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GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 28 • 3 moves up the rankings. The women improved seven places in only one year in the out- door meet, placing third in the Big Ten; the men were four spots better, finishing in fifth place. And, by virtue of beating Indi- ana on both the men's and wom- en's side, Purdue took the final two points of the Governor's Cup race, handing the Boilermakers the title over the rival Hoosiers 12-8. Men's and women's track and field, which controls four of the 20 points, had long been a hindrance to Purdue's efforts against the Hoosiers. But the Boilermakers took all four points this year — the men and women both finished fifth in the Big Ten Indoor Cham- pionships, ahead of IU — and im- proved to 2-6-2 in the series. Purdue is a team on the rise. The Boilermakers left the Big Ten Championships with 29 times or marks that ranked in the top 48 in the region, producing 25 quali- fiers for the NCAA East Preliminary Round May 29-31 in Jacksonville, Fla. Last season, Purdue had 19 entries to the preliminary meet. "Personally I feel we've made huge strides in a very short period of time," said Greene, who is in his second season. "The goal now is for us to continue that momen- tum, to keep that momentum go- ing and continuing to get better. You can get better, but you're nev- er successful until you win, in my mind. I know that sounds crazy, but you're never that team until you're the team that's hoisting the cham- pionship trophy. That's the driving force for us as a staff and a program." — Kyle Charters No. 6: Back To The Ncaas A couple of men's Olympic sports teams had endured lengthy droughts from the NCAA Champi- onships headed into this athletic season. But no longer. The men's tennis team ad- vanced to its first NCAA tourna- ment since 2002, thanks in large part to an eight-match winning streak that culminated in the Boil- ermakers' victory over No. 16 Penn State, the highest-ranked foe Pur- due's ever beaten. The win helped Purdue to its highest ranking in history, hitting No. 28 nationally in mid- April. The season, which ended with a first-round NCAA loss to No. 21 Clemson, is a start, says fifth-year coach Pawel Gajdzik. "Throughout the last four years we've been able to change the philosophy and the character of our team by bringing in high-level players," he said. "That's not saying we haven't had good caliber players but maybe the previous years the winning mental- ity disappeared and that was one of the biggest and most important tasks for me to change — the mentality and attitude of our team from just being happy where they are to say 'Let's get something bigger.' " Behind first-year coach Rob Bradley, men's golf is in the NCAA Championships in Hutchinson, Kan., for the first time since 2005. The Boilermakers are surging at the right time, finishing third at the NCAA Central Regional, be- coming one of five to advance. Although senior Adam Schenk, who placed 10th overall at the Regional, is Purdue's leader, the Boilermakers have three fresh- men in their top six, along with two juniors; the five will return next season. The goal is to match the Purdue women's team's national success. "All we have to do is go down the hall and look at all the wom- en's trophies to know that is what we are supposed to be all about," Bradley said. "It's a constant re- minder that it can be done here." — Kyle Charters No. 5: VolleyBall 'eliTe' agaiN No program in Purdue's ath- letic department has shown the kind of recent consistent suc- cess as Dave Shondell's volleyball team, which fell short of aspira- tions in 2013-14 but still reached the Elite 8. And did so in dramatic fashion. After battling through the brutal Big Ten with a sixth-place finish — the conference had eight teams ranked and a league-re- cord-tying eight qualified for the NCAA Tournament — the Boiler- makers won their first NCAA Tour- Gold and Black Illustrated is a publication of Boilers, Inc. 2605 Yeager Road, West Lafayette, IN 47906 765-237-5002 or 1-800-876-GOPU (4678) Twitter.com/GoldandBlackcom Fax: 765-497-2110 President/Publisher Alan Karpick 765-237-5078 Twitter.com/AlanKarpick AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com Editor Brian Neubert BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com Publications Coordinator Kyle Charters KCharters@GoldandBlack.com Associate Editor/Football Stacy Clardie SClardie@GoldandBlack.com Photography Tom Campbell Graphic Designer Gary Hoffman Advertising Sales Alan Karpick Subscriptions/Production Hayley Karpick, Reid Karpick, Tyler Ochs, Michael Schmierer, Ryan Schmierer GnbManager@aol.com ©Copyright 2014, Boilers, Inc. Tom Campbell There was plenty to celebrate in 2013-14 for the Purdue volley- ball team — the shouts led by Carly Cramer, per usual — as it advanced to the Elite 8 for the second time in four seasons. 5