Purdue Sports Update Sept. 23

Volleyball Wraps Up Non-Con Play losing to two top-10 teams

The No. 6 Boilermakers suffered their first losses of the season dropping decisions to No. 10 Kansas and No. 9 Creighton at the Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence, Kansas.

Purdue concluded the Jayhawk Classic and non-conference season with a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-17, 25-10). With the victory, Purdue earned its ninth win of the season (9-2) while handing Tulsa its fourth loss of the year (8-4).

Purdue’s efficient offense led to a .356 match clip, including a set-best .405 to open the day. No Boiler recorded more than two errors. Meanwhile, the team held Tulsa to a .083 clip.

Setter Taylor Anderson finished the day with 27 assists, three kills and six digs. Meanwhile, freshman Allie Shondell saw time on the court, dishing out five assists and two block assists in Set 3.  

Eva Hudson led the way with 11 kills on a .375 clip (11-2-24) while Chloe Chicoine was second with 10 kills and a .348 clip (10-2-23).

On Thursday night against the homestanding Jayhawks, Purdue was defeated in four games(29-31, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25). With the result, Purdue fell to 8-1 on the season while Kansas improves to 8-0.

Three Boilermakers: Anderson (49 assists, 11 digs), Hudson (17 kills, 11 digs) and  Chicoine (16 kills, 12 digs) posted double-doubles in the match, with Anderson nearly posting a triple-double, finishing the night with seven block assists.

Hudson remained errorless in the match until late in Set 4 (Purdue 20, Kansas 21). The junior finished the night with a .302 attack % with 17 kills on 53 swings.

Purdue nearly pushed the match to a fifth set vs. No. 9 Creighton, but fell short in extra points as the Boilermakers fell 1-3 (21-25, 25-17, 16-25, 25-27), The match was the second in under 24 hours to a top-10 program and just the second loss of the season for Purdue (8-2) while Creighton improves to an 8-2 record.

The Boilermakers picked up a win in the second set and chipped away at the Bluejay’s lead in the fourth set until a tied score at 18-18 began a point-for-point battle throughout the remainder of the game. Purdue won a pair of challenges, winning a net touch violation to give Purdue the 21-20 advantage. Then, Dave Shondell won a second challenge on a touch when the score was 21-21 to give Purdue the 22-21 lead. Purdue had set point after a kill by Hudson gave Purdue the 24- 22

Hudson led the team with 19 kills, nine digs and a block assist. Chicoine finished the night with 14 kills and six digs.

Purdue will begin Big Ten play at home Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET when the Boilermakers take on the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions on Big Ten Network.

Soccer Swept By So-Cal Schools

Soccer fought a back and forth affair with their new conference foes the No. 25 USC Trojans, but ultimately could not overcome an early deficit to fall 1-0 on Thursday night at Folk Field.

The Boilermakers (5-3-1, 1-1-0 Big Ten) drop back to even in conference play after picking up a 2-0 win at Northwestern last week.

The Trojans opened the scoring early with a goal from forward Faith George in the fourth minute. A pair of first-time touches got behind the Boilermaker defense. From that point forward the game was end to end, with each team earning chances that forced good goalkeeping.

Purdue was neck and neck with UCLA at halftime of their Sunday afternoon contest with the Bruins, but the visitors pulled away with two long-distance goals in the second half to win 2-0 on a rainy day at Folk Field.

The Boilermakers (5-4-1) drop both matches against their newly minted conference foes from the golden state over the weekend, but fought hard in both contests.

It was anybody’s match in the first 45, as the Boilermakers outshot their opponents 3-2 in the first frame. A great defensive effort from Gracie Dunaway sliding in for back to back tackles set Kayla Budish on her way with only one defender between her and the goal. What should have been the Boilermakers best chance of the game was snuffed out by the lone Bruin defender as Budish tried to slip in Dunaway.

The second half went the way of the Bruins, who were able to get two goals from two low percentage areas within three minutes of each other. Sofia Cook scored the first with a curler from the left side of the box off a corner taken short. The brace came from Bridgette Marin-Valencia from well beyond 30 yards outside the box.

Chicoine, Hudson Named to the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced a Player of the Year Watch List, featuring outside hitters Chloe Chicoine and Eva Hudson.

The Boilermakers are two of 36 names on the inaugural list. The names will be narrowed down in November and finalists will be released before the AVCA Convention. The 2024 AVCA Player of the Year will be announced Friday, December 20 in Louisville, Kentucky during the AVCA Convention. The committee can add players that are not a part of the original group of 36 in the next watch list that will be announced in November.

Hudson, a junior, a 2023 AVCA Second Team All-American, averages 4.84 points per set and 4.35 kills per set. An efficient start for the Boilermaker has led to five matches hitting .300 or higher, including two above .400, Hudson as reached 15 kills in six of Purdue’s nine matches. Following the first week of play, the Fort Wayne, Indiana native was named AVCA National player of the week after posting 46 kills and 50.5 points on a .352% in Purdue’s opening-weekend sweep. The Boilermaker also led the team with a season-high 20 kills in Purdue’s 3-1 victory vs. #10 Kentucky last week in Dallas and went errorless through three and a half sets at No. 10 Kansas last night.

Chicoine, the youngest Boilermaker to receive first-second-or third team honors with her Third Team All-America accolade last year, has opened her sophomore campaign with three double-doubles and posted at least 10 digs in four matches this season. The Lafayette, Indiana, native is coming off a 16-dig, .333-clip and 12-dig performance at No. 10 Kansas last night and registered a career-high four blocks at Utah State two weeks ago. She is averaging 3.42 kills and 2.87 digs per set this season.

Big Ten Unveils 2024-25 Women’s Basketball Schedule

The final pieces of the 50th season of Purdue Women’s Basketball have been set, as the Big Ten Conference announced the 18-game slate for its first year as an 18-team league.

With the nine Big Ten games at home, Purdue will play 17 times at Mackey Arena, plus the preseason exhibition against Indiana Tech on Oct. 29.

Season tickets are on sale now. For more information, click here.

Head coach Katie Gearlds enters her fourth season back at her alma mater with a balanced roster of seven returners and seven newcomers. Sophomores Sophie Swanson and All-Big Ten Freshman honoree Rashunda Jones headline the Boilermakers’ returning group. Gearlds welcomed in four transfers into the program, as well as a trio of highly touted freshmen in Jordyn Poole, Lana McCarthy and Kendall Puryear.

Purdue will square off with in-state foe Indiana for the only home-and-away series this year in Bloomington for the Barn Burner Trophy Game on Feb. 15, before hosting the Hoosiers on March 2 for the regular season finale.

The Boilermakers will open their Big Ten slate with one game before the holidays on Dec. 7 against Maryland.

Purdue will hit the road for back-to-back games out of the break with a Dec. 29 game at Iowa and a New Year’s Day matchup at Michigan State.

The Boilermakers will face all four new Big Ten teams in January, starting with UCLA on Jan. 7. Purdue will make the long trek for a back-to-back at Oregon on Jan. 15 and Washington on Jan. 18. USC will come to Mackey Arena on Jan. 22

Purdue will also host Michigan (Jan. 11) and Nebraska (Jan. 30) in January, with a road trip to Illinois on Jan. 27.

February will see the Boilermakers play three games at Mackey Arena against Wisconsin (Feb. 2), Northwestern (Feb. 12) and Minnesota (Feb.19), while going out on the road to face Rutgers (Feb. 9), Ohio State (Feb. 23) and Penn State (Feb. 27).

Purdue will open the 2024-25 campaign on Nov. 6 against Purdue Fort Wayne. The Boilermakers’ non-conference schedule features eight home games, including visits from Notre Dame (Nov. 10) and Kentucky (Dec. 14).