MADISON, Wis. -- It's good to be home.
 
The No. 12 Badgers downed No. 17 Purdue 25-18, 19-25, 25-20, 25-22 on Friday night in front of a spooktacular sold-out crowd of 6,012 at the UW Field House.
 
Wisconsin (15-6, 7-4 Big Ten) hit .275 (64 kills - 23 errors - 149 total attempts) in a display of the balanced Badger attack. Purdue (17-5, 8-3) hit .218 (50-19-142).
 
Sophomore Kelli Bates paced the Badgers on offense and tied her career high of 17 kills. Fellow sophomore Lauryn Gillis followed with 16 and redshirt junior Romana Kriskova totaled 12 putaways.
 
"I thought Kelli Bates battled really well tonight," UW Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "They put an awful lot a pressure on her (in) serve receive, and we gave her an awful lot of sets. She was passing by far the majority of the balls. She passed 42 serves tonight and the next highest was 12, so they were really targeting her."
 
Strong hitting by both sides highlighted the beginning of the match. A kill by Gillis gave the Badgers an 11-6 lead, but a 5-0 Purdue run tied the score at 12. Junior Lauren Carlini snapped the Boilermaker streak with a block solo to put the Badgers up 13-12 before kills from Bates and freshman Tionna Williams swayed the momentum in favor of UW. After a Purdue timeout, Kriskova and Williams combined for two straight blocks to bring the score to 23-17. A Kriskova kill brought set point at 24-17. Purdue held off the first set point before another Kriskova kill ended the set for the Badgers.
 
The Badgers saw a different side of the Boilermakers in the second set. Strong blocking limited the Badger offense and forced UW to take a timeout, trailing 7-2. Bates notched a kill after the timeout, but the Badgers couldn't find an answer to Purdue's impressive attack and took another timeout while trailing 14-7. Another Bates kill brought it to 16-13, but two ensuing swings by Drews and Danielle Cuttino put the Boilers up 18-13. A 3-1 Badger run, capped by freshman Madison Duello's first career service ace, brought the score to 21-18, but UW would get no closer as the Boilermakers rattled off four kills in the final five points.
 
"Madison she got us back (into the match) and made a couple nice digs," Sheffield said. "I thought Amber (MacDonald) and Madison, both of those guys, got us on some nice runs and the comeback was nice. Amber there in the fourth really did a good job and then we brought Madison out of the bullpen to pick up that last point."
 
Eager to protect their home court, UW entered the third set with renewed energy. Purdue led 11-8 before a 6-0 Badger run, fueled by four kills, gave the Badgers a 14-11 lead. Three straight kills put UW up 21-15 and a Gillis kill gave Wisconsin set point at 24-18. The Boilermakers held off two set points but a Bates kill put the Badgers up 2-1 in the match.  
 
The Badgers fired off three straight kills to open the fourth set and a 4-0 run guided by three straight Kriskova kills put UW up 10-5. But the Boilermakers answered with a 3-0 run of their own to make it 10-8. The set was tied six times, including at 21-21, before Wisconsin took control on a Gillis kill.  A Purdue attack error put the Badgers up 23-21 and forced the Purdue timeout. A review called by Purdue resulted in the replay of a UW point and a kill by Sam Epenesa cut the Badger lead to 23-22. Gillis made it match point with a statement-making kill before Bates and Williams combined for the block to finish off the Boilermakers.
 
On defense, UW had a 58-53 advantage in digs but Purdue outblocked UW 9-6. Senior Taylor Morey had a match-high 20 digs, followed by Bates with 13 to record her eighth double-double of the season and 10 by Carlini to pick up her 10th double-double.
 
Williams recorded four blocks and Carlini tallied three while putting up a match-high 54 assists.
 
The Badgers take on Indiana this Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Field House in a match that has already been sold out.