Purdue Volleyball Off to 3-0 Start

Sherridan Atkinson picked up where she left off last season and looks well equipped to be the star this season for the Boilers garnering Co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors.

The Boilers started the Reamer Club Xtra Special Volleyball Premier with a win Friday morning over Wofford, 25-15, 25-18, 25-17. Purdue outhit the Terriers .280-.038. Atkinson got off to a blistering start with 17 kills on 31 swings with only one error (.516). She was no slouch defensively either pulling up 10 digs to go with three blocks and two aces. Julianna Reisinger had four aces to lead the Boilers from the service line.

Similar to the morning’s match Purdue had little trouble dispatching Bowling Green even without the fireworks from Atkinson; Purdue won 25-16, 25-15, 25-20. Caitlyn Newton was Purdue’s kill leader with 12 followed closely by Atkinson with 11 who again had two aces. Blake Mohler was a force at the net with six blocks. Hayley Bush was one of three Boilers with double digit digs giving her a double-double; 29 assists and 10 digs.

Purdue’s last set of the weekend was the closest. After trouncing Tulsa 25-9 and 25-11 in the first two sets, Purdue had to hold off a late charge by Tulsa to win, 25-23. Purdue blitzed the Golden Hurricane scoring 16 kills on 24 attempts with only one error (.625) in set one.

Atkinson again hit .516 for the second time over the weekend, putting away nine of her 18 kills in the final set, as the Boilers needed every last one of them. Down 12-10, Purdue went on a 6-1 run to put themselves in front. Purdue seemed to have the match in hand, up 23-20. Tulsa closed hard though, scoring a kill and taking advantage of a Purdue hitting error. Atkinson put down a kill to give Purdue their first match point, which Tulsa saved with a kill. This forced a Purdue timeout and again they went to their go-to hitter and Atkinson got the job done putting away one last kill to clinch set and the match, 25-23.

Blake Mohler and Caitlyn Newton both finished with nine kills, hitting .471 and .350 respectively. Brooke Peters led Purdue in the back court and at the service line with 23 digs and four aces. Marissa Hornung, Atkinson and Jena Otec all had two aces. Purdue hit .432 as a team.

Grace Cleveland got the start this weekend at outside and Shavonna Cuttino was Purdue’s second middle blocker.

B1G Weekly Honors

For her efforts, Sherridan Atkinson was recognized as Co-Big Ten Player of the Week. Atkinson averaged 5.1 kills per set while hitting .409 over the weekend to go with .66 aces per set. She also tallied her first double-double of her career. She split the honors with Ohio State, sophomore, middle blocker Lauren Witte.

AVCA Poll Week 1

1. Stanford (57)
2. Texas (7)
3. Minnesota
4. Florida
5. Nebraska

6. Penn State

8. Wisconsin

11. Illinois

20. Purdue

23. Michigan

RV Michigan State, Ohio State

Purdue is right back at home this coming weekend where they’ll face Oakland, Saturday at 6:00 P.M., and Notre Dame, Sunday at 2:00 P.M., which will be televised on ESPNU.