Purdue Fort Wayne WVB Beats Northern Kentucky 3-1

Friday, October 25

Fort Wayne, Ind.

7 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

13-10,6-4Horizon

Northern Kentucky

9-12,5-5Horizon

Northern Ky.

Purdue Fort Wayne

Steve Florio and LonDynn Betts

Purdue Fort Wayne WVB Beats Northern Kentucky 3-1

10/25/2024 9:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Purdue Fort Wayne women's volleyball stalwart defense led the Mastodons to a 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 18-25, 25-23) victory over Northern Kentucky on Friday night (Oct. 25).

Prior to the contest, LonDynn Betts was awarded a game ball for joining the 1,000-dig club earlier this season. She was a key reason the Mastodons were able to hold the Norse to .125 hitting in the first of the two-match series in Fort Wayne. Betts finished with a match-high 26 digs, three assists and an ace on match point. Becky Barrett and Panna Ratkai joined Betts in double-figures with 11 and 10 digs each.

In addition to digs, the Mastodons put up a block that gave Northern Kentucky fits all night. The 'Dons finished with 16.0 blocks as a team, the most in a four-set match since 2014. Jena Medearis contributed to nine of those blocks, while Mya Plemons and Abby Stratford had six each. Ratkai helped on five and Riley Rosneck assisted on four.

The Purdue Fort Wayne offense rolled in set one, as the 'Dons hit .371 as a team and sided out on 14 of their 17 chances. Ratkai had five of her team-high 14 kills in the first set on just 10 attempts. Nicole Jones had three of her four aces in the opening frame.

From there, the Mastodon offense slowed down a bit, dropping to .235 in set two, .000 in set three and .136 in set four. Despite this, the Mastodons held NKU to .114, .111 and .119 in the final three sets.

The Mastodons went up 14-12 after a 5-0 run behind Jones' service in set four, then traded blows with NKU until it was all square at 23. After a de facto timeout on a challenge, Stratford got a kill to set up match point, then Betts' ace grazed the back shoulder of an NKU player to give the Mastodons the match.

With the win, the Mastodons moved to 13-10, 6-4 in the Horizon League. Northern Kentucky fell to 9-12, 5-5. The two squads will meet again tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 26) at 2 p.m. in the Gates Sports Center for a rematch.

~ Feel the Rumble ~