Edmond Breaks Career High in Kills, Spoiled by Purdue’s Comeback

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Senior Leah Edmond set a new career high on Wednesday night with 27 kills, but despite Edmond’s efforts, the No. 21 Purdue Boilermakers pulled out a five-set win over No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats (25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-8) inside of Memorial Coliseum.
 
Edmond was one of three Kentucky players to record a double-double in the match as she added in 12 digs to her 27 kills. Additionally, Gabby Curry collected her first-career double-double with 10 assists and 15 digs, also setting a career high with 10 assists. Madison Lilley completed the double-double for herself in the middle of the fourth set, totaling 14 digs to her 44 assists in the match.
 
Edmond’s night was her sixth time with 25-plus kills in a match and program-record 25th time tallying 20-plus kills in a match. Her performance was the second-best in school history, only trailing Anni Thomasson’s 30-plus kill match in 2014.
 
“Purdue made plays and we didn’t, bottom line.” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “In the fifth set, (Purdue) got kills and blocks when they needed to and served in the right spots. They created their own breaks. We need to do a better opportunity of creating our own opportunities to score points and stop the bleeding when a team gets a few points in a row.”
 
Kentucky falls to 6-4 on the season. The annual “Battle of the Bluegrass” will take center stage on Friday night inside of Memorial Coliseum, as Kentucky hosts in-state rival No. 23 Louisville at 8 p.m. ET. The match will be seen live on the SEC Network, ESPN3 and the ESPN app.
 
Purdue found itself trailing 21-20 in the fourth set, and called a timeout. The Boilermakers then won five of the final six points of the fourth set to force the match into a fifth set. The five-set match for Kentucky was its second-straight five-set affair, following a full-distance loss to Indiana on Saturday afternoon.
 
In the fifth set, Purdue took charge winning the first eight points and forcing UK to burn both of its timeouts early in the frame. Kentucky closed the gap late in the fifth with a charge to pull within 13-8, but Purdue close out the match and its fifth win of the season. UK is now 0-2 in five-set matches this season.
  
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