Volleyball off to NCAA; Nov. 28 updates

WBB finishes Cancun trip 2-1

Head coach Katie Gearlds notched her 250th career win as the women’s basketball team rolled to an 85-63 win over Harvard in the first game of the Cancun Challenge. The Boilermakers improved to 5-0 on the year with their first win away from Mackey Arena.

Purdue shot above 50% for the fourth straight game behind a red-hot 60.7% clip, a season high. The Boilermakers drained eight 3-pointers with six split evenly by Cassidy Hardin and Lasha Petree.

Petree dropped another 20-piece for Purdue on the young season, matching her season high with 23 on 9-of-14 shooting. Caitlyn Harper joined her in double figures with an efficient 15 points in 19 minutes on 7-of-8 from the field. Abbey Elis chipped in 10 points off the bench.

The Boilermakers dished out 22 assists on 34 made field goals. As always, Jeanae Terry led the way with eight helpers. Madison Layden added five. It was Purdue’s third game this year with 20 or more assists.

Purdue has scored 70 or more points in all five wins this season and held opponents to 63 or fewer points in every game.

The Boilermakers lit it up in the opening 20 minutes behind a 63.3% shooting clip and 6-of-10 from distance. Petree and Harper tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively to start. Terry dished out seven dimes in the first half.

Purdue held an 18-13 lead through the first quarter and broke the game in the second. Outscoring Harvard (3-2) 27-8 in the period, Purdue held the Crimson off the board until the 5:48 mark, while rolling off a 16-0run.

Harvard clawed back in the third. The Crimson scored a game-high 24 points in the period fueled by five 3-pointers. Purdue stemmed every Harvard run by never letting the gap shrink to less than 16. 

The Boilermakers closed the game out in the fourth with seven points from Petree and five from Terry. Purdue kept the Crimson to eight 3-pointers on the afternoon, below its season average.

The women’s basketball dropped its first game of the season with a 76-75 loss to Florida State on Friday at the Cancun Challenge.

Layden and Petree paced Purdue offensively with 15 points each. Layden notched all of her points on five made 3-pointers, while Petree connected once from distance.

Purdue (5-1) saw its four-game streak of shooting percentages over 50% come to an end as the squad hit 41.9% of its shots. The Boilermakers were 12-of-27 (44.4%) from outside, a season high for makes. Florida State (6-1) finished with a 46.2% clip from the field.

Ellis was efficient in her 28 minutes, going 4-of-6 from the field, 2-for-2 from three and 4-for-4 at the line for 14 points. Hardin added 11, including nine from deep.

The two clubs finished level in rebounding with 38. Terry posted her second straight double-figure game on the boards with 12. The senior added eight assists and six points.

Hardin sparked the Boilermakers early in the first quarter with a trio of 3-pointers. The fifth-year senior scored all her 11 points in the first Purdue built a lead to as many as 10 points in the opening 10 minutes on 8-of-16 shooting with five 3-pointers.

After Purdue carried a 24-19 lead though the first, Florida State came back to take a two-point lead, before Rickie Woltman’s putback with 7:16 left knotted the scores at 28-28. Neither team would score again until the 3:10 mark as Purdue closed the half on a 12-6 run.

The Boilermakers carried a 40-36 lead into the second half. Florida State trimmed the gap down to two early in the third. Layden drained a pair of contested triples, and Ellis tallied eight of her points in the frame to keep Purdue ahead 59-54.

The Seminoles started the fourth on a 10-2 run to take their first lead of the game. Petree connected from distance with 5:01 to play, but Florida State quickly opened up a five-point advantage. The Boilermakers managed to whittle the gap down to one-possession several times over the final minutes but never put together a run long enough retake the lead.

Smith made her lone 3-pointer of the game as time expired.  

The women’s basketball team rallied from behind to pull off a 71-65 win over Oklahoma State in the final game of the Cancun Challenge. The Boilermakers improved to 6-1 on the year and 2-1 this weekend.

The Boilermakers trailed by as many as eight in the third quarter and three in the fourth but outscored the Cowgirls (6-2) 11-2 over the final 2:26 to complete the comeback. Purdue held OSU to just 1-of-4 shooting in the final stretch.

Sophomore Ava Learn provided a much-needed spark off the bench with 12 points. The Hyde Park, N.Y., native was 2-of-2 from the field and 8-of-10 at the free throw line. Six of her makes at the charity stripe came in the final 10 minutes.

Petree kept her double figure stretch alive with 20 points on the afternoon. She added six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jenae Terry notched her fifth game this season with more than five points, assists and rebounds, totaling 11 points, seven boards and six dimes.

Learn and Petree accounted for nine of Purdue’s final 11 points. 

Purdue shot 44.2% from the field and added five triples. Despite losing the rebounding battle 39-36, the Boilermakers flipped 14 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points, while keeping the Cowgirls to just four points in nine boards.

Harper twisted through the defense for a layup with 4:06 to play in the first to give Purdue an 11-10 lead. That bucket sparked a 14-3 run that gave Purdue a 23-13 early in the second.

The Cowgirls punched back to score 19 of the final 23 points in the quarter, including a 15-0 run. Back-to-back jumpers by Petree late in the frame pull Purdue within five at the break.

The fifth-year senior paced Purdue with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes as Purdue shot 40% from the field.

After the Cowgirls opened a eight-point gap early in the third, Purdue carried 23-8 run into the fourth that saw the Boilermakers take a seven-point lead. Oklahoma State countered with back-to-back triples to take a 63-60 lead with 3:47 to play. Purdue went 7-of-8 at the line during the final run to seal the win.

Purdue will return to Mackey Arena on Wednesday for the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge game against Syracuse. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

VB Selected to Play Tennessee In NCAA First Round

The postseason journey is set to begin for the No. 8 seeded Purdue Boilermaker volleyball squad (20-10, 11-9 Big Ten) on Friday in a rematch vs. Tennessee at 4 p.m. ET in Louisville, Kentucky. The match will be played in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

The matchup will be hosted by the region’s No. 1 seed, Louisville. The winner of No. 8 Purdue vs. Tennessee will play the winner of No. 1 Louisville vs. Samford on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

Single-session tickets will go on-sale tomorrow (Monday) at 10 a.m. ET. The first and second rounds will be streamed – more info to come.

Purdue and Tennessee faced off earlier this season in the opening week of the season, where the Boilermakers took down the Volunteers, 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-19) to win the Tennessee Classic Tournament in Knoxville. Overall, Purdue is 8-1 against Tennessee. Friday’s meeting will be the third time the programs have faced each other since the beginning of last season.

With the team’s bid, Purdue has made the NCAA tournament 24 times in program history. Additionally, the ticket punched is the eighth consecutive year and the 17th time in the last 19 seasons.

Head coach Dave Shondell has led the Boilermakers to their 14th 20th-win season and 17th NCAA appearance. While at the helm, Shondell owns a 30-16 record in the Big Dance and is coming off back-to-back Regional Final berths.

This year, Purdue finished sixth in the Big Ten standings, marking the sixth consecutive year and 12th time in the last 13 seasons Purdue has finished sixth or better in the Big Ten.

The road trip will mark the first time Purdue has traveled for the opening rounds since 2018 (excluding the COVID season, in which the entire tournament took place in Omaha, Nebraska).

While Purdue’s first and second rounds will take place December 2-3, matches across the bracket will run from Thursday, December 1 through Saturday, December 3. The NCAA Regional Semifinals will take place Thursday, December 8 and Regional Finals on Saturday, December 10. The national semifinals and final will return to Omaha, Nebraska’s CHI Health Center Omaha, where the 2020 tournament took place. The semifinal matchups will take place on Thursday, December 15, while the national championship will be on Saturday, December 17.

VB drops regular season finale

The No. 19 Boilermakers fought hard, but came up short in the fifth set to fall 2-3 (25-23, 25-27, 17-25, 25-15, 8-15) at No. 11 Penn State. With the result, Purdue closes out the regular season with a 20-10, 11-9 Big Ten record while Penn State moves to 24-7, 13-7 Big Ten.

Purdue’s defensive effort included 17 total blocks and 68 digs, which included four Boilermakers reaching double-digits for the second consecutive match. As a team, the back row was perfect with no errors allowed on 100 receptions.

Setter Grace Balensiefer guided the team with 41 assists and 11 digs, the third double-double of the season, including the second consecutive match.

Eva Hudson closed out the night with 17 kills to lead the team on 60 attacks. Hudson ended the night with her seventh double-double of the season and her 20th 15+ kill effort. Meanwhile, senior Maddy Chinn produced 10 kills with just two errors on 22 swings for a .364 hitting clip.

Libero Maddie Schermerhorn tallied 18 digs in the match, while Ali Hornung recorded 13 digs. Together, the two defensive specialists have totaled 72 digs over the last two matches.