Taylor Anderson keeps moving up Purdue’s assist list, and the Boilermakers keep rolling.
The senior setter logged 31 assists Thursday night in No. 11 Purdue’s 3-0 sweep of Albany, a result that pushed the Boilermakers to their fourth straight sweep and lifted them to 6-2 on the season. Anderson’s latest outing was enough to move her to No. 7 on Purdue’s all-time assists leaderboard, where she passed Mary Fischl and Ashley Evans.
There’s still a sizable gap ahead of her. Darcy Orin is No. 6 with 4,523 assists from her four-year run in West Lafayette, while the program standard belongs to Renata Dargen, who piled up 5,871 serves while at Purdue from 2002 through 2005.
Purdue had to settle itself after a shaky start in the opening set, but once it found its rhythm, Albany never really threatened. The Boilermakers cleaned things up and finished off the sweep without much drama.
Heaney Grace Heaney once again drove the offense. The opposite finished with a match-high 11 kills on 18 swings and didn’t commit an error, while also adding a team-best three service aces and four blocks.
The supporting cast did its part, too. Kate Hansen put down seven kills and had four blocks, Addy Tindall and Mimi Mambu each added six kills, and Sydni Vice chipped in four. In the back row, Ryan McAleer had 11 digs, while freshmen Elle Schara and MaryKate Scheumann each finished with 10.
Purdue is back on the floor Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against UCF in its second match of the Stacey Clark Classic.
The bigger story for Purdue’s recent run has been Heaney’s surge. The Boilermakers have now posted sweeps in four straight matches, and she’s been central to all of it.
Against Albany, Heaney was scorching at .611. Last weekend against Houston, she had 10 kills on 24 attempts with just one error and hit .375. In the previous match against IU Indy, she was perfect, going 5-for-5 for a 1.00 hitting percentage.
"We had great passing tonight, we've been really working on that in practice," Heaney said after the match. "Our offensive execution is what we've been striving towards last weekend and into this week."
Heaney’s start to the season included a lower-leg injury in Purdue’s opener against Creighton, when she played only the first two sets. She has been in every match since, though she wasn’t fully at 100% against Texas A&M, Georgia and TCU.
Now, the preseason National Player of the Year looks back to full strength, and Purdue is getting the payoff at the net and in the back row.
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