Purdue Boilermakers
Spring 2021 Overall Record: 16-7
Conference Record: 14-6 (5th)
NCAA Tournament Placement: Regional Finals (L, 0-3 vs. Kentucky)
Final AVCA Ranking: 7
Head Coach: Dave Shondell (19th season at Purdue)
Record at Purdue: 388-199
Returning Starters:Hayley Bush - R-SR, 5'10 S
Maddy Chinn - JR, 6'2 OH
Grace Cleveland - SR, 6'3 RS
Emma Ellis - JR, 6'2 OH
Marissa Hornung - SR, 5'7 DS
Jael Johnson - SR, 6'2 MB
Jena Otec - SR+, 5'10 L
Caitlyn Newton - SR+, 6'1 OH
Maddie Schermerhorn - JR, 5'10 DS
Taylor Trammell - SO, 6'2 MB
Departures (* denotes starter):None.
Incoming Players:
Raven Colvin - FR, 6'1 MB
Ali Hornung - FR, 5'9 DS/L
Emily Rastovsky - FR, 6'1 OH
Sydney Yim - FR, 6'0 S
Spring 2021 Recap:Purdue's spring season did not start favorably. The Boilermakers faced a road trip to top-ranked Wisconsin without starting opposite
Grace Cleveland. That trip ended with no set victories.
The Cleveland-less condition was less of a problem against Iowa, as the Boilermakers picked up two sweeps. Purdue got their right-side hitter back for the crucial home tilt with Minnesota. Despite having numerous chances to close out the Gophers on both nights, the home team couldn't finish the job and fell in back-to-back five-set thrillers.
The train's next stop was Ann Arbor, where Purdue dispatched a Michigan team that was just starting its season. Four more easy victories against Northwestern and Indiana followed. A road trip to Penn State ended in a split.
Two more weeks away from home yielded four more victories. It started with Rutgers and ended with an impressive takeover of Ohio State in Columbus. Back at home, Purdue swept Illinois before their rivals found sweet vengeance to wrap up the regular season.
To the second round of the NCAA Tournament. High Point put up some solid resistance, but the Boilermakers found a way to sweep. Purdue fought off a late comeback attempt to down Oregon in the regional semifinals. Then, late on a Monday night, Purdue's season ended at the hands of the eventual champions.
The Lineup:The gang's all here.
If the train ever did leave the station, nobody was on it. Let's go through Purdue's spring lineup and discuss whether Dave Shondell will decide to do one big copypasta this fall.
The absence of Cleveland early in the season was unfortunate, but the standout opposite got back to business by week three. Once she came back, Purdue's lineup was fairly steady.
Hayley Bush was the lifeblood of the team at setter. She had plenty of good players around her, too.
Caitlyn Newton was back at L2. Cleveland did her little four-rotation boogie across the front row and right-back before getting DS'd by
Maddie Schermerhorn.
Jael Johnson and
Taylor Trammell were the M1 and M2, respectively.
Jena Otec held down the libero spot.
I left out the L1 on purpose.
Maddy Chinn or
Emma Ellis? The answer is yes. All of the above. Flip a coin. All told, Chinn appeared in 51 sets over the spring season while Ellis was a part of 35. You'd sometimes see one of them get subbed in after the other struggled. Purdue even rolled with Ellis early in the tournament before Chinn got the start against Kentucky. It's a free-for-all out here! Whoever was playing across the front row, though,
Marissa Hornung was the DS.
If we forget the L1 spot for a moment, can we conclude that everything stays the same from the spring? Eh, I don't know. Can we get Cleveland to play across the entire backcourt? Shondell obviously wasn't crazy about the back row redundancy between Cleveland and Newton, so perhaps it's just status quo there.
Maybe there's a shakeup at defensive specialist. Does true freshman
Ali Hornung push her sister for playing time? That would be spicy. Like the second episode of Monserez Madness. Mmm.
Everything else holds. Getting better efficiency from the left side should be a priority. That includes Newton, who had her struggles with errors at some key points. She's a crucial part of this team, no doubt, but some more reliable offense would be huge.
Oh, and who wants to play L1?
The Schedule:The Boilermakers have a solid non-conference schedule. It's not like Minnesota's raging hellscape, but it's good. Louisville and Wazzu would be big wins. Maybe Kansas won't tank this year.
Conference play looks like this:
The Verdict:Let's be honest. Whether it's outwardly said or not, there's going to be a lot of hope that this is finally the year for Purdue's breakthrough Final Four appearance.
Perhaps it would help this time if the Boilermakers don't get a regional final matchup against the Fall 2021 equivalent of Spring 2021 Kentucky. All regional finals are tough, but come on. I was there. The match was sad, it was late, and the press room ran out of cookies. Tragic.
Purdue should be able to comfortably lock up another top 16 seed this season, but how far will they climb up the ladder? The schedule grants several opportunities to bolster Purdue's tournament placement, with double dips against Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. For the Boilermakers, pre-tournament success will likely be measured by how frequently they can topple the other big dogs.
This team clearly has ample talent to compete with the Big Ten's best, but some aforementioned question marks will play a big role in how consistent Purdue can be. Will someone step up at L1? Can Newton reach another level?
Another trip to the regional finals will be expected. After that, dial up the pressure and see what happens.
(and a new profile pic for 
