushed the score to 8-10. Purdue got two more points before the Huskies went on a three point run with kills from Hani and Endsley before Purdue went on a run of three that put the score at 10-15 Boilermakers prior to the media timeout. After the timeout, Purdue extended their run with another three points before a timeout was taken by the Huskies. UW scored four in a row out of the timeout with an error from Purdue, a kill and block from Barton that was finishes with an ace from Endsley before Purdue called a timeout. After the timeout, UW scored two more points before an error ended the scoring run with the Huskies down 16-19. The teams exchanged kills, with Barton and Fletcher recording kills, then a three point run for the Huskies prompted Purdue to use their second timeout where the score was 20-21. The Boilermakers scored the first point out of the timeout, followed by two errors that made the score 22-22. Purdue score again, followed by a kill from Audra Wilmes for 23-all. But the Boilermakers scored two more times and closed the set at 23-25.

Set Three: The third set consisted of more back and forth. Hani and Wilmes registered kills, while some errors from both sides had the score tied at 3-3. A couple kills and outs from Purdue made the score 5-5 before the Huskies went on a three point run where Fletcher and Barton recorded kills followed up by an ace from Hunt. The Boilermakers then had a four point run that put the score at 8-9, which prompted the Huskies to call a timeout. Purdue scored the first point after the timeout that was followed up by a four point run for UW that resulted in a Boilermaker timeout with the score being 13-10. Purdue got two out of the timeout, but kills from Hani and Wilmes plus a block from Hunt helped push the score to 18-13; Purdue took their second timeout. A four point run for UW out of the timeout with kills from Bush and Fletcher, an ace from Haury and a block from Bush put the score at 22-14. Purdue got two back before the Huskies called their second timeout of the set. Purdue continued their run to bring the score to 23-22, with a kill from Bush for the Huskies. The score got to 25-24, where Fletcher grabbed two more kills. More back and forth, and the score got up to 27-27 as Bush got two kills. The Boilermakers found two final points and won the set 27-29.