The regular season is now complete for Purdue volleyball and the ladies have closed out one of the best in program history. After falling behind Oregon on Wednesday night 2-0 Purdue rallied for a reverse sweep of the 13th ranked Ducks. That momentum continued as Purdue beat Washington 3-0 tonight.
That victory gave Purdue a final regular season record of 25-6 and 16-4 in the Big Ten. It is a testament to the strength of the conference that Purdue went 16-4, but it finished in fourth place behind Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Penn State. Purdue lost all four matches it played against those two, who were a combined 79-10 entering play this weekend.
Against Oregon, Purdue was very nearly swept. The Ducks had three match points on the Boilers in the third set, but Purdue fought it off to win 29-27 before taking the last two sets 25-23 and 15-13. Eva Hudson was dominan with 20 kills over the last three sets alone . Chloe Chicoine had 16 kills and 20 digs. Hudson had 28 kills overall.
The win was especially cathartic, as the Ducks eliminated Purdue in the Sweet 16 of last year's NCAA Tournament.
Purdue closed the season out tonight with a 3-0 sweep of Washington 25-14, 25-23, and 29-27. Hudson had 13 kills and 13 digs while Raven Colvin had 12 kills and four blocks.
The win at Oregon likely locked up a hosting spot for Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. The top 16 teams are named first and second round hosts and Purdue entered the match ranked ninth nationally and 15th in the RPI. A road win at the Ducks all but sealed up a hosting spot given Purdue's resume.
The Boilermakers have nothing even remotely close to a bad loss. They have lost to No. 2 Nebraska, No. 4 Penn State (twice), No. 5 Creighton, No. 7 Wisconsin, and No. 11 Kansas. Purdue has ranked wins over Kentucky, Minnesota, USC, Oregon, and it won a tournament at No. 10 SMU (where it did not play the Mustangs).
The tournament field will be announced at 6pm Sunday night.
Boiler Upload is now a partner with Seatgeek. Use Discount code is BOILERUPLOADRIVALS to get $20 off your first purchase at Seatgeek.com
Boiler Upload is an affiliate partner with Homefield Apparel, a premium collegiate apparel brand based in Indianapolis. They feature licensed vintage designs for over 150 different colleges and universities from the Colorado School of Mines all the way to most of the Big Ten. This, of course, includes Purdue. I can speak from experience that their Purdue line is fabulous, including the awesome 1967 Rose Bowl retro tee. Visit Homefield and use code BOILERUPLOAD for a discount on their unique designs.