Il dinamico duo di Purdue porta avanti la squadra

The offensive power provided by Freshman of the Year Eva Hudson was one of the main weapons of Purdue in the last Big Ten women’s volleyball season and the Boilermakers are doubling down on it to have even more success this year.

Besides having a more experienced version of Hudson to lead the team, Purdue also added one of the most-coveted recruits in the country to split the scoring load with her in Chloe Chicoine and the two have helped the Boilermakers take three wins in their first five non-conference matches.

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Purdue ha aperto la stagione con una vittoria per 3-1 su Duke, ma poi è caduta in partite consecutive contro Creighton e Loyola. Ora i Boilermakers sono tornati in forma, avendo battuto Kansas e Marquette nello spareggio del Kansas Invitational dello scorso fine settimana.

Hudson ha avuto una stagione da matricola stellare per Purdue, guidando la squadra in punti con 582 punti, di cui 514 uccisioni. Tornato quest'anno, il battitore esterno continua a essere una forza a rete, avendo registrato 76 uccisioni in cinque partite.

"Il mio livello di fiducia è molto più alto ora", ha commentato Hudson. "Arrivando come matricola, non sai cosa aspettarti e devi aspettarti molto e abituarti. Ora, tornando da sophomore e sapendo a cosa vado incontro e cosa mi aspetta durante la stagione e che posso farcela, è molto confortante".

Recruited to be her sidekick, Chicoine is delivering exactly what Purdue expected in her early days as a Boilermaker. The freshman outside hitter is up to an excellent start with Purdue and is currently the team’s top scorer with 95 points, having had 20 or more kills in two of her first five matches with the team.

Chicoine joined the team with some international experience under her belt, having been a part of the USA national team that took bronze at the 2021 U18 World Championship and having helped the Americans win back-to-back editions of the U21 Pan-American Cup in 2022 and 2023, being awarded as the Most Valuable Player this year.

“She’s been bringing so much to our team in so many different aspects,” head coach Dave Shondell said. “She is a difference maker. When she came into our gym, our culture improved. She's a workhorse and she's got a cannon of an arm, and it's going to take a lot of pressure from people like Eva Hudson and Raven Colvin to have another player out there that can create her own points for us. So she's nice to have.”

Il dinamico duo di Purdue sarà di nuovo in azione questa settimana, quando i Boilermakers ospiteranno lo Stacey Clark Classic. La squadra affronterà Southern Methodist (SMU) venerdì e poi Kentucky o Houston sabato, alle 19:00 ora locale (23:00 UTC).

La seconda partita del weekend sarà trasmessa in diretta streaming su VBTV per gli abbonati di tutto il mondo.

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