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IllustrateD volume 25, issue 1 77 f "In the past, our mindset hasn't been, 'We're going to win the Big Ten,' " Shondell said. "We might have tried to fool some people into thinking we're going to win the Big Ten, but there's only been one or two years when I thought that was really a possibility. "There's been a monster in our league and that makes it tough. I'm not going to say there's not a mon- ster in our league, but Penn State lost its three best of- fensive players. So there's a lot of people thinking this year, 'OK, if there's a year in the last seven seasons that somebody else could win the Big Ten, it's this year.' We don't think about those things until we figure out how good we are, and we don't know how good we are yet. It'll take some time." But Purdue likely is pretty good. The Boilermakers will need to mesh the new with the old and figure out their ball-control defense, but their leadership, experi- ence and will aren't a question. "Finding an edge with our team, I don't worry about that," Shondell said. "I think it's something we have to continue to develop. To me, it's about finding the ma- turity. I think the hunger is out there. We could have Another Solid Group P urdue volleyball's sustained success has paid dividends on the recruiting circuit. The Boilermakers' 2014 class ranked No. 3 in the country, according to PrepVol- leyball.com, and three of the top 50 players in the country are already committed in Purdue's 2015 class. "I think that what has helped us a little recently is that the program has gotten better," Coach Dave Shondell said. "People now when they say 'Purdue volleyball,' they think top-10, top-15 program. There isn't any question about that anymore, so they know where they're going." Shondell said a big step in the process is getting recruits to visit campus — recruits often have no clue where Purdue is locat- ed. Once recruits get to West Lafayette, Shondell believes the environment around campus and the volleyball pro- gram stand out. "When you get them here, your job becomes pretty easy because it's a beautiful campus," Shondell said "It's what they dream of when they think about a campus. The people here are fabulous, the nicest people you're going to find. And now, when they see our facilities and they meet our players, we sell ourselves." Exhibit A: Monument, Colo., outsider hitter Alexa Smith, a top-10 player nationally in the class of 2015. Susan Odenbaugh, Smith's head coach at Lewis-Palm- er High School, said Smith would rarely come back to school excited after taking visits to some of the top vol- leyball programs in the country. But Smith returned from her trip to West Lafayette with rave reviews of Purdue before committing in October. "She got to see an actual match at Purdue and saw the attendance and how excited the crowd got and the facilities," Odenbaugh said. "Getting her to see the fan support was huge. She loved it." Mississippi middle blocker Blake Mohler committed to Purdue as soon as she got home from her visit last August. "It reminded me a lot of my hometown, so it felt right to be there," Mohler said. "I knew as soon as I walked on campus that it was the school I needed to go to." Purdue's staff stability serves as an additional key sell- Outside hitter Alexa Smith is a top-10 player nationally in the class of 2015. The Colorado native's visit to Purdue's campus last fall spurred he commitment.