WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The new era of Big Ten volleyball is set to launch this fall with the conference unveiling its inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Tournament, to be held at the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Indiana - just over an hour away from Purdue's campus.
The first round of the tournament will begin Friday, November 20, 2026 and culminate with the championship match on Thanksgiving eve: Wednesday, November 25, 2026. Fans can sign up to be notified via email when tournament tickets go on sale at bigten.org/vbtickets.
With the addition of the tournament, the conference regular-season schedule will adjust from 20 to 17 matches and move to a single round-robin format.
The top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the tournament, bringing the nation's premier volleyball programs together in one venue for the first time. Three matches will be played in the opening round of the tournament (seeds 10-15), followed by four second-round matches. Seeds 1-4 will have a bye until the quarterfinals on Sunday, November 22, followed by an off day, then the semifinals on Tuesday, November 24. The tournament will culminate with the championship on Wednesday, November 25. Match times and television information will be released at a later date.
Purdue will enter the fall season with more experience playing at the Fishers Event Center than any other league team, having two opportunities at the arena, including this coming Sunday, April 19 vs. Indiana at 2 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network. The Boilermakers also competed against the Vanderbilt Commodores in spring of 2025.
Coming off arguably the best season in program history and a Regional Finals appearance, the Boilermakers return all three All-Americans for the upcoming fall season, and four of its five program record-setting All-Big Ten honorees, which ties for first in the league with Nebraska and USC. Additionally, Purdue boasts eight freshmen on the fall roster (four redshirt, four true), tying for second in the league. The Boilermakers also welcomed two transfers in sophomore outside Lameen "Mimi" Mambu (previous school: Georgia Tech), who joined the team in January, and recently announced the signing of senior middle blocker Kate Hansen (previous schools: Clemson and Texas Tech), who will join the squad this summer.
In addition to the inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Tournament, two pieces of Purdue's 2026 regular-season schedule has already been announced: the first Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge, that includes Purdue hosting the defending national champions Texas A&M and Georgia September 1-2 and the first-of-its-kind destination tournament during non-conference play: The Paradise Invitational running September 11-13. Located at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar resort in Nassau, Bahamas. The Paradise Invitational will feature three 2025 NCAA Regional teams with Houston, Kentucky and SMU joining Purdue. The Boilermakers will take on the Houston Cougars on September 12 and either Kentucky or SMU the following day. Tickets for the event can be purchased HERE.
More information regarding the Big Ten Volleyball Tournament and Purdue's fall schedule will be released at later dates.