Purdue volleyball to play inside Mackey Arena for first time since 2016
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — The Purdue University volleyball season begins in a month.
As always, there’s a lot of excitement entering a new season.
But after an announcement on Monday, there’s even more excitement surrounding the Boilers’ 2024 campaign.
That’s because it was revealed the program will play two matches during the season inside Mackey Arena.
“It’s time to take our Boilermakers back into Mackey Arena,” Purdue volleyball head coach Dave Shondell said in a news release. “The opportunity to grow our program – as well as our sport – is essential right now. Holloway is a special home, but for a few matches this fall, our team and Boilermaker Nation, must make Mackey Arena the best home-court environment in the land.”
The two matches inside Mackey Arena will be on Oct. 19 against Indiana in the annual Monon Spike trophy match and on Oct. 26 against Wisconsin. Match times will be announced at a later date.
Last year, the Boilers split their two matches against the Hoosiers, falling in four sets in Bloomington while winning in four sets in West Lafayette.
They also split their two meetings against Wisconsin in 2023.
Purdue volleyball’s last match inside Mackey Arena was in Sept. 2016 against Indiana.
Fans at the matches inside Mackey Arena this year may also have a chance to make history by breaking an attendance record. The “current 19-year-old attendance record for a regular-season match between two Big Ten opponents” was set in 2004 when 10,927 watched No. 23 Illinois played at No. 2 Minnesota.
College volleyball has seen multiple attendance records set throughout the course of the past handful of years, including just last year in Nebraska, when a volleyball match set a world record for most fans at a women’s sporting event.
“Let’s fill Mackey to the top on both occasions,” Shondell said in the news release. “This Purdue team is worthy of the Purdue community’s support, so I encourage all Purdue sports fans to buy tickets on August 6 and 7th for these classic battles that will certainly impact the 2024 conference championship. It’s time.”
Single-game tickets for the matches go on sale Aug. 6 for John Purdue Club members and Aug. 7 for the general public.
The Boilers’ regular season begins Aug. 30 inside Holloway Gymnasium against Kansas State.