Volleyball Sweeps Penn State; Purdue Sports Update Nov. 5

VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS PENN STATE

The No. 19 Boilermakers completed a series sweep over No. 16 Penn State with a five-set thriller, winning the match 3-2 (25-17, 25-15, 21-25, 20-25, 15-12). The victory not only secured third place in the Big Ten standings and the first series sweep over Penn State under head coach Dave Shondell, but culminated in seven individual career-highs, an additional three season-highs and the fourth-highest individual hitting percentage in program history.

Lourdès Myers set a Purdue record in the match, becoming the only Boilermaker to hit .818% in a fifth set match (10-14 attempts). The performance tied as the fourth-highest overall hitting % by a Boilermaker in any match, a feat accomplished by just four other Boilermakers, including fellow teammate Raven Colvin (.900% in 2021). Moreover, it was the highest attack % by a Big Ten player in a conference match this year. Myers, a redshirt junior, had an errorless performance with nine kills on 11 attacks, and added a career-high eight total blocks.

Purdue earned its 15th win of the season, improving to 15-8 (9-5 Big Ten) while Penn State falls to an identical record, however with the series win (first: 3-1 at Rec Hall, 10/22), the Boilermakers jump ahead of the Nittany Lions, securing third place in the Big Ten standings with just three weeks remaining in the regular season.

Up next, Purdue will travel to Minnesota, a team receiving votes in the poll, for a Friday night match in Minneapolis. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on B1G+. Then, Purdue rounds out the week at home vs. Michigan State for a 1 p.m. ET showdown on B1G+.

Quick Hits

• Purdue is now 5-3 vs. top-25 teams and 9-3 vs. teams ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA/Taraflex poll. Since the start of September, Purdue has dropped just two matches to top-25 teams, both of which were No. 1 and No. 2 in the poll (Wisconsin and Nebraska).
• Purdue improved to 4-3 in fifth sets. The match marked the seventh time this season the Boilermakers have gone to five sets and the first since vs. Northwestern on October 1.
• Through the first three sets, Purdue out-hit Penn State .301% vs. .135%.
• Chloe Chicoine set a career-high 27 kills in the victory, doing so on a .377 hitting %. It was the most kills by a Boilermaker in three seasons (29 by Caitlyn Newton vs. Minnesota, 2/6/21). The freshman produced a double-double, her seventh of the season, ending the day with a career-high-tying 14 digs.
• Purdue was dominant over the first two sets, holding the lead the entire first set, despite Penn State tying the match five times. Meanwhile, the team hit .500% in set two, with just two team attack errors in the set.
• Purdue registered its highest side-out performance of the day in Set 5, securing the match with a 76% side-out and a .350 attack %.
• Eva Hudson matched a career-high 24 kills (.254%), while coming one attack shy of tying her career-high in attempts. The Boilermaker closed out the night one dig shy of a double-double.
• Myers began the match with a perfect six kills on six attacks.
• The Boilermakers hit .500 in the second set while holding Penn State to .081%.
• Maddie Schermerhorn had one of the best matches of her career, totaling 27 digs in the match, a season-best and one shy of tying her career-high, set a year ago at Michigan (28 digs, 11/6/22).
• Setter Taylor Anderson came three assists shy of her career-high, finishing the day with 53 assists and one dig shy a double-double. The freshman added three key block assists as well.
• Emily Rastovski came off the bench, recording a season-high-tying three kills and a career-high four digs and three block assists.
• Over the last nine matches, Purdue is 5-4 vs. Penn State. Meanwhile Purdue is 11-59 since the two teams first met in 1981.
• The Boilermakers completed a series sweep vs. Penn State in just one other season: 1982.

WBB DROPS SEASON OPENER AT UCLA

The Purdue women’s basketball team dropped its season opener on the road against No. 4 UCLA on Monday night (Nov. 6) 92-49.

A pair of Boilermakers finished in double figures. Caitlyn Harper finished with 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers. Abbey Ellis joined her with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Jeanae Terry finished with a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.

Purdue shot 34% from the field and dished out eight assists on 17 made field goals.

Purdue’s freshman class joined the fray early in the first half, Mary Ashley Stevenson, Rashunda Jones and McKenna were the first three subs off the bench. Emily Monson made her first appearance in the fourth. The quartet combined for 20 points, four rebounds and two assists, led by Stevenson’s eight points on 3-of-5 shooting.

The Boilermakers battled back from multiple double-digit deficits in the first half. Harper gave Purdue a spark on the offensive end with eight points, including a pair of triples. The sixth year forward sparked a 10-4 run late in the frame to cut the gap to nine with 3:18. UCLA responded with nine straight points to take a 42-24 advantage into the break.

UCLA pulled away in the second half behind two 20-point outings by Londynn Jones and Lauren Betts. The Bruins shot 54.7% from the field and went 13-of-28 from behind the arc.

NOTES
• Purdue is now tied the all-time series with UCLA 2-2.
• Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds played in all three previous matchups with the Bruins during her career, averaging 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
• Gearlds enters her third campaign back at Purdue after guiding her alma mater to back-to-back postseason appearances in each of her first two seasons.
• Purdue returned to the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2017, after posting a 19-11 record overall and a 9-8 mark in Big Ten play, the Boilermakers’ first winning record in conference since 2017-18.
• Purdue last faced a top-5 opponent to start the season against No. 5 Kansas State in 2003-04 to start Katie Gearlds‘ freshman campaign. The matchup is just the first of a challenging non-conference slate that features four Power 5 teams in the first five games, plus a bout at Notre Dame in December. Purdue will play seven games against the top 14 of the first AP Top-25 poll of the year.
• All-Big Ten selection Jeanae Terry is looking to climb the career assist charts, starting the year in 14th with 373 helpers at Purdue. Terry is the only player in Purdue history with multiple triple-doubles.
• The Boilermakers take the notion of the team being a family to a whole new level this year with three sets of sisters – Madison and McKenna Layden, Amiyah and Mila Reynolds and Caitlyn and Alaina Harper – the most on any roster in the nation this season. Utah Tech is the only other program to have more than one set of sisters on its roster. 
• To compliment the five returners on the roster, Gearlds welcomed in eight newcomers, including six freshmen for the 2023-24 season. The five rookies who signed in November were tabbed No. 21 in the nation, before top-50 recruit Amiyah Reynolds joined in May.
• Gearlds also added a pair of star-studded staff members during the offseason in 1999 National Champion and associate head coach Kelly Komara and dynamic recruiting assistant coach Mark Stephens.
• Three of Purdue’s 10 Indiana Miss Basketball winners are a part of the team this year (Jayla Smith – 2021, Katie Gearlds – 2003, Kelly Komara – 1998). Madison Layden and Rashunda Jones both came in second their senior seasons. Freshman Sophie Swanson was named Illinois Miss Basketball as a junior. 

The Boilermakers home opener is Sunday vs. Southern as Purdue honors the 1999 National Champs.

MEN’S TENNIS: FALL SLATE ENDS WITH 6 SUNDAY WINS

The Boilermakers close out the Bonita Bay Classic with six Sunday wins.

The early morning began with Purdue taking two of the three doubles contests. Aleksa Krivokapic/Marino Jakic teamed up this weekend to bookend the tourney with Friday and Sunday wins. Meanwhile Xander Ekstrand/Juan David Velasquez came up with their first win of the weekend, and the pair still remains under .500 with a 2-4 record as a tandem.

Jakic and Velasquez were the only players to win both their singles and doubles contests. Jakic finishes the fall campaign strong with three consecutive wins dating back to Saturday’s singles win over Harry Michalowski. 

Velasquez had a tough battle to fight as he allowed a super tiebreak after taking the first set 6-2. Luckily, the freshman showed out for his home state with a nail biting 13-11 win in the tiebreak set. He ends his first fall season 5-2.

Rounding out the final day of the tournament, Mujtaba Ali-Khan and Henrik Villanger picked up straight sets wins. Ali-Khan has won two in a row outsourcing his opponents 25-14 in four total sets. Villanger dominated Wichita State’s Richey King allowing just one game through the entire match. The rookie is 6-3 as he wraps up his first collegiate fall.

WOMEN’S TENNIS: THREE BOILERS END FALL WITH 10+ WINS

Purdue closed out the Bonita Bay Classic with five wins over in-state rival Notre Dame.

The hidden dual would have resulted in a 4-3 win for the Boilers as they won two of the three doubles matches. Carmen Guevara/Tara Milic and Juana Larranaga/Ashlie Wilson both won two of their three matches this weekend. Larranaga/Wilson teamed up for a two-win weekend after Wilson replaced Calissa Dellabarca on Saturday. Wilson closes out the fall season with just two matches played but remains a perfect 3-0 in her doubles career.

Three singles wins were highlighted with a ranked win from Fodor. Csilla upset No. 53 Page Freeman in straight sets and picks up her second ranked win of the fall. Pareja also capped her weekend off with consecutive straight set victories over FGCU on Saturday and the Irish today. 

Gibbs has shined in her second fall with the team, sweeping the weekend in singles and finishing the fall with an 11-1 record. Seven more wins than her freshman campaign.

The Boilermakers finish with three players recording 10+ wins, the second time in three seasons with multiple 10+ win performers.

WRESTLING 2023-24 SEASON PREVIEW: 165-285

The Boilermakers will open their season at the Clarion Open for the second straight year this Sunday, bringing a lineup that is once again expected to be one of the youngest in the Big Ten.

Head coach Tony Ersland wrestled 10 freshmen in duals in the 2022-23 campaign, the most of any Big Ten team, and the youth movement will continue into this year with a talented recruiting class now on board. 

16 duals and five tournaments on the schedule will give the full roster opportunities to showcase their talents and contribute to the team, so let’s take a look at who will be donning the old gold and black this season.

165
It’s a pair of familiar faces to start our second half of the lineup preview as redshirt-sophomore Stoney Buell and senior Cooper Noehre look set to reprise their roles at 165 this season. Buell held down the spot for most of last year, going 12-16 with seven bonus point wins.

Noehre has served as the Swiss army knife for this team his entire career and he did so once again in 2022-23. He spent time wrestling at both 165 and 174, making him the only wrestler in the program right now to have wrestled at three different weight classes in his career. He went 8-9 at 165 with two major decisions. True freshman Delaney Ruhlman rounds out the group.

174
Redshirt-freshman Brody Baumann showed a lot of promise in his limited action last season and will continue to improve going into his second year with the program. He put together a 7-5 record in varsity competition, picking up his first dual win in an impressive display over Wisconsin’s Josh Otto.

Crown Point, Ind., native Orlando Cruz will back up Baumann in his first year. The No. 118 overall recruit joins the Boilermakers after wrapping up an Indiana state title run with three straight pins.

184
The lone newcomer expected in the back half of the starting lineup for Purdue is transfer James Rowley. Coming to West Lafayette from Wisconsin, the redshirt-freshman saw little action in his first collegiate season but comes with an impressive wrestling pedigree. He was a four-time Oregon state champion, won a silver medal at the Cadet Freestyle World Championships, and was also named Oregon’s representative for the 2022 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.

Pushing Rowley for the starting spot will be two guys who are going into a new weight class this season in senior Macartney Parkinson and redshirt-sophomore Hayden Filipovich. Parkinson has seen time at 184 before, spending his first two seasons there, but was wrestling 174 last year where he went 9-13. Filipovich is down from 197 this year after serving as the starter there in 2022-23.

197
With Filipovich moving down, redshirt-sophomore Ben Vanadia moves up to take on the 197 spot. He compiled a 13-17 record as the starter at 184 in his redshirt-freshman season, racking up four major decisions and three pins.

Senior Mitch Hutmacher has wrestled at both 184 and 197 in all three of his previous seasons and is likely to help the team in the same way again this year. He had a 10-11 record between the two weights in his junior year.

285
It’s a two-headed redshirt-sophomore monster for the Boilermakers at heavyweight once again this year, as both Hayden Copass and Tristan Ruhlman will take the mat at 285 this season. A seventh-place finish at the 2023 Big Ten Championships and his first NCAA qualification earn Copass a No. 27 preseason ranking, his first foray into the national lists. He went 9-11 in his redshirt-freshman campaign with three of those wins coming over ranked opponents.

Ruhlman had put together a strong start to his 2022-23 season before an injury at the Southern Scuffle put him out for the year. He had compiled an 11-7 record with three pins in the non-conference, none more exciting than his walk off pin of Chattanooga’s Logan Andrew to give the Boilermakers the win that dual. He looks to push Copass and bounce back from his midseason setback this year.

Ersland also added Fishers, Ind., native Dominic Burgett as another part of that stacked 2023 recruiting class.