No. 11 Purdue kept rolling Saturday afternoon at Holloway Gymnasium, finishing off UCF with a sweep on the final day of the Stacey Clark Classic and stretching its winning streak to five straight matches.
The Boilermakers came out firing and set the tone immediately, taking the first set 25-13. Purdue’s attack was dialed in from the start, posting a season-best .548 in that opening frame and never giving UCF much room to breathe.
Addy Tindall paced the offense with 18 kills on 34 swings. Mimi Mambu added 10 kills, while Grace Heaney finished with seven.
Kate Hansen and Taylor Anderson each chipped in five kills, and Anderson also handled 36 assists. Ryan McAleer contributed eight digs and five assists, while freshman MaryKate Sheumann led Purdue with 12 digs.
Purdue’s efficiency stood out all match long. After the blistering .548 in the first set, the Boilermakers followed with hitting percentages of .343 and .342 in the next two sets. As a team, Dave Shondell’s group hit .404 on the day.
Five Purdue players finished at .320 or better. Tindall hit .441, Mambu landed at .320, Anderson was sharp at .556, and Hansen along with Dior Charles both hit .500. It was one of the cleanest offensive performances Purdue has put together this season.
The redshirt freshman turned in one of her best outings of the year. She finished the first set with seven kills on 10 swings and ended the match with 12 kills on 18 attacks without an error.
Tindall cooled off some in the second and third sets, but UCF still had no answer for Purdue’s balance and pace. She finished with just three errors on her 34 attacks and posted a .529 kill percentage.
The sweep extended a run that began after Purdue was swept by TCU earlier this month. Since then, the Boilermakers have swept IU Indy, Houston, No. 8 SMU, Albany and UCF, giving Shondell’s team plenty of momentum heading into conference play.
Next up is a big week at home. Purdue opens Big Ten action against Maryland on Thursday before welcoming No. 6 Wisconsin to Mackey Arena for an early-season conference showdown.
In Other News...
Purdue Enters UCLA Opener With A Problem It Couldnt Afford
Purdue heads into Saturday nights Big Ten opener against UCLA carrying a set of absences it would rather not be dealing with this early in conference play. The Boilermakers announced that offensive lineman Joey Tanona, defensive end Elo Modozie and starting defensive back Mister Clark will all be out for the game, a blow to both sides of the ball as the schedule tightens and the margin for error starts to shrink. The matchup is set for Saturday night on the Big Ten Network.
Tanona has yet to appear this season because of an ankle injury, while Modozie is set to miss his first game of the year. Clark has already been sidelined since the previous game, and losing a starter in the secondary only adds to the challenge of lining up against a conference opponent in the opener. For Purdue, the concern now is not just who is missing, but how much those missing pieces force the Boilermakers to adjust before the first league test arrives. [Read more 🡒]