v o l l e y b a l l
p l a y e r
F e a t u r e :
f a y e
a d e l a j a
Immediate Impact
Adelaja one of season's early surprises
BY BRANDAN ALFORD
BrandanAlford@Gmail.com
C
oach Dave Shondell didn't expect Faye Adelaja to play a big
role in his 2013 lineup. Purdue had
plenty of experienced depth along
the front line and Shondell had concerns about an undersized Adelaja's
ability to hold up physically in one of
the nation's toughest conferences.
That all changed during spring
practice when sophomore middle
blocker Kaisley Fisher went down
with a season-ending knee injury.
Suddenly, the 6-foot-1 Adelaja was
an important piece of Purdue's
puzzle.
And she's fit better than her
coach could have expected.
Halfway through the Big Ten
season, the redshirt freshman is
a mainstay in the lineup at middle
blocker, making her mark as an effective two-way player for the Boilermakers.
Adelaja has been in Purdue's
regular rotation since the start of
the season, and produced early
and often, earning a pair of conference awards during the third week
of the season. On Sept. 16, she
was named the Big Ten Freshmanof-the-Week as well as Defensive
Player-of-the-Week.
That production hasn't trailed
off, either. Through 20 matches,
Adelaja hit at a .310 clip, good for
Tom Campbell
second on the team while leading
Faye Adelaja believes a redshirt and a trip to Europe helped her understand the
the Boilermakers with 89 total
nuances of the game, a crucial element for a middle blocker.
blocks.
f
IllustrateD volume 24, issue 2
111
