Going into the last regional final of the night, it was a given that one of two teams would make their first Final Four* appearance. Pitt’s dream run ended after yet another five-set comeback by Washington, Wisconsin advanced again, Texas returned to the Final Four for the first time since 2016, but either Purdue or Kentucky would get their first chance.

It wasn’t the Boilers.

Early on, it looked like it might be. Tied at 4 in the opening set, the Good Gals used a 7-2 run to open up a five-point lead. Kentucky fought back twice, but Purdue led by five as late as 17-12 … when the second-seeded Wildcats scored seven straight to go in front 17-19 and looked like they were in front to stay. One more Purdue run put the Boilers up 22-21, but it was UK with set point at 22-24. Purdue did get the serve back, but an Avery Skinner kill sealed the first set, 23-25.

The second set was similar, but notably, Purdue wasn’t able to pull away at any point. They did lead as late as 19-18, but again a late UK run put them in a hole, and at 19-22, they managed just one more point, as the Wildcats used an 0-3 run to seal the set. Going into the break, 0-2 seemed like an insurmountable deficit.

It turned out to be exactly that. When a Grace Cleveland attack found the court, Purdue was already trailing 0-7. It got worse, with the Good Gals falling behind by as many as 11 before closing to 16-22. Once again, UK closed out the set, and at 16-25, Purdue’s tournament run was over. They’d end the season ranked #7 in the AVCA poll, their highest-ever postseason ranking.

Kentucky’s run never ended, as the Wildcats would go on to beat Washington and Texas in four sets each for their first-ever national championship. The Good Gals could take some consolation in the fact that they were the only team to hold Kentucky under .340 in a tournament match; UK’s .256 was their worst hitting percentage of the season. (That’s how good the Wildcats’ defense was; hitting .256 in a 3-0 sweep. Texas hit .333 in the title match against them, the only team to top .300.)

Let’s take a quick look back at the long weekend, then look forward for a bit.

*since the NCAA does only what it’s forced to do with women’s sports, it’s trademarked that for use solely with the MBB tournament, which means that announcers have to use the clumsy “national semifinal” instead of saying what literally everyone else is saying, reason one million why the NCAA shouldn’t be in charge of anything

7 Purdue 3, 10 Oregon 1 (25-17, 25-16, 22-25, 26-24)

The Boilers took control early, played Oregon close in the third but couldn’t get the sweep, then came close to allowing a fifth set before finally closing out the match.

Turning point

Down 19-21 in the fourth set, four straight Purdue points put the Boilers up 23-21. Oregon would force extra points at 24, but the Ducks never had a set point, and Purdue closed out on their first match point.

Leaders

Purdue

Kills: Caitlyn Newton 17 (.127), Grace Cleveland 15 (.351), Jael Johnson 10 (.474)
Assists: Hayley Bush 50
Aces: Johnson 1 (even), Newton 1 (-2)
Blocks: Taylor Trammell 4.5 (1 solo), Johnson 2.5, Cleveland 2.0
Digs: Bush 21, Jena Otec 17, Marissa Hornung 13, Maddie Schermerhorn 11

Oregon

Kills: Morgan Lewis 13 (.156), Gloria Mutiri 12 (.300)
Assists: Kylie Robinson 22, Elise Ferreira 20
Aces: Ferreira 1 (even), Becca Morse 1 (+1)
Blocks: Karson Bacon 3.0, Mutiri 2.0, Abby Hansen 2.0 (1 solo)
Digs: Brooke Nuneviller 22, Georgia Murphy 14, Ferreira 10

7 Purdue 0, 2 Kentucky 3 (23-25, 20-25, 16-25)

Turning point

That point at 22-21 in the first set. If Purdue wins that point, they’re in control of the set, and if they take a set, maybe it plays out differently. UK kept them away in the two close sets and took care of business in the third.

Leaders

Purdue

Kills: Newton 10 (.091)
Assists: Bush 23
Aces: Otec 2 (+2), Newton 1 (even)
Blocks: Trammell 3.0 (2 solo), Maddy Chinn 2.0 (1 solo), Johnson 1.0, Cleveland 1.0
Digs: Hornung 11

Kentucky

Kills: Alli Stumler 16 (.300), Avery Skinner 12 (.370)
Assists: Madison Lilley 38
Aces: Gabby Curry 2 (-1), Lilley 2 (+1), A. Skinner 1 (+1)
Blocks: Elise Goetzinger 2.0, Madi Skinner 1.5, Azhani Tealer 1.0, A. Skinner 1.0
Digs: Curry 16, Lilley 10, Stumler 10

Season recap

The reality of the volleyball tournament is that quality increases almost exponentially as you near the top, similar to WBB. It’s very difficult to break into the top eight and hold seed to the regional finals, even harder to break into the top four and make the Final Four, and still harder to get that elusive title (remember how Stanford destroyed everyone last season).

What that tends to mean is that a number of schools have their seasons ended in a way that doesn’t accurately show what they accomplished. Purdue is in that group. A fifth-place finish in the conference and a regional final appearance, the latter tying the best showing Purdue’s ever had in the tournament? Yes please! Dealing the Buckeyes two of their three conference losses, both in Columbus? Pushing Minnesota to five sets when Cleveland wasn’t yet back at full strength? Beating Penn State in four sets on the road? All good signs.

It wasn’t how we wanted the season to end, but when you get this far, very few schools end their season with a loss and walk away with a feeling of accomplishment. The three schools left who’ll do that will no doubt feel like they could have won if only …

All-Americans

As is tradition, we got the list of AVCA All-Americans during Final Four week, and for the first time in Purdue history, four Boilers made the list:

OH Grace Cleveland, First Team
OH Caitlyn Newton, Third Team
S Hayley Bush, Honorable Mention
L Jena Otec, Honorable Mention

Bush is one of two Hayley Bushes to be named honorable mention this year. (Fortunately, the sophomore OH from Drake spells her first name Haley, less confusion that way.) For her and Otec, it’s their first appearance; it’s technically Newton’s second, but the AVCA doesn’t note honorable mention as a repeat appearance. Cleveland was third-team AA last season, so they do acknowledge this as her second (of three? or four?). Otec is also the only Purdue DS or libero ever to be selected as an AA.

Purdue’s last first-team AA was RS Sherridan Atkinson in 2018; they had three total in 2019 (MB Blake Mohler was also honorable mention), 2017 (MB/OH Danielle Cuttino first team, Atkinson third team, S Ashley Evans honorable mention), and 2015 (OH Annie Drews second team, MB Faye Adelaja and Cuttino honorable mention). As a side note, Honorable Mention was added in 2003 after a brief appearance in 1982 and 1983, Third Team was added in 2002, and Second Team was added in 1984.

A look ahead to … uh … fall 2021

By now, everyone knows the story. Everyone gets an extra year of eligibility, super-seniors for 2021-22 do not count against scholarship caps. (As a quick reminder, FB, MBB, WBB and WVB are the four “head count” sports, where scholarships must be full scholarships. The limit for WVB is 12; as you’ll see by looking around, most teams have a significant number of athletes who are paying their own way.) Schools still have to pay for the scholarships, though, so there is a cost implication, and not every school will be willing to spend money on this.

Purdue, however, can likely afford to do so, since they have just two super-seniors for 2021-22 (Newton and Otec).

The following is assuming that nobody transfers. That would be pretty unusual, since a lot of players have extra eligibility now and there are going to be opportunities to play immediately elsewhere, plus there will be normal transfer reasons, especially once people are vaccinated and areas are safer and folks may want to play closer to home or whatever.

Also note that all eligibility is as of fall 2021.

Outside Hitter/Opposite

Most likely, it’ll be All-Americans 1 and 2, with super senior Caitlyn Newton and senior Grace Cleveland keeping their current spots. I would guess Cleveland would stay as an opposite even if Newton doesn’t return, just because it’s a good fit for her and she has experience there.

The junior trio of Emma Ellis, Maddy Chinn and Maddie Koch will provide both solid depth and a possible replacement in case Newton does move on. Chinn’s performance in the NCAAs likely gives her an edge in the fall, but I would expect Shondell to continue to give all three players reps, especially during a normal season with a full slate of non-conference matches.

Incoming freshman Emily Rastovski will provide additional depth and could push for playing time - as is now customary, anyone part of a top recruiting class (PrepVolleyball currently has Purdue’s class #10) is going to be in the mix right away if it’s possible.

Middle Blocker

This is where it starts to get fun. Senior Jael Johnson and sophomore Taylor Trammell return; fellow sophs Molly Brown and Lourdes Myers should be ready to get some extended action, particularly in non-conference play. Shondell knows what he has in the returning starters, and will likely want to see the other two make a mark early in the season. Purdue was mostly injury-free this season, an amazing feat given COVID and everything else, but that isn’t a guarantee for next season. Better to have too many talented players than not enough … I bet they won’t need to have volunteer assistants suit up for practice in the fall!

Freshman Raven Colvin will be in an interesting position. Shondell typically redshirts a MB when he can, but I don’t know if it’s better to get someone of her caliber into the lineup as soon as possible, or to redshirt her and push her four seasons out by a year for less overlap with the returning MBs.

Setter

Redshirt senior All-American Hayley Bush. There you go. In a 5-1 like Shondell runs, as Bush herself can tell you, if you’re not the starter, you’re taking notes and keeping yourself ready and probably not playing much. Redshirt sophomore Megan Renner will be ready, and I would expect incoming freshman Sydney Yim to redshirt.

Libero/Defensive Specialist

Super senior All-American and reigning Big Tenteen Defensive Player of the Year Jena Otec will be the libero again. Senior Marissa Hornung will start at DS and be ready to back up Otec as needed; junior Maddie Schermerhorn will be the other DS.

Senior Emma Terwilliger will likely remain the serving specialist, with junior Ava Torrance, sophomore Savana Chacon, and incoming freshman Ali Hornung working their way into the rotation if possible. Hornung is the most likely to emerge from this group, since as we’ve seen with Cleveland, the most highly-touted recruits tend to have the best potential, and there’s nothing like court time to help them reach it.

Summary

Purdue has a fantastic mix of experience (Trammell was the only freshman to get significant playing time this season) and potential (Newton and Otec are the only super seniors; 10 current players have two or more seasons of non-COVID eligibility left, with four incoming freshmen to add to that list). It will be interesting to see how many pro-ready players leave contending Big Tenteen teams - that does include Newton and Otec, but it’d be easy to see how they’d decide to return for another shot at a long NCAA run with this group.

Wisconsin has two redshirt seniors and eight total; they aren’t all returning, and you can make a case why Haggerty, Barnes, Hilley, Rettke and Loberg would stay for a shot at a title or would leave for whatever is next. I don’t think UW will return all of them, and Wisconsin has their usual depth (8 freshmen this season), so it’s possible none will come back.

Minnesota has a smaller roster and just four seniors, with only Pittman and Samedy getting regular PT. They could easily return both, and would instantly be title contenders, especially considering their early NCAA exit.

Nebraska has four seniors, and the money is definitely there to pay for Sun, Sweet and Stivrins if they want to return. (Densberger is farther down the DS/L chart and I wouldn’t expect her for a fifth year.) The Huskers would also be a challenge again even if none of the super seniors stay around; if all three are back, the conference will be really interesting at the top.

An interesting part of Ohio State’s solid season is that they have only two seniors. Again, the money is there - OSU could pay for an extra year for every single player if there weren’t scholarship caps and not even blink - so if Jen Flynn Oldenburg can keep the Buckeyes playing well, they should be right around where they finished this year.

Want some bad news? Penn State has one grad student on their roster this season … and no seniors. As you may have noticed, plenty of women are more than happy to pay their way to be part of that program. I wouldn’t expect a double-digit seed from the Nittany Lions next season.

Six teams could finish in the top four in fall 2021, and I didn’t even get into Illinois or Michigan, teams who were better in 2019 and fell off a bit this year. (Uh, if you’re a fan of a team below them … fall 2021’s gonna be rough.) If we get to a point where it’s safe enough to attend VB matches in the fall - go! Doesn’t matter what school you’re rooting for or where you’re watching. If it’s a Big Tenteen match, it’ll be worth it.

Feature image courtesy of Purdue Sports