A No. 4 preseason spot is solid on paper. For Purdue volleyball, though, it looks a little too modest.
The Big Ten’s preseason poll for 2026 placed the Boilermakers behind Nebraska, Wisconsin and Penn State, but the case for Purdue being the league’s second-best team is pretty strong when you stack up what’s coming back in West Lafayette.
That starts with a 27-7 team from 2025 that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before losing to top-seeded Pitt. Given the turnover Purdue dealt with in the transfer portal, that run caught plenty of attention. Now the Boilermakers bring back a core that gives them a very different look entering this season.
Kenna Wollard is back after a monster year. The All-American outside hitter finished third in the Big Ten in kills and posted 577 of them, good for seventh nationally.
She hit .262 and added 61 blocks. Alongside her, Purdue returns All-American right-side hitter Grace Heaney, who put up 399 kills with a .319 hitting percentage on 945 swings and finished second on the team with 105 blocks.
The engine behind all of it is senior setter Taylor Anderson, who led the nation with 1,420 assists and averaged 10.84 assists per set. She is widely regarded as one of the best setters in the country, and she gives Purdue a steady hand to feed a loaded attack.
The Boilermakers also get back Dior Charles and Bianka Lulic at middle blocker. Charles led the team with 146 blocks, while Lulic filled more of a role-player spot. Even with Akasha Anderson gone - and her knack for finishing matches will be hard to replace - Purdue still has plenty of size and production around the net.
There’s more than just the returnees, too. Purdue added Mimi Mambu from Georgia Tech after she led the Yellow Jackets in kills as a freshman with 304.
Kate Hansen also arrives from Clemson as a 6-foot-3 senior middle blocker after starting for the Tigers and finishing with 242 kills and 81 blocks. Those additions should deepen the roster and take some of the burden off Wollard, Charles and Heaney.
The back row looks just as strong. Ryan McAleer, who played as a true freshman before breaking out as a sophomore, earned second-team All-Big Ten honors after averaging 3.634 digs per set and 1.267 assists per set.
Dave Shondell told Purdue Boilermakers On SI in the spring that McAleer was also becoming one of the team’s vocal leaders, which matters even more with Akasha Anderson no longer in the mix. McAleer has the kind of profile that could put her in All-American territory as a junior.
Nebraska still sits at the top of the league until someone proves otherwise, but Purdue has the pieces to be the biggest threat. The Boilermakers return 71% of last year’s kills, and that kind of production is hard to ignore.
The real test comes early. Purdue opens the 2026 season against Creighton on Aug. 28 in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the Bluejays are usually a top-20 team.
A few days later, the Boilermakers face reigning national champion Texas A&M on Sept. 1 and Georgia on Sept. 2 in the Big Ten-SEC Challenge. TCU, Houston and either SMU or Houston are also on the schedule.
Shondell believes he has a Final Four-caliber team, and the nonconference slate will give Purdue a chance to back that up before Big Ten play even settles in. The preseason ranking may say fourth, but the Boilermakers will have every opportunity to show they belong much higher.
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Painters concern is less about effort than about edge. Purdue is getting pressure on the outside, but the next step is bringing more physicality around the rim and holding up better in the paint, especially once exhibition play arrives in October and the season opener follows in November. Fans tracking the post-Canada reset will have a good idea soon whether those lessons are sticking. [Read more 🡒]
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Purdue Volleyball Just Sent A Clear Message About Its 2026 Ceiling
Purdues offseason got a pretty clear endorsement when three of its own landed on the AVCA Player of the Year watch list for the 2026 college volleyball season. Kenna Wollard, Taylor Anderson and Grace Heaney each earned the nod after playing major roles in 2025, giving Dave Shondells program an early reminder that the Boilermakers should enter the new season with real star power across the court.
Wollard emerged as a force at outside hitter, Anderson drove the offense as the teams top setter, and Heaney came back strong after injury to make an impact at opposite hitter. Individually, each player already looks like a centerpiece, and together they give Purdue a ceiling that feels higher than a typical preseason headline. The bigger question now is how far that talent can carry the Boilermakers once the matches start to matter. [Read more 🡒]