The No. 15 Minnesota Golden Gophers (12-6, 5-3 Big Ten) return to Maturi Pavilion for a mid-week clash with the Northwestern Wildcats (4-12, 2-6 Big Ten) on Wednesday evening. First serve is set for 8 p.m. and Big Ten Network will televise. Sloane Martin (Play-By-Play) and Meredith Nelson-Uram (Analyst) will be on the call.
The ‘U’ is in a three-way tie for seventh place in the conference entering the halfway stretch of their 20-game conference slate.
NORTHWESTERN GAME INFORMATION
No. 15 Minnesota vs. Northwestern
Wednesday, Oct. 23
8 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota leads Northwestern, 65-20 (Streak: Minnesota Won 2)
First Meeting: 1976
Last Meeting: 2023
HEADING INTO THE MATCH
572 — 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 572 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.
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.
39 — The ‘U’ comes in at No. 39 in the country, holding opponents to just .170 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.
13 — The Gophers rank 13th nationally and fifth in the Big Ten with 2.78 blocks per set.
11 — Times this season Minnesota has posted 10+ blocks as a team.
8 — Phoebe Awoleye ranks 8th among active DI players with 1.29 bps; ranks 3rd with 572 total blocks.
7 — Minnesota matches have gone five sets (3-4 record), 10 have been sweeps (9-1) and one has been in four sets (0-1).
6 — Lydia Grote had tallied 10+ kills in seven straight matches before Sunday’s match at Penn State.
4 — Melani Shaffmaster ranks eighth in Gophers history and fourth among active DI players with 4,565 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 25th nationally with 192.0 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 1.58 blocks per set.
1 — Minnesota ranks first in the Big Ten (90th in the NCAA) with 15.33 digs per set. The second place team is Purdue at 15.11 dps. Opposing teams are hitting just .170 against the Gophers (5th 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 (8 matches), Phoebe Awoleye leads the Big Ten with 2.00 bps and 58 block assists.
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 then No. 14 Minnesota volleyball team took down Rutgers in a 3-0 sweep on Friday night. Lydia Grote paced the team with 11 kills. The Gophers then fell in a sweep at No. 3 Penn State on Sunday. Julia Hanson had 11 kills while Melani Shaffmaster posted her 10th double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs.
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 NORTHWESTERN
• Northwestern (4-12, 2-6 B1G) is led by first-year head coach Tim Nollan. He spent the last eight seasons as the head coach at Grand Canyon University. The Wildcats currently hold wins over Northern Illinois (2x), Maryland and Iowa. They’re tied with Indiana at 14th place in the Big Ten.
• Northwestern was picked to finish 16th in the annual Big Ten Preseason Poll.
• South Florida transfer Buse Hazan leads the team with 2.84 kills and 0.33 service aces per set this season. Kennedy Hill leads the defense with 1.26 blocks per set while Drew Wright tallies 2.80 digs per set.
MINNESOTA’S HISTORY VS. NORTHWESTERN
• The ‘U’ is 65-20 all-time vs. Northwestern. Last year, Minnesota defeated NU in five sets on Oct. 15 at the Pav and in four sets on Nov. 5 at Northwestern. The Gophers have won 15 of 16 in the series overall. The Wildcats last won on Sept. 28, 2022 in a five-set thriller at the Pav.
AT HOME AGAINST UNRANKED OPPONENTS
• Minnesota is 127-2 in its last 15 seasons against unranked opponents at the Pav. Its last loss 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
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 (8.58 ps), was named to the initial list of 36 on Sept. 19. Hanson, who paces the team in kills (3.38 ps) and aces (0.29 ps), was added along with 15 others on Oct. 18. The award will be announced during the Final Four in late December.
SHAFFMASTER “MASTERING” LEADERSHIP
STREAKS TO WATCH
• Lydia Grote had posted seven consecutive matches with 10+ kills before 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 talled multiple blocks in eight straight matches. She’s posted seven-or-more blocks in six of the last seven matches, including 40 total blocks in the last four contests.
• Calissa Minatee has earned five-or-more kills in 12 matches this season. Minnesota is 9-3 when she has 5+ kills.
• Julia Hanson has totaled 10+ kills in 13 of 18 matches this year, including four times in Big Ten play.
• Melani Shaffmaster has tallied double-doubles in three of the last four matches. She’s got 10 on the season.
AWOLEYE ANCHORING THE FRONT LINE
• A redshirt senior from Marietta, Ga., Phoebe Awoleye has been a revelation in the middle for Minnesota. She came last year after playing two years at Georgia and one year at Loyola Marymount. She picked up right where she left off in 2023 with a couple big matches against No. 5 Stanford (six blocks) and No. 1 Texas (seven blocks).
• Awoleye ranks 3rd among active DI players with 572 blocks. She ranks 8th with 1.29 blocks per set.
• In 2024, Awoleye has tallied 3+ blocks in 12 matches and 5+ blocks 11 times. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 14 after tallying 24 blocks in just six sets on Oct. 11 and 12. In her last four matches, Awoleye has totaled 40 blocks. She ranks second in the Big Ten with 1.58 blocks per set in 2024.
UNDER .200, 10+ BLOCKS CLUB
• The Minnesota defense has held 13 of its 18 opponents this year under .200 hitting. Teams are hitting just .170 against the Gophers on the year (5th 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)
