Purdue Sports Update: Volleyball Returns to Mackey

Volleyball Returns to Mackey Arena

After shattering the Big Ten match attendance record last fall with a pair of sold-out matches, the Purdue women’s volleyball program will return to Mackey Arena for three conference showdowns this season.

Purdue will begin and end Big Ten action in one of the most daunting arenas in college athletics, hosting the conference-opener vs. Washington on Thursday, September 25 and Illinois on Sunday, September 28 at Mackey Arena. Then, in the final match of the regular-season, Purdue will host Indiana on Saturday, November 29.

“Boilermaker Nation has shown up in huge numbers every time Purdue volleyball has ventured onto Keady Court – including back-to-back sellouts last year. The sport of volleyball continues to grow in America and our fans have been a big part of the explosion. I encourage our loyal and passionate fans to continue their unique support as our team hosts three crucial Big Ten matches in Mackey this season.”

– Dave Shondell

With the announcement, Purdue is slated to play in three 10,000-plus seat arenas over a total of five matches, with the Mackey matches complimented by appearing at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday, August 31 against Tennessee and Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday, October 16 against Indiana for the Monon Spike trophy.

With the sport on the rise, the Boilermakers enter the upcoming season with 44 consecutive sellouts and 128 consecutive weeks ranked among the AVCA top-25. Meanwhile, the upcoming season is primed to see the most volleyball matches in Mackey Arena since 2012.

Volleyball owns a 14-5 record inside Mackey Arena, picking up a dominant sweep over Indiana for the Monon Spike trophy last October (25-18, 25-14, 25-9) in the Big Ten attendance record-setting spectacle, which was followed by another sold-out match against Wisconsin a week later.

Within two hours of Mackey matches going on-sale a year ago, over 9,800 tickets were sold for the Wisconsin match, the equivalent of filling Holloway four times over. Both matches were sold-out a month before the first competition.

Ticket information, match times and broadcast schedule will be announced at a later time.

Coming off one of its best seasons in program history with a 27-7 (16-4 Big Ten) record, an NCAA Regional Semifinal appearance and a fourth-place finish in the league standings, the Boilermakers return 2024 Second Team All-Big Ten honoree Taylor Anderson, who not only ranked No. 8 in the nation in assists per set (11.25), but guided Purdue to its third-highest hitting % in single-season history (.280%). In addition to returning rising stars, which include Kenna Wollard, Ryan McAleer and Grace Heaney, Shondell’s incoming freshmen and transfer class set Purdue up to tie the tallest team in over 22 years, with an average front court height of 6’2″.

Purdue Football Fan Day Set for Saturday, August 2, Followed by Men’s Basketball Alumni event

During the first week of fall camp, fans can get their first look at the 2025 Purdue football team on Saturday, August 2 at Ross-Ade Stadium. Purdue Football Fan Day features a practice open to fans beginning at 8:15 a.m. ET followed by the Boilermakers signing autographs from 10:15 a.m.-11:00 a.m. ET.

Admission for Fan Day is free with Gate A and Gate G of Ross-Ade Stadium opening at 8 a.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot R, just north of the stadium. At 7:30 a.m. ET, the Purdue Team Store opens for business on the north plaza. Throughout the duration of practice, concession stands at Section 104 and 126/127 will be open for the purchase of food and beverage.

At the conclusion of practice, the Boilermakers will make their way to the north end of the field to meet with the fans and sign autographs. Following the autograph session, fans are encouraged to head over to Mackey Arena for the Purdue Basketball Alumni Game. Admission is free, and the game begins at noon. Doors open at 11 a.m. ET.

Purdue Football single-game tickets are now on sale for John Purdue Club members. The general public can purchase single game tickets which began Thursday, July 17 at 9 a.m. ET.

Men’s Basketball Alumni game follows

The sixth edition of the highly-popular game will take place at noon inside Mackey Arena, following the Purdue football team’s Fan Day that will start at 8:15 a.m. ET, with an open practice followed by autographs on the field from 10:15 to 11 a.m. ET.

Fans are then encouraged to head to Mackey Arena after football’s festivities to catch all your favorite former Boilermakers in action. In addition, this year’s current Boilermakers will be introduced as a group to the public for the first time.

TICKET INFO: Starting Tuesday, July 15, donors with premium season ticket seats for men’s basketball can call their BAR and claim their seats (up to two extra tickets, based on availability) for $15 each. The option to claim your season seats will be available through Friday, July 18. Beginning Monday July 21st at 10am, any remaining premium seats will become available to non-premium men’s basketball season tickets holders that are John Purdue Club members. The premium seats will not be made available to the general public.

All other seating in Mackey arena will be free and open to the public on a first come first served basis. All Mackey Arena entrances will be open.

Blaze, Incoming Freshmen Highlight Week of Freestyle Wrestling

An eventful summer of freestyle wrestling rolled on this week with five freshmen Boilermakers showing out at Fargo Junior Nationals. Additionally, Joey Blaze was announced as a competitor in the upcoming USA vs. Russia dual in Budapest, Hungary, on Monday, July 21.

THE FARGO FIVE

Purdue had five incoming freshmen make the trip to Fargo, North Dakota, this week for the annual U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals competition inside the Fargodome. Aidan Costello, Ty Henderson, Adrian Pellot, Isaiah Schaefer and Noah Weaver all represented Team Indiana on the freestyle circuit.

Hailing from state wrestling powerhouse Evansville Mater Dei, Schaefer placed seventh to cement himself as a Junior All-American. He will join Purdue this fall as a projected 133-to-141-pounder after finishing as the No. 160 overall recruit in the country on the 2025 MatScouts Big Board.

Weaver (Rossville) had a dominant showing himself, winning his first four matches with three technical falls and one pin. He came up just short of Junior All-America status but now comes to West Lafayette as the top-ranked recruit in the Boilermakers’ class (No. 60 overall). Weaver was recently named the Journal & Courier Student-Athlete of the Year.

His father, Matt Weaver, was a Purdue wrestler in the late 1990s.

Pellot, a 165-pound grappler from Merrillville, took four wins in Fargo by a combined score of 44-10. Costello and Henderson each nabbed three wins apiece before bowing out of the double-elimination tournament.

It was a strong collective showing by the latest talent to join head coach Tony Ersland’s squad. With the signing of Tyson Russell earlier this month, Purdue’s Class of 2025 leads the Big Ten Conference with seven top-250 signees on the MatScouts Big Board.

BUDAPEST BLAZE

The year of Joey Blaze continues. Purdue’s star junior was announced as Team USA’s representative at 74 kg in an upcoming international freestyle dual against rival Russia.

The Professional Wrestling League competition billed as PWL 9 will feature a card of 10 matches in the senior international wrestling weight classes. It will be held at Kozma Istvan Magyar Birkozo Akademia Alapitvany in Budapest, Hungary on Monday, July 21 at 1 p.m. ET.

Slated as the fifth match on the card, Blaze will face Magoma Dibirgadzhiev, a 28-year-old who won the silver medal at this year’s Russian national championships.

5 Boilers to Represent Swim-Dive at World University Games

Swimming & Diving will be well represented in eight events at the World University Games in Germany as five Boilermakers compete for country at the XXXII Summer Universiade.

Sophie McAfee, Max Miller, Holden Higbie and Kaden Springfield are all set to compete for USA Diving. Matheo Mateos will race for Paraguay. McAfee and Springfield from the 10-meter platform, Miller and Higbie are entered in springboard events. Mateos has opted to focus on the 50-meter butterfly and 200 individual medley.

BOILERMAKERS AT THE WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
• Sophie McAfee (USA) – 10-Meter, 10-Meter Synchro (with Lanie Gutch)
• Max Miller (USA) – 1-Meter & 3-Meter
• Holden Higbie (USA) – 1-Meter
• Kaden Springfield (USA) – 10-Meter
• Matheo Mateos (Paraguay) – 50m Fly, 200m IM

The Rhine-Ruhr region of Western Germany is serving as the host of the World University Games from July 16-27, but the swimming & diving events are all being contested in Berlin at the Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark (SSE). With a seating capacity of 4,200, the venue is said to be one of the largest aquatic centers in Europe, featuring two 50-meter pools as well an Olympic dive well. Germany also hosted the Summer Universiade in 1989.

McAfee won bronze on 10-meter in her World University Games two years ago in China. She enjoyed another signature moment earlier this month when she won gold on the tower at the Bolzano Diving Meeting in Italy, a World Aquatics-recognized showcase annually held in July.

A Boilermaker has won a medal in an aquatics events at the last three World University Games dating back to 2017.

Mateos, Higbie, Miller and Springfield are all set to make their World University Games debuts. As a 2024 Olympian, Mateos is a veteran of multiple World Championships and Pan American Games.

Later this month, four Purdue Divers are set to compete at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore – a group that will include Jordan Rzepka (10-meter), Daryn Wright (10-meter synchro), Tyler Wills (mixed 10-meter synchro) and David Colturi (27-meter high diving). Associate head coach Mark Bradshaw will be serving as a staff coach for USA Diving and alum Steven LoBue is set to be the head coach of USA Diving’s high divers.

Swimming and Diving: Hamilton Returns as Associate Head Coach

An All-American and Big Ten medalist as a student-athlete, alumna Caitlin Hamilton is returning to campus with an extensive coaching résumé as she rejoins Women’s Swimming & Diving as the program’s associate head coach.

Hamilton teams up again with Purdue head coach John Klinge, who she swam for from 2019-13 during Klinge’s early years as the leader of the Boilermakers.

Since earning bachelor’s degrees in movement and sports sciences and public health from Purdue, Hamilton has served as the head coach at Illinois State (2020-23) as well as an associate coach at Kentucky (2023-25) and assistant at Indiana (2017-19), IUPUI (2015-17) and Wyoming (2014-15). She brought her Illinois State team to the Purdue Invitational in the fall of 2021 and 2022.

“I’m thrilled to have Caitlin return to campus and rejoin our team, working alongside me and everyone at the Burke Aquatic Center,” Klinge said. “She was an All-American and Big Ten medalist at our pool and has enjoyed an impactful coaching career since graduating from Purdue. She gained valuable experience as a head coach, and as an assistant –both here in the state of Indiana and in the SEC. Caitlin was the obvious choice and I’m grateful she’s back.”

At Illinois State, Hamilton’s swimmers won 10 individual Missouri Valley Conference titles. The Redbirds finished second at the MVC Championships in 2022, their best showing since 2014. A year later, the team broke 12 school records, including all five relay marks. Kiersten Farley-Sepe (2020) and Madyson Morse (2023) were both MVC Swimmer of the Year standouts. Morse was also the conference’s two-time Scholar-Athlete of the Year for swimming.

“I would like to express my gratitude to John Klinge and senior associate athletics director Ed Howat for the opportunity to return home to Purdue,” Hamilton said. “Their excitement for the future of Purdue Swimming is undeniable, and I am deeply thankful for their trust in me to be a part of it. Having the opportunity to work alongside the head coach I swam for is something truly special. Boiler Nation, I am ever grateful. Boiler Up!”

Kentucky head coach Bret Lundgaard brought Hamilton to Lexington after he took over the program in the summer of 2023. The UK women had multiple swimmers qualify for the NCAA Championships both years Hamilton was part of the coaching staff. The Kentucky men finished 20th at NCAAs this year.

Indiana won three Big Ten titles (two men, one women) over Hamilton’s two seasons as part of Ray Looze’s coaching staff in Bloomington, including sweeping the men’s and women’s championships (for the first time) in 2019. Ian Finnerty and Lilly King headlined IU’s NCAA Championships while Hamilton was part of the coaching staff. As a team at NCAAs, the IU men were top three and the women top 10 both years.

As a recruiting coordinator for the women’s team at IUPUI, Hamilton assembled a group of signees in 2017 that was the highest-ranked class in program history. The Jaguars eclipsed 37 team records altogether across the two genders while she was on staff.

As a student-athlete at Purdue, Hamilton was a distance freestyle standout that set program records in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle. Her team freshman records in the in 1,000 and 1,650 free still stand, enjoying the longest lifespan of any active first-year benchmarks in the record book. She continues to rank second overall in the 1,000 and 1,650 free, with only All-American and World University Games medalist Kaersten Meitz eclipsing Hamilton’s records.

An All-American as a top-eight finisher in the 1,650 free as a freshman at the 2010 NCAA Championships, Hamilton accounted for the top finish by a Purdue swimmer as the Boilermaker Aquatic Center hosted the national championship meet. Purdue finished 16th nationally in 2010 for the program’s best-ever showing. She returned to NCAAs the following season, scoring again in the mile (11th overall) as an honorable mention All-American. She also qualified for NCAAs in the 500 both years.

At the Big Ten Championships, Hamilton won a silver medal in the mile each of her underclassman years to be a two-time second-team All-Big Ten honoree.

Hamilton served as an undergraduate assistant coach with the Boilermakers and also worked for the John Purdue Club before moving out to Wyoming for the 2014-15 school year. The Cowboys had four conference champions and an NCAA qualifier during her year in Laramie.

She was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree at Purdue.

Hamilton and her husband, Josh Kolbus, became parents in February, welcoming daughter Addison to the family.

61 Boilermakers Honored as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars

With 61 Boilermakers earning Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition for their academic excellence, Purdue Athletics had 60 honorees for the sixth consecutive school year.

Student-athletes across the conference were recognized as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for achieving grade-point averages of 3.70 and better during the 2024-25 academic year. Nineteen of the Boilermakers’ 61 honorees (31%) compiled flawless 4.0 GPAs this past school year. That total is up from eight 4.0 student-athletes a year ago.

Ten of Purdue’s teams had at least one Big Ten Distinguished Scholar with a 4.0.

Nine Boilermakers were recognized as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for at least the third time, a group headlined by graduate students and four-time honorees Logan Sandlin and Jenna Sonnenberg.

3-TIME BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS
Seniors/Grad Students to be recognized at least 3 times
• Grant Gogel – Men’s Track & Field
• Ali Hornung – Volleyball
• Caroline Jordan – Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field
• Kendall Klochack – Softball
• Juana Larranaga – Women’s Tennis
• Sophie McAfee – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Logan Sandlin (4x) – Men’s Track & Field
• Jenna Sonnenberg (4x) – Women’s Swimming & Diving
• Momo Sugiyama – Women’s Golf

Twenty of the Boilermakers’ Big Ten Distinguished Scholars were also 2025 spring graduates.

Purdue Swimming & Diving and Track & Field/Cross Country both accounted for 15 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars, with those sports combined nearly accounting for half of the department’s honorees this year.

Abbey Ellis Named to Australia Women’s Asia Cup Roster

Women’s basketball alumna Abbey Ellis will represent her native Australia this week in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in Shenzhen, China, after receiving a late call up to the roster last week.

The Opals will take on the Philippines in the opener on Sunday, before facing Lebanon on Monday and Japan on Tuesday. All three games will be played at 4:30 a.m. ET.

The Opals will be in Group B of the eight-team event. The top three teams will progress to the knockout stage starting on Friday, July 18. All six teams in the knockout stage will qualify for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany.

Semifinals will be played on Saturday with the champion crowned on Sunday, July 20.

Ellis has had a great year year in the professional ranks, guiding the Townsville Fire to the WNBL finals and winning the WNBL Breakout Player of the Year. Ellis made her international debut for Australia in May in the Trans-Tasmanian Throwdown.

Ellis wrapped up an impressive three-year career at Purdue becoming the only transfer in program history to score 1,000 points in West Lafayette.  

Swimmers Ackerman, Fortner Selected as Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients

Swimmers Kathryn Ackerman and Luke Fortner – multi-year Academic All-Big Ten honorees that are both in line to earn multiple degrees from the University – have been selected as Purdue Athletics’ recipients of the annual Big Ten postgraduate scholarships for the 2024-25 school year.

They will each receive a $7,500 scholarship for their continuing education. They plan to remain in West Lafayette to continue their studies.

Fortner was a four-year letterwinner for the Boilermakers, excelling in the breaststroke and graduating with a 3.84 cumulative grade-point average as an aeronautical and astronautical engineering major. He’s now moving now to a graduate program with a Ph.D. track in aeronautic and astronautical engineering, working specifically in the Space Information Dynamics group led by Dr. Carolin Frueh.

Ackerman joined Purdue in the fall of 2024 as a graduate transfer from the University of Michigan, utilizing a fifth-year eligibility extension to train alongside her sister Grace (a freshman in 2024-25). Kathryn earned her bachelor’s degree from Michigan in biomedical engineering and already has a master’s in the same field of study from Purdue. She had a 3.68 GPA at Michigan and 3.79 GPA during her first year in West Lafayette.

As part of a dual-master’s program and having completed the biomedical engineering portion, Ackerman will be enrolled in the master’s of business administration (MBA) half of her studies at Purdue during the 2025-26 school year.

Both Boilermakers earned Academic All-Big Ten honors every year they were eligible to be recognized. They’re also multi-year Big Ten Distinguished Scholars. Fortner was a two-time Academic All-District honoree for the Boilermakers. He closed out his swimming career with career-best times in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke at the 2025 Big Ten Championships, moving up Purdue’s all-time leaderboards in both events.

Ackerman was a five-time CSCAA Scholar All-American. She eclipsed the Boilermakers’ team record in the 400 individual medley at the 2024 Purdue Invitational, taking down a record that had stood since 2016. At Michigan, she was a four-year NCAA Championships qualifier in the 400 IM and helped the Wolverines win gold (2021) and bronze (2022) medals in the 800 freestyle relay at the Big Ten Championships.