When the game called, Eva Hudson picked up.
Hudson made obvious who the All-American on the court was in Thursday night’s first round of the NCAA Tournament, racking up a game-high 23.5 points. But without about 6 of them, her performance wouldn’t have shown nearly as bright.
Hudson scored two points, in the form of kills, in the first set to retake the lead for her Boilers. In the second, she made the last two kills of the set. And in the final game of perhaps Purdue’s most nerve-wracking 3-0 sweep of the season, Hudson had her part in two blocks to put her emphatic stamp on the Boilers’ season survival.
“I don’t know,” the junior said after. “I love pressure … It's a really scary thing when you're down by five or whatever in the second set and your season’s on the line.”
No. 4-seed Purdue (25-6) had witnessed nightmare fuel before taking the court: perennial power and No. 5-seed BYU was swept by unseeded Loyola-Chicago in the matinée match in Holloway Gymnasium. The Ramblers will play Purdue next round.
“I did not see that coming,” Purdue coach Dave Shondell said. “But I just thought Loyola was unbelievable. It was great that our players were there to watch that, because they know what we're getting into now.”
Loyola-Chicago, “scrappy” by Purdue hitter Chloe Chicoine’s estimate, were in many ways an example to West Michigan for the kind of night it takes to knock off a team like Purdue. The Broncos, with multiple 5-year players, had confidence to start with.
“I think a lot of people have counted us out throughout our five years,” said fifth-year libero Andelyn Simkins. “We knew we were going to be confident no matter what coming into the tournament.”
Simkins and Co. refused to go away. Despite a hitting efficiency discrepancy, they went point-for-point with the Boilermakers. With eyes running down a sheet of statistics afterward, Shondell chalked it up to a tough showing by the Broncos and a slight twist on the style of most of Purdue’s Big Ten opponents. And on Purdue’s side, Hudson, and also Chicoine with her 19 digs and 12 kills.
“She makes coaching a little bit easier,” Shondell said of Hudson. “When it comes down to crunch time, she normally rises up and finds a way to help this team win. It's a pretty amazing thing.”
According to Shondell, Purdue’s two left-side hitters are so far above the rest that the only one on the team who could do what Chicoine did, with all that defense, is Hudson.
“I think it's unique, sometimes you play teams and when you know they're going to one kid, you can kind of shut it down,” said the Broncos’ Logan Case, another fifth-year starter. Purdue, though, was going to two, and that made all the difference.
“They have a little bit more of an edge than most outside duos,” Case said, voice hoarse from the night’s strain. “We’re fighting things other teams don’t fight.”
Purdue’s next match is set for 6 p.m. Friday against Loyola-Chicago.
