WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The No. 19 Purdue 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 (9-0-14 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 Sunday showdown on B1G+.
Quick Hits
Lourdès Myers set a Purdue record in the match, becoming the only Boilermaker to hit .818% in a fifth set match (9-0-14 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 Sunday 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.