Purdue Volleyball Reaches Sweet 16

Purdue volleyball is back into the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the last five NCAA Tournaments. The No. 3 seed Boilers were pushed at home by a solid Marquette team Friday night in Holloway Gym, but pulled out a 3-1 win (25-21, 25-23, 24-26, 26-24). Purdue now advances to the Madison regional where it will face the winner between tonight's second round game between Hawaii and Oregon at Oregon.

This match was all Eva Hudson, as the sophomore was completely dominant with 27 kills, 8 digs, and a solid hitting percentage of .288. Taylor Anderson was also huge in the middle with 60 assists on Purdue's 100 points. She also added 16 digs.

Chloe Chicoine had 15 kills and 10 digs while Raven Colvin had 13 kills.

Purdue set the tone early by racing out to a 4-0 lead in set 1. The Boilers then kept Marquette at arm's length throughout the set, eventually getting multiple set points at 24-19 before closnig it thanks to a service error.

The second and third sets were very different, as Marquette had the momentum in both. Marquette used a 9-3 scoring run int he middle of the set to pull in front 19-16. Purdue quickly tied it with three straight points before going back and forth to 23-23. Colvin and Hudson closed the set with consecutive kills to put Purdue in front.

The Boilers came close to making it a clea sweep in set 3. Marquette appeared to be in control up 23-19, but Purdue came roaring back with five set points to get to a match point at 24-23. Kenna Wollard was the one that tied it with a kill at 23-23 for Purdue and Chocine followed with a kill. The Golden Eagles recovered to take the next three points and stay alive.

Set 4 was very similar to set 3. Marquette got out to an early 7-2 lead and was close to taking it to five sets at 22-19. That is when Hudson took over the match. After a Chicoine kill made it 22-20 Hudson dropped three straight kills to make it 23-22. The Golden Eagles scored twice to get to another set point, but a kill by Hudson, a block by Colvin, and an ace by Maddie Schermerhorn gave Purdue the match.

Purdue will head to Madison, Wisconsin for the regional next week. Wisconsin and Penn State are already set for one regional semifinal, and Purdue went 3-1 against those two this season. Purdue will get the winner between tonight's match between No. 2 seed Oregon and Hawaii.

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.