Three Volleyball Players Earn Conference Honors

For the third straight year under head coach Dave Shondell Purdue has landed a freshman on the All-Freshman team. Freshman Eva Hudson was a unanimous selection to the All-Freshman team but she didn’t stop there. Oh no, she also was voted Freshman of the Year and First Team All Big Ten. Quite the campaign for the true freshman. She is the first freshman of the year for the Boilermakers since Debbie McDonald accomplished this in 1986.

To go along with Hudson, Purdue’s Raven Colvin and Maddie Schermerhorn were both named to the Second Team All Conference. Maddie Schermerhorn was also named the winner of the Sportsmanship award.

What’s interesting to this to me is that none of these three women were listed on the pre-season awards lists and yet here they are at the end of the year grabbing the attention of the conference. I think this speaks not only to the ability of the coaching staff to put the team in a position to succeed but also the willingness of this team to grind it out and put in the work. If you follow Big Ten volleyball at all you know how difficult this conference is. They’ve got the reigning National Champion in Wisconsin as well as perennial powerhouses such as Penn State, Nebraska, and even Minnesota and Ohio State.

Purdue will make their 24th appearance in the volleyball NCAA Tournament starting Friday when the 8th seeded Boilermakers take on the Tennessee Volunteers. The match will be televised on ESPN+ with a start time of 4:00 PM. Congrats to the players and good luck in the tournament.