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v o l l e y b a l l p r e v i e w Familiar Faces Boilermakers relying on experience to push farther BY KYLE CHARTERS KCharters@GoldandBlack.com B y now, the Boilermakers should be quite familiar with one another. Purdue's volleyball team, one of only six nationally to advance to six NCAA Tournament Sweet 16s in the last eight years, has one of its most veteran groups in recent memory. The Boilermakers have four fifth-year seniors, three other upperclassmen and a trio of sophomores who saw playing time, some significant, last season. They've got only one freshman on the roster. The core of the group has been together for years, including for an overseas trip in May, giving hope that Purdue can once again compete not only in the endurance test that is the Big Ten, but in the NCAA, as well. "Experience, leadership, those are things we shouldn't have many problems with," 11th-year Purdue coach Dave Shondell said. "I think they're all focused and driven to go in the right direction, so there's a lot of positive things with you bringing in only one freshman. It's the same group we worked with all spring, the same outfit we took over to Europe and played well over there. I'm kind of anxious to see what it's like to have four fifth-year seniors and what kind of legacy Tom Campbell they leave." Coach Dave Shondell has led the Boilermakers to the Sweet They'll start in a good spot. The veteran Boilermak- 16 in six of the last eight seasons, one of only six programs ers open the season ranked 16th in the country in the nationally to accomplish such a feat. AVCA, marking the 33rd straight poll in which they've No. 13 11 1 18 4 5 16 3 10 12 7 2 19 17 6 94 2013 volleyball Roster Name Faye Adelaja Carly Cramer Rachel Davis Annie Drews Sam Epenesa Ashley Evans Kaisley Fisher Hilliary Fox Katie Griffin KiKi Jones Amanda Neill Val Nichol Bridget Powell Catherine Rebarchak Kate Workman Ht. Pos. Class 6-1 MB R-Fr. 5-6 DS R-Sr. 6-0 S R-Sr. 6-4 OH So. 6-0 OH So. 6-1 S Fr. 6-3 MB R-So. 6-1 OH/DS Sr. 6-2 OH R-Sr. 6-1 MB Jr. 5-8 DS So. 6-1 S/OH Jr. 5-6 DS R-Fr. 6-2 OH R-Sr. 5-6 DS R-Fr. Hometown(High School/Last School) Baton Rouge, La. (Parkview Baptist) Martinsville, Ind. (Martinsville) Kalamazoo, Mich. (Plainwell) Elkhart, Ind. (Penn) Glen Carbon, Ill. (Edwardsville) Liberty Township, Ohio (Lakota East) Plainfield, Ill. (Plainfield North) Montgomery, Ind. (Barr Reeve) Avon, Ind. (Avon) Fishers, Ind. (Hamilton Southeastern) Lafayette, Ind. (McCutcheon) Normal, Ill. (University) Oak Lawn, Ill. (Mother McCauley) Mobile, Ala. (St. Paul's Episcopal) Valparaiso, Ind. (Valparaiso) IllustrateD volume 24, issue 1 appeared, dating to November 2010. Purdue is coming off a season in which it went 23-11 and advanced to the Round of 16. But the Boilermakers lost on their home court, to Big Ten foe Minnesota, leaving a sting into the offseason. "A lot of our team was let down," sophomore outside hitter Annie Drews said. "I think that we wanted to go a lot farther than we did, so it's a little fire under our butts to work hard. Since we have such great talent, we just need to focus." f