The No. 14 Minnesota Golden Gophers are looking to build momentum in their home gym this weekend against Indiana (9-5, 2-2 B1G) and Maryland (10-5, 1-3 B1G). Friday’s match is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on B1G+ while Saturday’s first serve is at 5 p.m. on BTN. Minnesota is 4-1 inside Maturi Pavilion this season, including 1-1 in conference play. The Gophers are currently in a tie for ninth place in the Big Ten heading into week three of the league slate.

INDIANA GAME INFORMATION
No. 14 Minnesota vs. Indiana
Friday, Oct. 11
6:30 p.m.
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.

MARYLAND GAME INFORMATION
No. 14 Minnesota vs. Maryland
Saturday, Oct. 12
5 p.m.
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.

COOK ON FOES

Gopher head coach Keegan Cook gives a quick scouting report on this weekend’s Big Ten opponents:

 

NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota leads Indiana, 62-16 (Streak: Minnesota Won 13) and Maryland, 18-1 (Streak: Maryland Won 1)
First Meeting: 1975 (Indiana) and 1986 (Maryland)
Last Meeting: 2023 (Indiana and Maryland)

HEADING INTO THE MATCH
532 — Phoebe Awoleye reached 500 career blocks Sept. 13 vs. Auburn. She is one of four active Division I players in the nation to reach the 500-block mark. She currently holds 532.
121 — Zeynep Palabiyik ranks 121st nationally (4th in B1G) with 4.04 digs per set in 2024.
36 — Melani Shaffmaster was named to the AVCA Top-36 Player of the Year Watch List on Sept. 19. The three-time All-B1G honoree is looking to earn her first All-America honor in 2024.
32 — The ‘U’ comes in at No. 32 in the country, holding opponents to just .166 hitting for the year. Only four of Minnesota’s opponents have hit over .200 this season (Stanford, Baylor, Purdue, USC). Four have been below .100.
22 — Melani Shaffmaster is one of 22 players in the country to register a triple-double in ‘24. She had a career-high 10 kills with 47 assists and 21 digs on Sept. 7. She’s the first Gopher to register a triple-double since Sarah Wilhite in Sept. of 2014.
20 — The last 20 home matches against the Hoosiers at the Pav have been Gophers sweeps (60 straight sets). The Hoosiers last won a set at the Pav in 1999 in a 3-1 Gophers win.
13 — Straight times the Gophers have defeated the Hoosiers.
11 — Phoebe Awoleye ranks 11th among active DI players with 1.23 bps; ranks 4th with 532 total blocks.
9 — Minnesota is 9-0 all-time at home vs. Maryland. Eight of those have been sweeps. Maryland hasn’t won a set at the Pav since 1992, a 3-2 Gophers victory.
7 — Minnesota ranks seventh in the B1G with 2.53 blocks per set. They’ve had 10+ blocks in five matches.
7 — Times this season Minnesota has posted 10+ blocks.
7 — Of the Gophers matches have went five sets (2-4 record), six have been sweeps (6-0) and one has been in four sets (0-1).
6 — The Gophers rank sixth in the B1G with 1.67 aces per set.
4 — Melani Shaffmaster ranks eighth in Gophers history and fourth among active DI players with 4,453 career assists. She’s one of four athletes in the country that has totaled 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs in her career. The next closest Big Ten setter to her in career assists is Wisconsin’s Carly Anderson at 3,697.
2 — The Gophers were just 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 2-4 this year with wins over No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin. Their losses came against No. 5 Stanford, No. 10 Purdue, No. 21 USC and No. 23 Baylor.
2 — Minnesota had two top-10 ranked wins by the end of September for the first time since 2019. That year, they beat No. 10 Oregon, No. 7 Florida and No. 1 Stanford by September 30.
1 — Minnesota ranks first in the Big Ten (32nd in the NCAA) with 15.72 digs per set. The second place team is Purdue at 15.43 dps. Opposing teams are hitting just .153 against the Gophers (2nd in the B1G).
1 — Melani Shaffmaster became the first Gopher ever to record 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 300 kills and 300 blocks in her career with her fourth block of the match last Friday vs. UCLA.

LAST TIME OUT
• The then No. 12 Minnesota volleyball team split its UCLA and USC road trip last weekend. The Gophers defeated UCLA in five sets (25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-27, 15-10) before falling USC in four (23-25, 25-22, 11-25, 18-25). Lydia Grote paced the team in kills with 13 against UCLA and 16 versus USC in her home state of California. Phoebe Awoleye posted a season-best eight blocks in the win at UCLA.

GOPHERS RANKED 14TH THIS WEEK
• The Gophers entered the 2024 season with a No. 18 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll.
• The Gophers have been ranked in the preseason poll in nine straight seasons and 23 of the last 25.
• 18th was Minnesota’s lowest preseason ranking since coming in at No. 22 in 2006.
• They came in at 14 on Oct. 7, moving down two spots from the No. 12 ranking last week.

SCOUTING INDIANA
• Indiana is led by seventh-year head coach Steve Aird. At 9-5 (2-2 Big Ten), the Hoosiers are looking to earn their first ranked win of the 2024 season. They defeated Ohio State and Michigan St. last weekend.
• IU was picked to finish 10th in the Big Ten Preseason Poll, while setter Camryn Haworth was named to the Preseason All-B1G Team. IU finished 21-12 (11-9 B1G) in 2023, narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament.
• Avry Tatum paces the Hoosiers with 3.51 kills per set while Camryn Haworth goes for 10.19 assists per set. In the back row, libero Ramsey Gary ranks in the top-5 in the Big Ten with 4.15 digs per set.

SCOUTING MARYLAND
• Maryland is led by head coach Adam Hughes, who is in his seventh year at the helm of Maryland volleyball. The Terps went 17-15 (7-13 Big Ten) last season. They come in with a 10-5 (1-3 B1G) record to this weekend.
• The Terrapins were chosen to finish 14th in the annual Big Ten Preseason Poll. They did not have a representative on the Preseason All-Big Ten team.
• Samantha Schnitta paces the Terps with 3.44 kills per set while Anastasia Russ (1.20 bps) paces the defense. Maryland ranks fifth in the conference in opponent hitting percentage, allowing an average of .163 a night..

MINNESOTA’S HISTORY VS. INDIANA AND MARYLAND
Minnesota is 62-16 against Indiana all-time. The Gophers have won 13 straight and 15 of the last 16 in the series dating back to 2013. At home against the Hoosiers, Minnesota is 32-5 in the series. The Gophers have won 24 straight home matches against IU, dating back to 1995. The ‘U’ has won 13 straight overall in the series, dating back to 2014. The last 20 home matches against the Hoosiers at the Pav have been Gophers sweeps (60 straight sets). The Hoosiers last won a set at the Pav in 1999 in a 3-1 Gophers win.
• The Gophers are 18-1 against the Terps all-time. 16 of the matches came since 2014 when Maryland joined the Big Ten. In those 16 matches, 12 of them were decided in three sets. Minnesota fell 3-2 last season in College Park for the Terrapins’ first ever win in the series. At the Pav, Minnesota is 9-0 all-time and eight of those have been sweeps. Maryland hasn’t won a set at the Pav since 1992, a 3-2 Gophers victory.

MINNESOTA AGAINST TOP-10 TEAMS
• The Gophers already have two wins against top-10 ranked opponents in 2024, taking victories against then No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin. They’re one of seven teams in the country to do so.
• Besides Minnesota, only Nebraska (4), Louisville (3), Penn State (3), Pitt (2), Stanford (2) and Creighton (2) have won multiple matches against top-10 ranked opponents.

CONSISTENCY IN CONFERENCE PLAY
• Since 2012, Minnesota is 175-57 (.758) in B1G play, including 11 seasons over .500 in league play.
• In 10 of those seasons, the ‘U’ went 15-5 or better in B1G play, with the best being 19-1 in 2018.
• Last year (12-8 B1G) was the first season since 2014 (9-11 Big Ten) that Minnesota won less than 15 of its conference matches. However, it clinched its ninth straight winning B1G season on Nov. 18 against Ohio State. Minnesota had won 15-or-more B1G bouts in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
• The Gophers won Big Ten titles in 2016 and 2018 and have finished either first, second or third in 10 of the last 11 seasons. The Gophers tied with Ohio State for third place in 2022. Minnesota took fifth in the conference in 2023 behind Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State and Purdue.

SHAFFMASTER MAKES HISTORY
• Melani Shaffmaster became the first Gopher in program history to register 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 300 kills and 300 blocks when she totaled block No. 300 Oct. 4 at UCLA.
• She did a little bit of everything on Sept. 7 vs. TCU. She became the first Gopher since Sarah Wilhite in 2014 to register a triple-double when she went for 10 kills, 47 assists and 21 digs in a five set defeat. The 10 kills was also a career-best for Shaffmaster.

AT HOME AGAINST NON-RANKED OPPONENTS
• Minnesota is 125-2 in its last 15 seasons against non-ranked opponents at the Pav. Its last lost was Sept. 28, 2022 (3-2 loss vs. NU). Before that, its last loss was 2017 in a 3-0 sweep against unranked Michigan State.

GOPHERS IN BIG TEN CATEGORIES
• The ‘U’ leads the B1G in digs per set (15.72) and in digs (896) in 2024. The Gophers rank 9th in total blocks (137) and 12th in blocks per set (2.40).

(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)

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