Box Score WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Washington State volleyball team (1-1) fought hard but fell to No. 20 Purdue (2-0), Friday night in four sets at the Purdue Mortar Board Premier tournament in Holloway Gymnasium at West Lafayette, Ind. The Boilermakers won in scores of 28-26, 25-20, 19-25, and 25-21 with 38 ties and 17 lead changes on the night.
 
Senior Kyra Holt led WSU with 20 kills while hitting .311 and adding seven digs and five blocks. Senior Hailey Bethune contributed 10 kills hitting an outstanding .625 with no errors in 16 attacks. Sophomore McKenna Woodford also had 10 kills and landed the lone ace of the match for the Cougars. Taylor Mims added six kills and led the match with six blocks. Junior Casey Schoenlein had eight kills and a pair of blocks. Setters Haley MacDonald and Nicole Rigoni combined for 50 assists. Freshman Alexis Dirige led the Cougars with 12 digs.
 
Purdue's statistical leaders were Azariah Stahl with 21 kills (.366), two aces and nine digs, Danielle Cuttino with 18 kills, and Sherridan Atkinson had eight kills and four blocks. Ashley Evans had 51 assists, 10 digs and four blocks. Natalie Haben led the match with 16 digs.
 
WSU hit .286 for the match while Purdue hit .283. The Cougars edged the Boilers in team blocks, 11 to 10. Purdue landed five aces and held WSU to one ace.
 
"I think we fought really well and did some great things. People played extremely hard. Purdue is a fantastic team so a lot of credit goes to them, but proud of our team and the way we fought and gained some great experience tonight," WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. "We see a team like Purdue night-in and night-out in the Pac-12 and we wanted to come out and gain some great experience early in the season. We're proud of team and I know we didn't come out with a win but it was a nice job for us."
 
"Our right sides played extremely well tonight," Greeny said. "It's hard when you don't know too much about a team to being able to adjust the block. Both Hailey Bethune and Casey Schoenlein did that really well and they were very good offensively as well."
 
Earlier Friday, WSU upset No. 24 Kentucky with set scores of 25-17, 25-22, and 25-17. Kentucky defeated Wyoming 3-0 and ends the day 1-1 while host Purdue (2-0) had also defeated Wyoming 3-0 earlier today. The Cougars meet Wyoming in a 10 a.m. PT match Saturday morning.
 
This tournament is sponsored by the Purdue chapter of Mortar Board, a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for the achievements in scholarship leadership and service. As part of this sponsorship, Mortar Board recognized student-athletes from all four teams for their scholarship and service accomplishment after each team's match on Friday evening. The Cougars honored Friday night were: Highest GPA - Casey Schoenlein, Most Improved GPA - Taylor Mims, and Community Service Award - Tani Stephens.