Purdue at Rutgers
Wednesday, Nov. 15 / 7 p.m. ET
College Ave. Gym / New Brunswick, New Jersey
Live Stats / Watch / Listen
Purdue at Michigan
Saturday, Nov. 18 / 7 p.m. ET
Cliff Keen Arena / Ann Arbor, Michigan
Live Stats / Watch / Listen
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Coming off one of its best weekends in program history, No. 15 Purdue (20-7, 10-6 B1G) is set to begin its final swing of road contests with Rutgers (5-23, 0-16 B1G) in a midweek matchup before its first meeting with Michigan (17-11, 7-9 B1G). The Boilermakers are riding a three-game winning streak and own the nation's 18th best RPI heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
On Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, the Boilermakers will fight to sweep the season series with Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Purdue took down the Scarlet Knights in straight sets earlier this season on its home floor. Wrapping up Purdue's schedule of regular season matches on the road is a 7 p.m. matchup with the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The contest is the first of a back-to-back series as the Boilermakers will then host Michigan on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
Purdue is coming off a weekend in which it needed just seven sets to upset both, No. 5 Minnesota and No. 10 Wisconsin. It was the first time in program history the Boilermakers defeated top-10 opponents on back-to-back days, both of which were in front of sell-out crowds at Holloway Gymnasium. The victory over Minnesota snapped an 11-match winning streak while the win against Wisconsin was the Badgers' first three-set loss of the season. The 75 kills by Boilermakers against the Golden Gophers is the highest total any Big Ten team has registered in a match this season.
Purdue now has 55 ranked wins under head coach Dave Shondell and of those wins, 40 were upsets. Of Purdue's 32 wins over ranked opponents in West Lafayette, Indiana, since 2003 when Shondell took over, the Boilermakers were the lesser-ranked team in 24 of them.
Danielle Cuttino, Sherridan Atkinson and Ashley Evans were all honored with weekly honors following the big weekend.
Cuttino was named the ESPNW Player of the Week for the second time in her career after she led a Purdue effort in which it out-hit and out-defended both top-10 programs. She accounted for 10 of Purdue's 15 blocks on the weekend in which the Boilermakers out-blocked its opponents 15-13 while averaging four kills per set with 28 total kills and a .312 hitting percentage. She's now hitting .358, averaging 3.81 kills per set and 1.06 blocks per set since she moved to the middle back on October 20 against Penn State.
Atkinson was honored as the VolleyMob Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week following her performance in which she led Purdue hitters with 31 kills on the weekend and averaged 4.43 kills per set while also registering a .364 hitting percentage. The right side was a factor defensively as well, totaling nine blocks and 13 digs to average 1.29 blocks per set and 1.86 digs per set. She has torched opposing defenses in her last seven matches with hitting percentages north of .400 in five of them with at least 10 kills or more. She's hitting .418 in that stretch, averaging 3.85 kills per set with 104 total kills.
Both have Evans to thank as she was named Big Ten Setter of the Week for the second time this season after setting the offense to a .317 hitting with 102 assists total to fuel a 14.57 assists per set average on the weekend. Including herself, four Boilermakers hit .300 or better over the course of the two matches with at least 20 swings. She set her middles to a .354 hitting percentage with 45 kills while her pin hitters registered a .299 hitting percentage with 69 kills. Evans caught defenses off-guard for 10 kills on 20 swings with just four errors to earn a .300 hitting percentage. Her double-double against Wisconsin is her ninth of the season and she nearly registered a triple-double against Minnesota as she finished with 58 assists, eight kills and eight digs
Notes
- Purdue jumped six spots to No. 15 in this week's AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll and has been ranked in all 13 polls this season. The Boilermakers boast the nation's 18th best RPI.
- Purdue's total home attendance of 31,100 fans this season ranks 10th in the nation.
- Purdue is hitting .319 this season and ranks third in the country.
- Ashley Evans is averaging 11.55 assists per set ranking her third in the conference. She ranks third in the Big Ten since conference play began as she is averaging 11.67 assists per set through 16 Big Ten matches. She is the only Boilermaker in program history to register 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
- Danielle Cuttino is hitting .345 this season with a 4.09 kills per set average. Her kills per set average is good for second in the Big Ten and she leads the Big Ten in total kills with 380. Cuttino is averaging 4.19 kills per set with 239 kills in Big Ten play to lead the conference in both categories.
- Brooke Peters continues to improve in her first season as Purdue's libero as she has earned a 3.81 digs per set average in conference play to rank seventh in the league. The average is the second best in the conference among first-year liberos.
- Since the beginning of Big Ten competition, the Boilermakers have aced opponents 63 times to average 1.11 service aces per set and rank seventh in the league. Azariah Stahl, Sherridan Atkinson and Jena Otec combine for 42 of Purdue's 63 service aces against Big Ten opponents. Otec leads all freshmen with 18 service aces in league play.