Big Ten volleyball is always rough and tumble, but that is the nature of the conference. The top half of the league is usually ranked in the top 20 nationally, and quality wins are available all over the place. This weekend Purdue volleyball finished its regular season with a 3-1 win at Maryland and a 3-2 loss at #11 Penn State. That gave the Boilers a final record of 20-10 overall, but 11-9 in conference play.

That was still enough for Purdue to return to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight season and 12th time in 13 years.

A third consecutive trip to the Elite 8 will be a very difficult task given the draw Purdue has. They will open against a solid Tennessee team at Louisville, but Purdue did defeated the Volunteers 3-1 in Knoxville way back on August 27th during the season's opening weekend.

A second win over Tennessee likely sets up a different rematch, and a much tougher one. Louisville was named the tournament's No. 1 Seed in the region and they went 26-2, losing only to Ohio State and Pittsburgh, who are both in the top 10 (and Pittsburgh defeated Purdue in last year's Elite Eight).

New for this year, the top 32 teams are seeded nationally in pods of four and placed within four regions. Per the established bracketing principles, the top seeds are provided the opportunity to host. Additionally, team pairings are determined within the pods (ones paired with eights, twos paired with sevens, threes paired with sixes and fours paired with fives) and assigned geographically within their pods, with the exception that teams from the same conference are not paired during the first- and second-rounds. Purdue is officially the 8 seed in the Louisville region of 16 teams.

Purdue faced Louisville in Louisville on September 9th and were swept 25-18, 25-20, and 27-25. The Cardinals were 32-1 a year ago, losing in the national semifinals to Wisconsin for their only defeat. They also swept Purdue in Cincinnati early in the year.

The Boilers will play Tennessee this Thursday at 4pm, with Louisville taking on Samford to follow. Any second round game would be Friday at 6pm, also at Louisville.