Purdue volleyball ready for final stretch

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Midway through this season, Purdue's volleyball team hit a rough patch. The Boilers lost five out of six matches. The players knew they had to stop playing as individuals and start playing as a team, if the season was going to turn around.

"We were pretty much playing as individual players on the court and on the bench," said Purdue sophomore Kierra Jones. "We were just like we need to change something. We started saying we are one in the huddle and that has been a big turn around and we have become a team instead of individual players. "

"We all stepped up and raised our level as a team to get to where we needed to be," said Purdue freshman Amanda Neill.

Purdue then won five straight matches before losing a five set match on the road to Nebraska.

"I think we are getting better. We have performed better against teams that we have played a second time," said Purdue head coach Dave Shondell. "The biggest thing was we just didn't panic. I think our team had great leadership and they held together."

"It is an awesome feeling because we know what we can do and we are excited to just keep going on," said Neill.

The Boilers now begin a four game home stretch to close out the regular season. If Purdue can win three out of the four games. They will have a good chance of playing at home in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.

"We would like to host if we can," said Shondell. "It's not the end of the world if we don't host. If we win our last four then we are going to host. If we win three out of our last four then we have a good chance to host. We are going to be prepared to play at home and we are going to be prepared to play on the road. I don't think any of those top seeded teams are going to be excited about Purdue coming into their gym because we are going to be really good at tournament time."

Purdue has to start by taking care of business on Friday night at Belin Court against No. 15 Ohio State. The Boilers then follow that match with a Saturday night home game against No. 2 Penn State at Mackey Arena. Purdue will then face Indiana on November 21 and Wisconsin on November 23.