Sometimes the only thing that sticks is the result, and Purdue got exactly that on Wednesday night.
The 14th-ranked Boilermakers survived a messy five-set battle with Georgia, pulling out a 2-0 mark in this year’s Big Ten-SEC Challenge and improving to 2-1 overall. It wasn’t clean, and it wasn’t pretty, but Purdue escaped Mackey Arena with a win after a match that swung hard in both directions.
The first two sets were a slog for Purdue’s offense. The Boilermakers still managed to take the opener 27-25, but they hit just .079 in the set, finishing with 14 kills and 11 errors on 38 swings. The second set was even rougher from an efficiency standpoint, as Purdue hit .085 in a 25-19 loss.
For the first time this season, head coach Dave Shondell went to middle blocker Bianka Lulic and setter Isabelle Bardin in search of a spark. That move helped some late in the set, but Georgia still held on.
Then Purdue flipped the script in the third. The Boilermakers rolled to a 25-10 win, committing only two hitting errors and looking much more like the team that had taken the floor against Texas A&M on Tuesday night. For a moment, it felt like Purdue had seized total control.
Georgia wasn’t done, though. The Bulldogs answered by taking the fourth 26-24, forcing a fifth set and pushing Purdue all the way to the edge. In the end, the Boilermakers held on 16-14 to close it out.
Purdue finished the night hitting .203 with 33 errors, and 20 of those came in the opening two sets. That uneven stretch defined much of the match, even with the third-set surge.
One of Purdue’s most steady presences was McAleer, who delivered what may have been her best performance of the young season. The junior libero had been solid against Texas A&M, but that night belonged more to Addy Tindall, Taylor Anderson and Mimi Mambu. Against Georgia, McAleer was front and center.
She kept rallies alive, made big plays all over the floor and helped Purdue stay in points it might have otherwise lost. McAleer finished with 27 digs and nine assists, coming just one assist short of a double-double. She didn’t record an ace, but she was excellent behind the service line as well.
MaryKate Scheumann and Elle Schara also chipped in on defense, combining for 20 digs.
Heaney provided the most complete stat line of the night and looked much closer to the preseason National Player of the Year form Purdue wants from her. After the injury in the Creighton match slowed her down a bit, she seemed to settle back in against Georgia.
The redshirt junior filled up the box score with 15 kills on 35 swings, 16 digs, three block assists, two assists and a service ace. With Heaney producing like that alongside Addy Tindall and Mimi Mambu, Purdue has plenty to build on even after a match that tested it in every set.
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There is plenty of confidence around Purdue handling the game, but the opener is also being treated as an early reading on something bigger than one Saturday afternoon. Beyond the Xs and Os, the more interesting question hanging over the program is whether Odom has the kind of backing needed to build something lasting in West Lafayette, and how quickly that support will become visible. [Read more 🡒]
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There is also a familiar layer to this matchup, because Indiana State has had to lean on reshuffling pieces and getting key contributors back into the mix as it tries to stabilize. That makes the opener less about drama on paper and more about whether Purdue can impose itself the way a program introducing a new era wants to do, especially against an opponent that has spent recent years searching for answers. The test on Saturday is not just winning, but showing the kind of baseline performance fans can point to as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]