The No. 15 Minnesota volleyball team took down the Northwestern Wildcats in three sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-17) on Wednesday night at Maturi Pavilion.

“These are the ‘dog days’ as they call it,” said head coach Keegan Cook. “It’s one thing to survive, it’s another to keep growing. We’re challenging them to get better and not just get through it.”

The Gophers (13-6, 6-3 Big Ten) hit .351 for the evening, their eighth time this season hitting over .300. The Wildcats were held to .127 hitting for the night.

Julia Hanson paced the Gophers with a team-high 19 kills while Melani Shaffmaster went for 35 assists and nine digs. Mckenna Wucherer posted eight kills and three blocks.

Buse Hazan led Northwestern (4-13, 2-7 Big Ten) with 14 kills and seven digs while Kennedy Hill and Rylen Reid both posted seven kills.

How It Happened
SET 1 | Minnesota started fast, scoring seven of the first nine points before the Wildcats called a timeout. Hanson tallied four kills in the team’s first seven points. The Gophers kept their foot on the gas, scoring three of the next four out of the break. NU made it 11-5 before a 4-0 Minnesota run brought us to the media break with a 15-5 advantage. The ‘U’ would have its lead balloon to as many as 13 at 19-6 before a furious 10-3 Wildcats run made it 22-16, leading to a Minnesota timeout. The Gophers would eventually close out the set, winning 25-17, after a Wucherer kill. Hanson led the offense with seven kills in the first frame.

SET 2 | Northwestern set the tone in the early onset of set two, scoring six of the first 10 points. The Gophers scored three straight to make it 7-6 and then the two teams exchanged points up until the score was tied 12-12. After that, kills from Hanson and Wucherer combined with a Shaffmaster ace made it 15-12, Minnesota, heading into the media timeout. The Gophers went up 16-12 before two NU points cut the lead in half. The ‘U’ went on an 8-4 run after that, going up 24-18 before the Wildcats called a timeout. Another Hanson kill took home the set for the ‘U’, 25-19, to go up 2-0.

SET 3 | The Gophers kept their momentum going, scoring seven of the first 10 in set three before Northwestern called a timeout. After exchanging a pair of points, the ‘U’ went on a 6-0 run, paced by a pair of kills from Wucherer and an ace from Gray, to go up 14-4. NU burned their final timeout to try and stop momentum. NU cut the lead to as few as five at 18-13 after a 9-4 run, but would get no closer. A kill from Engeman and a block from Engeman and Wucherer ended the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-0 for Minnesota.

Game Notes
» The ‘U’ is now 66-20 against Northwestern, winning 15 of the last 16 in the series.
» Minnesota hit .351 for the night, its eighth time hitting over .300 this season (7-1 record). The Gophers have hit over .300 in four of the last five matches.
» Julia Hanson tallied 19 kills, her 14th match this year with 10+.
» Phoebe Awoleye posted a team-best four blocks. Five different Gophers had 2+ blocks.
» Zeynep Palabiyik had 11 digs, getting her 16th 10+ dig match of the year.
» Kate Thibault totaled 11 digs, her fifth 10+ dig match of the year.
» Skylar Gray tied her career-high with two aces.

Up Next
Minnesota (13-6, 6-3 Big Ten) takes on Ohio State (8-10, 1-7 Big Ten) on Sunday, Oct. 27 at noon in Columbus, Ohio.

(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)

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