Annie Drews finally got her flowers. Making a lasting impact on Purdue volleyball during her NCAA days, Drews was a superstar. Playing as an outside hitter, the 30-year-old athlete achieved some of the finest accolades for Purdue. Playing against Western Kentucky back in 2014, Drews became the first player in Purdue history to record more than 30 kills in a single match since 2000.

She raked up 33 kills, which made her end up in the ninth position for the 2015 list of overall kills. Drews managed a whopping 417 kills in the season. Just a year later, the volleyball sensation became the 25th member to have recorded 1000 kills. Thus, with such a decorated career, it is only expected that Purdue would give her some special attention. 

In a recent felicitation, Annie Drews was given the honor of being inducted into the Leroy Keyes Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame, Class of 2024. The ceremony was a private one where the guests and the dignitaries were honored for their exceptional contributions to the sport. However, the celebrations continued and only culminated at the Ross-Ade Stadium, cheering in full flow for the historymakers. The authorities presented to the crowd the Class of 2024 amid a football game between Purdue and Oregon, which further made the pop from the crowd seem even bigger. 

Taking to their official X account, Purdue Volleyball acknowledged Annie Drews’ achievement. They posted several snaps from the felicitation ceremony while captioning the post, “Proud doesn’t even cover it. Congratulations to @annie_drews, who is officially a member of the Leroy Keyes Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame!” Surely, Drews not only flourished for Purdue but her achievements on the international front are also quite enviable. 

The 30-year-old was a four-time letter winner and also an Olympic gold medalist. Contributing immensely to Team USA’s historic international success, Drews got her maiden Olympic gold back in Tokyo. Keeping up the good work, she also won a silver medal in Paris, further demonstrating her sound volleyball prowess. However, all this would not have been possible without the invaluable experience she gained at Purdue. 

Annie Drews has some big takeaways from her time at Purdue

Soon after getting announced for the Hall of Fame selection, Purduesports.com caught up with the woman of the hour. On being asked about her learnings from Purdue, Drews mentioned that she learned to say ‘yes’. The volleyball phenom understood that accepting the offers that ultimately helped her propel her professional career was of utmost importance and above every sentiment and emotion.

She also reflected on how her time at Purdue forged her mental toughness to face the world post-college. She said, “I learned how to deal with the pressure of being a critical piece of a team in the toughest conference in the country. All of these events stretched me out of my comfort zone and provided me valuable life experience that made my next steps post-college not seem so scary.”

Drews also had some words of advice for the aspiring buds at Purdue. The 2x Olympic medalist stated that after gaining so much experience in the sport, she can vouch for the fact that Purdue has one of the best infrastructures for women’s volleyball. Thus, without a hint of doubt, the 30-year-old asked the young ones to make full use of the opportunity and to exhaust each of the resources available at their disposal. Surely, such wise words will be of great help to the young ballers at Purdue. And as for Annie Drews, she will sit back and smile to her heart’s content, reminiscing about the golden days of her life that propelled her to become a volleyball royalty.