No. 15 Minnesota heads back east to begin a three-game road trip on Sunday. The Gophers will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT. B1G+ will stream once again. The Gophers enter Sunday’s game having won seven straight matches at Ohio State.
NORTHWESTERN GAME INFORMATION
No. 15 Minnesota at Ohio State
Sunday, Oct. 27
Noon CT
NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota leads Ohio State, 49-37 (Streak: Minnesota Won 2)
First Meeting: 1975
Last Meeting: 2023
HEADING INTO THE MATCH
576 — 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 576 and was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after totaling 24 combined in six sets vs. Indiana (Oct. 11) and Maryland (Oct. 12). She had seven blocks Friday vs. Rutgers and nine Sunday at Penn State, meaning she has 40 blocks in her last four games.
52 — Melani Shaffmaster and Julia Hanson were named to the AVCA Top-52 Player of the Year Watch List. Shaffmaster was named to the original 36 list while Hanson was added as one of 16 additions on Oct. 18.
31 — The ‘U’ comes in at No. 31 in the country, holding opponents to just .159 hitting for the year. Only five of Minnesota’s opponents have hit over .200 this season (Stanford, Baylor, Penn St., Purdue, USC). Four have been below .100.
29 — Shaffmaster is one of 29 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.
14 — The Gophers rank 14th nationally and fifth in the Big Ten with 2.79 blocks per set.
11 — Times this season Minnesota has posted 10+ blocks as a team.
7 — Minnesota matches have gone five sets (3-4 record), 11 have been sweeps (10-1) and one has been in four sets (0-1).
5 — The Gophers are in the midst of five straight matches against unranked teams. They won’t play another ranked opponent until Saturday, Nov. 9 against No. 11 Oregon.
4 — Melani Shaffmaster ranks eighth in Gophers history and fourth among active DI players with 4,600 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.
3 — Minnesota ranks third in the Big Ten and 17th nationally with 201.0 total blocks in 2024.
2 — The Gophers were just 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 2-5 this year with wins over No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin. Their losses came against No. 3 Penn State, 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.
2 — Phoebe Awoleye ranks second in the Big Ten and sixth in the country with 1.57 blocks per set.
1 — Minnesota ranks first in the Big Ten (83rd in the NCAA) with 15.46 digs per set. The second place team is Purdue at 15.22 dps. Opposing teams are hitting just .159 against the Gophers (T-1st 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 Oct. 4 vs. UCLA.
1 — Phoebe Awoleye set the new NCAA high for blocks in a three-set match with 14 on Oct. 12 vs. Maryland. Her 14 blocks also tied a program record for stuffs in a single match.
1 — In Big Ten play (9 matches), Phoebe Awoleye leads the Big Ten with 1.94 bps and 66 blocks.
1 — The Gophers tied an NCAA season-best for a three set match with 19.0 blocks vs. Maryland on Oct. 12.
LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 15 Minnesota volleyball team swept Northwestern (25-18, 25-19, 25-17) on Wednesday night. Julia Hanson tallied 19 kills while Melani Shaffmaster posted 35 assists and nine digs. Mckenna Wucherer had eight kills and six digs while Phoebe Awoleye had four blocks. Minnesota hit .351 and had nine team blocks.
GOPHERS RANKED 15TH 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 15 on Oct. 21, going down one spot from the Oct. 14 rankings. Minnesota has been ranked as high as 12 this year (Sept. 30) and as low as 19 (Sept. 9).
• Minnesota was ranked as the No. 16 team in the Division I committee’s top-16 rankings that came out on Sunday, Oct. 20. The top 16 teams at the end of the season host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• Ohio State (8-11, 1-8 B1G) is led by fifth-year head coach Jen Flynn Oldenberg. So far in 2024, the Buckeyes hold wins against FIU, UNI, SIU, No. 20 Miami, Buffalo, Bowling Green (2x) and Northwestern. OSU recently took No. 3 Penn State to five sets at the Covelli Center last Friday.
• Emily Londot leads Ohio State with 4.62 kills per set, a figure that ranks first in the Big Ten. The 2024 Preseason All-Big Ten selection is a three-time AVCA All-American and a four-time All-Big Ten honoree.
• Setter Mia Tuman paces OSU with 9.68 assists per set while Eloise Brandewie holds 1.16 blocks per set.
MINNESOTA’S HISTORY VS. OHIO STATE
• Minnesota is 49-37 all-time against Ohio State, winning 12 of the last 14 in the series. The losses came in 2022 in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and Oct. 12, 2022 at the Pav. Minnesota won twice in the series last season. The Gophers swept
• On the road at Ohio State, the Gophers are 19-20 all-time. Minnesota has won seven straight at OSU, dating back to 2014. The ‘U’ has also won nine of 10 there, dating back to 2012.
GOPHERS IN B1G CATEGORIES
• The ‘U’ leads the B1G in digs per set (15.46) and digs (1,113) in 2024. The Gophers are tied for first in opposing hitting percentage (.159) and rank fifth in blocks per set (2.79).
• Minnesota ranks third in total blocks (201.0). In conference play only, the Gophers rank second in total blocks (101), fourth in kills (430) and fifth in hitting percentage (.252).
HANSON, SHAFFMASTER NAMED TO AVCA PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
• Gophers senior setter Melani Shaffmaster and junior outside Julia Hanson have both been named to the AVCA National Player of the Year Watch List. Shaffmaster, who leads the team in assists (8.71 ps), was named to the initial list of 36 on Sept. 19. Hanson, who paces the team in kills (3.51 ps) and aces (0.28 ps), was added along with 15 others on Oct. 18. The award will be announced during the Final Four in late December.
STREAKS TO WATCH
• Lydia Grote had posted seven consecutive matches with 10+ kills before last Sunday, including season-highs of 17 against top-10 teams Wisconsin and Purdue. She had a streak of five matches with 10+ in 2023.
• Phoebe Awoleye has tallied multiple blocks in nine straight matches. She’s posted seven-or-more blocks in six of the last seven matches, including 44 total blocks in the last five contests.
• Calissa Minatee has earned five-or-more kills in 13 matches this season. Minnesota is 10-3 when she has 5+ kills.
• Julia Hanson has totaled 10+ kills in 14 of 19 matches this year, including five times in Big Ten play.
• Melani Shaffmaster has tallied double-doubles in three of the last five matches. She’s got 10 on the season..
HANSON’S PATIENCE PAYING OFF
• A junior out of Savage, Minn., Julia Hanson has been patiently waiting for her chance to shine on the outside for Minnesota. She played situationally as a freshman in 2022, appearing in 10 matches (1.38 kills per set) and all 30 matches in 2023, but notching just 0.64 kills and 1.08 digs per set.
• She’s stepped up multiple times in big games when her team has needed her most. On Nov. 12, 2023 at Indiana, she tallied a career-high 19 kills with six digs and an ace. She came off the bench to play front row and led the team in kills in a crucial win in Bloomington.
• As a freshman in 2021, her best match came at then top-ranked Texas where she went for 14 kills (.375) and two blocks in her third ever match.
• She’s shined as a full-time starter in 2024, leading the team in kills against No. 5 Stanford (14) and No. 1 Texas (19) to begin the season. She recorded 19 kills and 13 digs for her first ever double-double in an upset win over UT on Sept. 2.
• So far in 2024, Hanson has tallied double digit kills in 14 of 19 matches, aces in 11 of 19 matches and has three double-doubles. She was named to the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament team in addition to winning MVP of the Capital Credit Union Classic.
• Julia leads the team and ranks 11th in the Big Ten with 3.51 kills per set in 2024. She was added to the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List on Oct. 18 and is one of 52 players being considered for the award.
UNDER .200, 10+ BLOCKS CLUB
• The Minnesota defense has held 14 of its 19 opponents this year under .200 hitting. Teams are hitting just .159 against the Gophers on the year (T-1st in B1G).
• The Gophers have totaled 10+ blocks 11 times this season (high of 19 on Oct. 12). Out of Big Ten teams, only USC has totaled as many 10+ block matches this season as Minnesota.
(info courtesy of Gopher Sports)
