Author's note: This was originally published October 15th, but I have brought it back to the front page since the event is this Saturday and we are helping promote this event. Be there to cheer on your Boilermakers!

James and I promote the Volleyball team as much as we can on Hammer and Rails (even though James forgot to get a preview and summary for this past weekend's games...), and we love this team, even if we are a little harsh on them sometimes. That's why we're using this site to also push volleyball's next big event: Operation 14K.

Operation 14K is a push to get 14,000+ fans, basically selling out Mackey Arena, to go to the volleyball game against Penn State on November 17th, breaking volleyball old attendance record of over 12,000 when it hosted a game in Mackey a few years ago (not sure on the exact date).

Penn State is currently the #1 team in the nation, and could possibly remain #1 since they face their big opponents before the Purdue game (Nebraska and Minnesota) at State College. Granted, Purdue has hit a slump, but are starting to turn it around after beating #19 Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday night. Purdue has only beaten Penn State in volleyball once since the late 1980s, and that win was just 2 years ago on Belin Court, the same year Purdue made the big run to the Elite 8. Of course, the team needs to play well in order to beat Penn State, but having a large and enthusiastic crowd will help pump our Lady Boilers (as evident by the 5th set against Illinois) and pull off the upset against Penn State.

Tickets are only $5 for the lower bowl and $2 for the upper bowl. Students should already have tickets through their VIP, and even if they don't tickets are still extremely affordable. This is the same day that Purdue plays at Illinois, which should be a noon kick off. I'm hoping to get most of the H&R crew to this game, and I hope to see most of you at Mackey Arena on November 17th.