In West Lafayette, Indiana, the big Final Four drought that chagrins most Boilermaker fans belongs to the men’s basketball team, which is consistently strong but regularly comes up short in the NCAA tournament. Purdue hasn’t seen the basketball Final Four since 1980, which has meant loads of pressure on Matt Painter each March.
But there’s another Purdue team that’s a consistent winner that hasn’t broken through: Boilermaker volleyball. Dave Shondell isn’t getting the same scrutiny that Painter gets each spring, but Purdue’s tournament frustrations weigh on him just as much. The Boilers played in the regional final in 2020 and again in 2021, bowing out one step shy of volleyball’s ultimate stage.
Shondell knows how close his team is. For four years running, the team that ended the Boilers’ season (Baylor, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Louisville) did reach the Final Four. In Kentucky’s case in 2020, the Wildcats lifted the trophy as national champions.
Here’s a look at Purdue’s efforts to get to volleyball nirvana.
Taking the Long View: Building a Multi-Year Plan
Volleyball’s not a sport where players leave school early. That allows Shondell and other coaches to take and implement a multi-year plan and have the patience to see it out. Out of 17 players on this year’s roster, 11 of them are either freshmen, sophomores or redshirt sophomores. That means Shondell has plenty of time to test his team, see what works and figure out what changes he needs to make.
By the same token, Shondell also has the ability to find out how mature his squad is. Purdue might be young, but it hasn’t scheduled like a young squad by any means. There’s not a weak link among Purdue’s non-conference schedule. The Boilers have already played strong volleyball programs in Duke and Creighton to open the season, and they picked up a pair of wins over Kansas and Marquette at the Jayhawks’ tournament in Lawrence. They’ve also gone toe-to-toe with their Kentucky nemesis at home and won a five-game classic.
All of these lessons will serve Purdue well over the course of the next three years. Maybe the Boilers make a run to the Final Four this season, maybe not. But Shondell’s scheduling means that his team is learning plenty of lessons in lower-pressure situations. When Purdue gets into November, it’s going to remember what it’s learned from these games and put it into practice. Often, those are the differences that get a team to the Final Four.
Building Around Hudson: The Star Power Driving Purdue Volleyball
Most programs aren’t Nebraska, which has the ability to recruit almost any girl in its state that it wants at any time. Purdue’s surrounded by other strong programs in the Big Ten, which means it needs a piece it can build around for the long-term. If it’s an in-state player, so much the better.
That’s why getting Eva Hudson last year was so critical for the Boilers. Hudson is a star hitter from Fort Wayne who makes everyone around her better. Last year, she was the main attacker for Purdue, recording roughly one-third of her team’s kills.
That attracts attention from players around the country. When you have a star hitter like Hudson, it makes it easier to pull in top talent. Outside hitter Chloe Chicoine was always likely to choose Purdue, given that she’s from Lafayette and her grandmother attended Purdue, but having Hudson across from her meant teams couldn’t overload their blockers to either hitter’s side. That made it much easier for the nation’s top-rated recruit to commit.
What else do two top outside hitters need? A great setter to get them the ball. Enter Taylor Anderson, a freshman from San Antonio who was rated the top prep setter in the country. With Hudson and Chicoine on either side of her, Anderson knew she’d always have a great offensive option for three years. Getting a player like her to leave the state of Texas, where the national champion Longhorns were just 85 miles away from her home, represented a huge coup for Shondell.
Getting players like these makes Purdue a genuine contender for the next several seasons. It doesn’t happen without getting that first piece in Hudson.
Iron Sharpens Iron: How Big Ten Competition Elevates Purdue’s Game
The Big Ten remains the best volleyball conference in the nation. With long-time power Washington coming aboard and Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State and Minnesota remaining near the top of the nation, Purdue will get challenged plenty in its own league.
And that’s a good thing. The Boilers’ scheduling philosophy has shown that they want as many challenges as possible during the regular season. Purdue’s going to lose a few matches here and there in the regular season, but there’s nothing wrong with that. What matters is what Purdue learns from those defeats to make itself a better team.
The exciting thing for Purdue is that its time playing in the Big Ten and facing tough schedules will stack on each other in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Each match against a top-tier opponent will help remind the Boilers there’s no such thing as a night off. When Purdue gets to the NCAA tournament and every match becomes a no-night off situation, that’s experience they can build off when an upstart shows up and pushes them.
That’s how great teams break through to win a national title. And that’s why Purdue’s got a genuine shot to make a Final Four appearance and potentially even bring a volleyball title to West Lafayette between now and 2025.