Purdue Volleyball: Regular Season Finale Preview

No. 16 Purdue (21-7, 13-6) has gone 7-2 over the last month of the season missing on their upset chances against then-No. 6 Minnesota and No. 8 Penn State. The Boilers though did take care of business otherwise, even getting the season sweep over No. 22 Michigan. Friday evening the regular season concludes for Purdue as they face Michigan State (14-14, 5-13) at 7:00 ET on BTN+.

Last weekend Purdue honored seniors Shavona Cuttino and Blake Mohler before the match against Michigan. The Boilers went on to sweep Michigan 25-18, 25-22, 29-27. Cuttino was error-less hitting .400 putting away six kills to go with three blocks. Mohler hit .385 finishing with eight kills and five blocks.

Wednesday, Purdue traveled to Ann Arbor and battled to a five-set win saving four match points in the final set; 26-24, 25-17, 20-25, 20-25, 20-18.

Caitlyn Newton was clutch for Purdue late in the fifth. Mohler saved the first match point then Newton picked up where she left off getting kills on the next three points. After the last, she got a solo block to give the Boilers a point advantage. Michigan saved one match then Purdue got another match point and went to the hot hand, as Newton finished the match off.

A late comeback gave Purdue set one as they finished on a 7-1 run. The Boilers dialed up the service pressure in set two as they went up 11-3 after five of their seven aces in the set.

Purdue was down most of set three and battled back to tie the score at 19 but couldn’t sustain their momentum as the Wolverines finished the set on a 6-1 run. Purdue struggled to sideout in set four as Michigan had a handful of service runs.

Newton finished with 23 kills and career-highs in blocks and aces, eight and seven respectively. seven aces. Moe Hornung also had a career day with 29 digs.

Michigan State Preview

Purdue has avoided bad losses this season and Friday is the last hurdle to get over. Sparty can be competitive, having taken sets off teams in the top half of the league and even forced Michigan to five last week. For Purdue, they just need to keep serving tough and stay locked in. Mental lapses can turn into dropped sets against the Spartans.

Key Players

class, height, position, # name, stats* from conference play only (in the conference)

Positions: MB- middle blocker, OH- outside hitter, RS- right side hitter, DS- defensive specialist, L- libero, S- setter

Stats: K/S- kills/set, B/S- blocks/set, D/S- digs/set. .000- hitting percentage, A/S- assists/set SA/S- service aces/set

So. 5’10 S 2 Hayley Bush- 10.62 A/S (6), 2.16 D/S

Jr. 6’1 OH 4 Caitlyn Newton- 3.65 K/S (5), 0.48 SA/S (1)

Sr. 6’2 MB 9 Shavona Cuttino- 1.21 B/S (5)

So. 5’7 DS 10 Marissa Hornung- 4.37 D/S (4)

Sr. 6’2 M 17 Blake Mohler- 2.32 K/S, .357 (9), 1.03 B/S (12)

Jr. 5’10 DS 19 Jena Otec- 3.16 D/S (13), 0.43 SA/S (4)

So. 6’3 OH 20 Grace Cleveland- 3.11 K/S (13), .252, 1.11 B/S (11), 0.46 SA/S (3)

Michigan State

Sparty is high-error and struggles to score which has held them back this season. If they get into a sideout rhythm they can cause problems.

Key Players

Sr. 5’9 S 2 Audrey Alford- 4.34 A/S (14)

Jr. 6’3 OH 3 Meredith Norris- 2.48 K/S, 0.33 SA/S

Jr. 5’6 L 4 Jayme Cox- 4.02 D/S (8)

Jr. 6’2 OH 11 Alyssa Chronowski*- 2.15 K/S, 0.81 B/S

So. 6’1 S 12 Elena Shklyar- 4.9 A/S (13)

So. 6’3 MB 17 Naya Gros- 1.17 B/S (8)

*Chronowski starred at Munster

The conference title, or at least a share is still up for grabs this weekend. Penn State will have to win out to split the title with Wisconsin.

NCAA Tournament Outlook

Purdue has a few quality wins but not enough to get a seed and hosting privileges. The Boilers went 3-5 against the RPI top 25 and 5-7 against the top 50. There are a few mid-west, non-Big Ten sites Purdue could be headed to Pittsburgh, Marquette, Kentucky, or Creighton. Lexington may be the most likely destination. Should Purdue end up in the Wildcat’s sub-regional we could get a rematch of last year’s second round match and a five-set Purdue win from earlier this season.

The tournament selection show will be Sunday evening at 8:30 ET on ESPNU.