No. 10 Purdue women's volleyball hosts UCLA, Indiana

WEST LAFAYETTE – The No. 10 Purdue volleyball team hosts UCLA for the first time on Thursday before a announced sellout crowd to fill Mackey Arena for the Boilermakers' game against Indiana on Saturday.

Purdue will play UCLA (8-7) for the third time in history and for the first time as a member of the same conference.

UCLA has its own storied history that includes seven national championships, most recently in 2011. The previous two meetings took place during the NCAA Tournament, the last coming on December 11, 1981, when Purdue lost in five sets .

Purdue had a team-record 16 aces in its last meeting with the Bruins.

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“I think our focus is to beat them,” Purdue coach Dave Shondell said. “UCLA’s tradition in volleyball is similar to that in basketball. They are a bigger deal than us if you look at history. Recent history would show it favors Purdue, but they’re going to come in and try to prove something.”

Purdue (13-4) has won four of its last five games since being defeated at home by No. 4 Penn State on Sept. 25. It is the only loss in a five-set duel on the road against Nebraska last weekend.

Junior outside hitter Eva Hudson's attack has helped Purdue become a power forward at the net in recent games, aided by sophomore setter Taylor Anderson, who leads the Big Ten Conference with 677 assists. Hudson ranks third with 261 kills and a .268 hitting percentage.

Celebrations ramp up as Purdue takes on Indiana (9-7) on Saturday at 7 p.m. in front of 14,210 fans, where the game is sold out

Indiana and Purdue tied the series 1-1 last year.

“This may be the best Indiana team we’ve seen since 2010,” Shondell said. “They are very dangerous, they play hard and fight. They believe in what they do. There have been some big changes at IU and in the way they conduct their business in the last few years. They'll rise to the challenge quite a bit too.”

U.S. Olympic gold medalist Annie Drews will be in attendance. She will be inducted into the Leroy Keyes Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.

Ethan Hanson is a sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at [email protected]on Twitter at Ethan A Hanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.

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