Purdue Coach Dave Shondell Excited About Inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Tournament
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The 2026 Big Ten volleyball season just got more interesting. On Thursday, the league announced it will hold a conference tournament at the end of the regular season, which will be played just 71 miles from Purdue's home gymnasium.
At the end of the season, the conference will host the Big Ten Volleyball Tournament for the first time in league history. The event will be played at the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Ind.
Purdue coach Dave Shondell is a huge fan of the Big Ten's move to add a conference tournament to the end of the season. It's a move he's wanted the league to make for years.
"I have been an advocate for a conference tournament for many years. With the explosion of our sport in attendance and TV viewership, a slugfest at the end of the season will catapult the Big Ten to larger exposure," Shondell told Purdue Boilermakers On SI.
The Big Ten Volleyball Tournament is scheduled to begin on Friday, Nov. 20, and the championship match will be played on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
Even more exciting for Purdue is that the event will be held in Indiana. The Boilermakers will only have to travel 71 miles to Fishers to compete in the event. Because of the location, Shondell is hopeful to see a lot of black-and-gold in the seats for the tournament.
"The Fishers Event Center is the ideal venue to play this inaugural event. Indiana is one of the best volleyball states with the sport growing at every level," he said. "I am convinced this tournament will sell out quickly, and I hope Boilermaker fans will be first in line to secure seats for this awesome volleyball championship."
What does this mean for Big Ten volleyball?
With the Big Ten starting a conference tournament this year, it means the number of league games each team plays drops from 20 to 17. That means every team in the conference will play each opponent just once during the regular season.
The top 15 teams in the Big Ten will participate in the event, meaning the teams that finish in the bottom three spots will not receive the invitation. It adds even more pressure to an already-grueling conference season.
Additionally, there will be more incentive to finish in the top four spots of the Big Ten. Those teams won't play until the quarterfinal round of the event, which is set for Sunday, Nov. 22. There will be an off day on Monday, Nov. 23, and the semifinals will be played on Nov. 24, and the championship on Nov. 25.
Purdue is coming off a season in which it finished with a 27-7 record and went 15-5 in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers have finished in the top four spots of the conference standings each of the past three seasons and four times in the last five years.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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