Purdue Sports Update Sept. 4

#17 Volleyball Falls to #23 Georgia Tech

In No. 17 volleyball’s first match of the season against a ranked opponent, the Boilermakers fell to No. 23 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 1-3 (21-25, 22-25, 25-20, 17-25).

With the result, Purdue suffered its first loss of the season (2-1) while Georgia Tech remains undefeated (4-0).

The Stacey Clark Classic resumes tomorrow for the second of three days. First, No. 15 Kansas will play No. 23 Georgia Tech at 3 p.m. ET followed by No. 17 Purdue vs. Bowling Green at 7 p.m. ET.

Notes

• Three attackers: Kenna Wollard, Lindsey Miller and Grace Heaney hit .300 or better in the match.
• Kenna Wollard set a career-high 24 kills on a .321 clip
• Grace Heaney notched her first career double-double, totaling a career-high 13 digs and 13 kills.
• Purdue suffered its first loss vs. a team ranked No. 20-25 in the AVCA poll since 2016 (10-1 over the last 11 matches).
• The result marked Purdue’s first-ever loss in the Stacey Clark Classic (21-1 record).
• Taylor Anderson notched 49 assists, a season-high.
• Dior Charles led the blocking effort on five of the team’s nine blocks.
• The match saw a total of 21 tied scores and 10 lead changes in the match
• Despite the score, Purdue held the edge in attack efficiency in both the second and third sets.

Stacey Clark Classic Match Schedule:

Wednesday, 9/3
#15 Kansas 3, Bowling Green 1
#23 Georgia Tech 3, #17 Purdue 1

Thursday, 9/4
3pm ET: #23 Georgia Tech vs. #15 Kansas | B1G+
7 pm ET: Bowling Green at #17 Purdue | B1G+

Friday, 9/5
1pm ET: Bowling Green vs. Georgia Tech | B1G+
7 pm ET: #15 Kansas at #17 Purdue | B1G+

Brown Goes Low to Secure Top 10 Finish

Samantha Brown fired a career-low 69 to vault up the leaderboard and finish ninth to lead Purdue Women’s Golf in the season-opening Boilermaker Classic. The sophomore played the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex’s Kampen-Cosler Course even par (75-72-69—216) through three rounds to record her first Top 10 performance for the Old Gold and Black.

As a team, Purdue (+14) placed fourth as Ole Miss (-2) claimed the team title. The Boilermakers led the field in pars (175) and ranked second in par-4 scoring (+12).

Brown bested her previous low 54-hole total by five strokes. She found most of her success on the par 5s, playing the holes 4-under throughout the tournament to rank third in the field. Brown birdied two par 5s in the final round as part of her team-high five birdies on Tuesday. She started 3-under through her first eight holes, while playing the front nine bogey free for a 33.

Lauren Timpf matched her best three-round score of her career, finishing 3-over (69-76-74—219) to tie for 15th. The sophomore’s tournament was highlighted by an opening round 69 (-3), her lowest round as a Boilermaker. Throughout the two days, Timpf played the par 3s 2-under par to rank third in the field. During the final round, she nearly made an ace at the 13th, throwing a dart within two feet of the cup for an easy birdie.

Newcomers Ashley Kim (+5) and Luana Valero (+9) placed 18th and 28th, respectively, on the individual leaderboard. While Kim carded a 72 in the first round, Valero played her best golf in the final round with a 72 of her own. The freshman started with a birdie on the par-5 sixth before nearly driving the green at the short, par-4 seventh. Deciding to use the putter from the fringe, Valero drained the 50-foot bomb for eagle to start her day 3-under after just two holes.

Sophomore Michaela Headlee shot 74 (+2) in the final round to help the team’s score. Making her debut in the Purdue lineup, she tied for 48th overall at 12-over. Headlee’s final round featured four birdies, including three on the front nine.

The Boilermakers waste no time returning to tournament competition. After kicking off the season as home, Purdue hits the road for the first time, traveling to Michigan to compete in the Wolverine Invitational (Sept. 7-8).

Zhu Finishes 3rd; Boilers Post 2nd-Best Score in School History

The men’s golf team had another strong round, but couldn’t catch a red-hot West Virginia team, finishing second in the season-opening Island Resort Intercollegiate held at Sage Run Golf Club in Bark River, Michigan.

Purdue fired a 54-hole score of 49-under par 815 (277-264-274) to finish six shots behind West Virginia (-55) for a runner-up finish. Michigan was third at 42-under par 822, while Michigan State (32-under par 832) and Saint Mary’s (28-under par 836) rounded out the top five.

Purdue, the defending champion in the event, trailed West Virginia by five shots entering today’s final round. The Mountaineers were 10-under par through the turn, while the Boilermakers were 6-under par through the turn, putting too much distance between them to catch up for the Purdue squad.

Leading the Boilermakers was redshirt freshman Andre Zhu, finishing in a third-place tie at 15-under par 201 (68-65-68). Zhu played flawless golf all week, amassing 17 birdies against just two bogeys en route to a top-five finish in his first career event.

Sam Easterbrook surged into a sixth-place tie at 12-under par 204 (71-66-67) after a final-round 67. After a 71 in his opening round, Easterbrook posted 13 birdies against two bogeys in the final two rounds for his 10^th career top-10 showing.

Freshman Will Harvey had a difficult final round, shooting a 2-over par 74, but still recorded a top-15 finish in his first career event with an 8-under par 208 (70-64-74).

Sophomore Supapon Amornchaichan also recorded a top-15 showing at 8-under par 208 (70-69-69). Amornchaichan had two eagles on the week, the lone Boilermaker with an eagle, both coming on par-4 holes.

Senior Kentaro Nanayama finished tied for 23^rd at 6-under par 210 (69-71-70).

Playing as an individual, Jenson Forrester was tied for 28^th at 5-under par 211 (70-71-70), while Yilin Sun was 70^th at 5-over par 221 (72-71-78).

Purdue will take the next three weeks off, before competing in the prestigious Olympia Fields Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club on Sept. 19 through 21.

Boilers Head to Dayton, Return Home Against Western Illinois

Soccer heads on its final preseason road match at Dayton, before returning home to take on Western Illinois for Senior Day.

The Boilers will take on the Dayton Flyers this Thursday, September 4, at 7:00 p.m. Est before hosting the Leathernecks at Folk Field on Sunday, September 7 at 1:00 p.m. Est.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

The Dayton Flyers are currently 2-2-1 on the season, defeating Wright State and Western Kentucky, while falling to Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The Flyers also held a scoreless draw with Big Ten foe, No. 12 Michigan State. The Flyers are led by Liv Grenda who has both a goal and an assist on the season. Two other Flyers also have one goal, while four total have notched an assist.

Western Illinois is 1-4 on the season, with its only victory coming over St. Ambrose. The Leathernecks have fallen to four Missouri Valley Conference teams in Drake, Northern Iowa, Illinois State, and Indiana State: without scoring a goal. The Leathernecks will take on Green Bay in Wisconsin on Thursday, before heading to Indiana to take on the Boilers.

SERIES HISTORY

The Flyers lead the series history over Purdue, 3-2 with the matchups dating back to 1998. In the most recent matchup, just a year ago, the Boilers took a commanding victory over the Flyers, winning 6-1 at Folk Field. This will make for the third matchup in a row that the teams will take on one another in West Lafayette.

Purdue and the Leathernecks of Western Illinois have never met in their histories, and look to start a new line in the record book on Sunday. The Leathernecks are under a first-year head coach, while Purdue and Coach Moodie are in their second year together.

Purdue All-Quarter Century Wrestling Team: 141 lbs

To commemorate the past 25 years, head coach Tony Ersland and his staff are unveiling Purdue’s All-Quarter Century Team featuring some of the greatest Boilermaker wrestlers since the turn of the 21st century.

Recognizing wrestlers who competed for Purdue between 2000-2025, the list is being revealed with 10 separate releases leading up to the 2025-26 season, one for each weight class, continuing on Monday with 141 pounds.

The selection criteria for any All-Quarter Century Team is unavoidably subjective, but wrestlers who earned All-America honors, NCAA qualifiers, multiple-time Big Ten placewinners and others with outstanding career accomplishments were among the key points of consideration.

Some of the wrestlers on the All-Quarter Century Team excelled at multiple weights while donning the Old Gold & Black. Most of the honorees will be presented among the weight classes in which they finished their careers, though some liberties were taken for the sake of keeping the number of wrestlers relatively even at each weight.

Without further ado, here are the four outstanding Boilermakers from the 141-pound class.

PARKER FILIUS (2017-23)

Purdue’s 61^st All-American, Parker Filius was the second national placewinner of the head coach Tony Ersland era. He took seventh place at the NCAA Championships as the Boilers’ most recent 141-pound All-American in 2023.

He was a four-time NCAA qualifier and a four-time NWCA Scholar All-American, just the second four-time Scholar All-American in Purdue history. He wrapped his sixth-year senior season with a 25-11 record, saving his best wrestling for last. His final career record was 84-63 (.571).

Filius entered the 2023 postseason as a No. 12 seed, which is tied for the lowest seeded Boilermaker ever to become a national placewinner (along with Jason Silverstein, who took eighth as the No. 12 in 1999).

The Havre, Montana standout was also Purdue’s 2023 male Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient, the first Boilermaker wrestler to earn the honor since 2009 (fourth all-time).

NATE LIMMEX (2015-20)

Nate Limmex from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a two-time NCAA qualifier. He outperformed his Big Ten Championships No. 5 seed in 2018, finishing in fourth to earn his first berth in the NCAA tournament.

Limmex totaled two NCAA tournament wins in his two years of qualification. In 2018 he was named Purdue’s Most Improved and Most Dedicated Wrestler, and he was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.

To excel as a chemical engineering major at Purdue, as a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree while qualifying for multiple NCAA tournaments, makes Limmex an easy choice for the All-Quarter Century Team.

DANNY SABATELLO (2011-16)

Danny Sabatello was the first Purdue wrestler to twice earn Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors in his career. He was a two-time 141-pound Big Ten placewinner as well, securing eighth in 2014 and fifth in 2016 as a redshirt-senior.

He was a three-year dual starter in the transition years from the Scott Hinkel era to head coach Tony Ersland’s early years in his tenure.

As a redshirt junior, he was named Purdue’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after leading the team in wins, dual wins, bonus point wins, matches scored first, third-period points, riding time advantage, and, well, just about everything else!

Hailing from Long Grove, Illinois, Sabatello majored in Law and Society. He holds the No. 15 spot on Purdue’s all-time takedown list with 266, and ranks 19th with 146 back points.

BRANDON NELSEN (2010-15)

Owner of an 84-55 career record, Brandon Nelsen was a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier who wrestled at both 141 and 149 lbs.

Nelsen was a master of falls, racking up 30 pins in his career. That number still stands as the sixth-most in program history.

After college, he went on to be a graduate assistant at UIndy and an assistant coach at Duke. These days, Nelsen laces a different kind of boot in the morning. He now wrestles with fires as a firefighter in his hometown of Indianapolis.

Purdue Among Elite Field at Round Rock Classic for Weekend No. 2

Baseball is slated to be part of an elite four-team field for weekend No. 2 of the 2026 season, squaring off against Southern Miss, Baylor and Oregon State at the Round Rock Classic held at the Triple-A stadium in the Austin area.

The Boilermakers are slated to play their first two weekends of the 2026 campaign at Triple-A ballparks in Texas. The weekend of Feb. 20-22 they’ll return to Dell Diamond – the home of the Round Rock Express, the Texas Rangers’ affiliate in the Pacific Coast League – for the first time since March 2021.

The Round Rock Classic is annually one of the top non-conference tournaments in the country. In 2025, Oregon State was a College World Series qualifier, Southern Miss hosted an NCAA Regional and Baylor joined Purdue as 30-win teams.

2026 ROUND ROCK CLASSIC SCHEDULE (All Times ET)
• Friday, Feb. 20: Purdue vs. Southern Miss at 3 p.m. // Oregon State vs. Baylor at 7 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 21: Purdue vs. Baylor at 2 p.m. // Oregon State vs. Southern Miss at 6 p.m.
• Sunday, Feb. 22: Purdue vs. Oregon State at Noon // Southern Miss vs. Baylor at 4 p.m.

All six games will be web streamed exclusively via D1Baseball.com. Peak Events, LLC is the organizer of the Round Rock Classic, which is presented by Karbach Brewing Company and Go Round Rock.

Oregon State will be a first-time opponent for the Boilermakers. Purdue has not played Baylor since its first weekend of 2008 and last played Southern Miss during the opening weekend of the 2019 campaign. There was a Purdue-Baylor series scheduled in Waco in February 2018 but it was canceled after the Boilers’ flight was grounded a few hours before takeoff due to extreme fog at Chicago’s Midway Airport.

The Boilermakers are slated to open their season the weekend of Feb. 13-15 at the Triple-A stadium in Sugar Land, Texas, for the fifth year in a row. Portland is scheduled to be the opponent for a four-game set at Constellation Field, the home of Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros affiliate). Purdue has posted a 14-2 record in Sugar Land dating back to 2022.

East Carolina’s annual Keith LeClair Classic in March 2024 was the Boilermakers’ last appearance at a non-conference tournament. Purdue won two of three that weekend, defeating Southeastern Louisiana and Cal State Fullerton after dropping Friday’s game to ECU and its All-American ace pitcher (Trey Yesavage, drafted 20th overall that year).

Coincidentally, Purdue is scheduled to play three opponents from the state of Oregon this season – all being first-time foes. Along with Oregon State and Portland, Oregon is the opponent for the opening weekend of Big Ten play. The Ducks are scheduled to make their debut at Alexander Field the weekend of March 6-8. One familiar face in the opposing dugout that weekend will be UO head coach Mark Wasikowski, who was the leader of the Boilermakers from 2017-19.