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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 4 75 ging, but it's so important that we get the fundamentals right that when we get play in games, it's a breeze. That's important. … So drilling those things right now, when there's no pressure of ranking or seasons or who's on the other side, is really important." Freshman Caitlyn Newton has gotten a jump on her classmates, arriving as a mid-year enrollee after graduat- ing following the first trimester at Terre Haute South Vigo. The outside hitter, ranked 59th in her class on PrepVol- leyball.com's Senior Aces, should give the Boilermakers a boost of depth next season. The same could be said for setter Hayley Bush (Union, Ky., No. 73 on PrepVolleyball. com), libero Jena Otec (Crystal City, Mo., No. 79) and de- fensive specialist Julianna Reisinger (Coto de Caza, Calif). "It's been a transition but been nice," Newton said. "The teammates are supportive and helped me get used to new stuff. "I'm not used to (the caliber of players here). It's (been) a little bit of a transition and getting into the swing of things. I'm so happy to be here early." The Boilermakers have found sustained success in the last dozen-plus seasons, but a deeper NCAA Tournament run is possible in 2017, perhaps back to a regional final, which they accomplished in 2010 and 2013. Or maybe beyond. "I'm an optimistic guy, always am and have had reason to be, but physically, talent-wise, this is as good as a group as we've ever had," Shondell said. "This will come down to how well collectively, our staff, our support staff, our play- ers can get this group to be cohesive and have great chem- istry and play for a purpose, which I thought we made some strides with that. "But if you would talk to our players right now, they would tell you our chemistry isn't as good as it needs to be. That's good to know and it's good they know that, so what are we going to do with it? If we can have the kind of chem- istry we had in 2013, or we had in 2010 or in other years when it was all about the team and all about Purdue and nothing was getting in the way, this team has more talent than those teams had. So you'd think that would bode well for our program." j