Anderson leads #10 Purdue to a 3-2 win

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – In the first-ever meeting of the regular season between the No. 10 Purdue volleyball team and UCLA, the Boilermakers earned a gutsy 3-2 victory (23-25, 27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-11). . The win included not only the highest batting average in Big Ten play this season (.325%), but also six individual season and/or career highs along the way.

With the result, Purdue improves to 14-4 (5-2 Big Ten), while UCLA, a team that receives votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), falls to 8-8 (2-5 Big Ten). It was Purdue’s second win in five-set matches (2-1).

Purdue was led by the setter Taylor Anderson 51 assists, 12 digs, five blocks and a career-high seven kills. The sophomore was responsible for three kills and a block assist in the fifth set, including a block assist and a kill on consecutive points for a 12-8 lead. It was now the fourth game this season in which she reached 50 assists and the seventh game with a double-double.

Anderson and the batters didn’t allow any attacking errors in the fifth set, marking the second five-setter in a row (most recent: at No. 2 Nebraska) to go error-free. In fact, Purdue’s efficiency was .308% or higher in four of the night’s five sets and topped .400 in two.

Eva Hudson led the offense with 24 kills on 56 attacks with two errors (.393%). The outside hitter made a career-high 17 digs in the game, the most since her freshman season (17 vs. Illinois, 9/30/22), and went clean in three of the five sets.

The Boilermakers came back and stole Set 2 in their biggest set comeback of the season, winning it 27-25. The 10-2 run to close the set included five UCLA set points, marking the second time this season that the Boilermakers erased multiple set points in their comeback (most recently: 3 set points erased against Cal in Salt Lake City, Utah). Hudson had four kills and two block assists in the run, while middle Lourdes Myers recorded a kill and three block assists. Chloe Chicoine put away the set-winning kill.

Raven Colvin finished with a team-leading hitting percentage (.556) and recorded 17 kills and 2 errors on 27 attacks and six total blocks (1-5). She was just two kills shy of matching her career high in kills, which she set earlier this season at No. 16 in Minnesota.

Chicoine was error-free in four of the team’s five sets, finishing the night with 15 kills and three attack errors on 52 swings (.231%).

Libero Ali Hornung led both teams with 19 digs after seeing 43 receptions, also the most of any player in the game, and recorded a career-best seven assists.


No. 10 Purdue returns to action Saturday night at Mackey Arena as the team is ready to face Indiana for the rights to the Monon Spike at 7 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.