The No. 16 Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-9, 10-6 B1G) are searching for a statement win as they hit the road to take on the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers (20-5, 14-2 B1G) on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. Minnesota won the first match this season, 3-2, on Sept. 25 at Maturi Pavilion. Wednesday’s match will be televised on Big Ten Network with Sloane Martin (play-by-play) and Emily Ehman (analyst) on the call.
The Gophers sit in a tie for sixth place in the conference standings with four matches to play. The ‘U’ is 6-4 in true road matches this season, including a 5-3 mark in conference play. Minnesota has yet to beat a ranked team on the road in 2024 (0-4).
WISCONSIN GAME INFORMATION
No. 16 Minnesota at No. 6 Wisconsin
Wednesday, Nov. 20
8 p.m.
UW Fieldhouse
Madison, Wis.
HEADING INTO THE MATCH
Minnesota leads Wisconsin, 54-38 (Streak: Minnesota W1)
First Meeting: 1975
Last Meeting: Sept. 25, 2024 at Maturi Pavilion
NOTES TO KNOW
609 — Phoebe Awoleye reached 600 career blocks Nov. 14 at Nebraska. She currently holds 609, ranking No. 3 among all active Division I players in that category.
68 — Julia Hanson ranks No. 68 in the country and No. 8 in the Big Ten with 3.88 kills per set.
52 — Melani Shaffmaster and Julia Hanson were named to the AVCA Top-52 Player of the Year Watch List earlier this year.
34 — Shaffmaster is one of 34 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.
32 — The ‘U’ comes in at No. 32 in the country, holding opponents to just .169 for the year. Only nine of Minnesota’s opponents have hit over .200 this season. Four have been below .100.
19 — Minnesota is 19-25 all-time against Wisconsin in Madison. The Badgers have won five straight at home in the series, with Minnesota’s last road win being a 3-1 victory on Oct. 31, 2018.
14 — Times this season Minnesota posted 10+ blocks as a team, including seven of the last 12 matches.
10 — The ‘U’ has won 10-or-more Big Ten games in every season except for one (2014) dating back to 1999. They clinched their 10th straight with 10+ wins Sunday versus Michigan.
9 — Nine straight matches with 10+ kills for Julia Hanson. She’s hitting .313 during that span, with seven 15+ kill matches and two consecutive with 20+ kills (No. 2 Nebraska (20), Michigan (24).
8 — Minnesota matches have gone five sets (4-4), 14 sweeps (12-2) and four have been in four sets (1-3).
7 — Phoebe Awoleye ranks 8th among active DI players with 1.28 bps; ranks 3rd with 609 total blocks.
7 — Melani Shaffmaster ranks seventh in Gophers history and fourth among active DI players with 4,874 career assists. She passed Lindsey Taatjes for No. 7 all-time at the ‘U’ against Washington.
7 — Alex Acevedo put down a career-high and tied the B1G high for 2024 with seven aces Sunday.
4 — Minnesota won four straight matches in Madison against UW from 2015-18, but haven’t won since.
4 — Minnesota has just four regular season matches remaining before Selection Sunday (Dec. 1). The Gophers have two home matches (Iowa, Ohio State) and two away (Wisconsin, Illinois).
3 — Minnesota ranks third in the Big Ten and 21st nationally with 271.0 total blocks in 2024.
2 — The Gophers were 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 2-7 in 2024 with wins over No. 1 Texas, No. 7 Wisconsin. Their losses came against No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Penn State, No. 5 Stanford, No. 10 Purdue, No. 12 Oregon, No. 21 USC and No. 23 Baylor. Minnesota plays at No. 6 Wisconsin on Nov. 20 for their last ranked match of 2024.
2 — Phoebe Awoleye ranks second in the Big Ten and 12th in the country with 1.48 blocks per set.
2 — Minnesota ranks second in the Big Ten (104th in the NCAA) with 15.27 digs per set.
3 — In B1G matches only, Minnesota ranks 3rd with 2.83 blocks per set (170 blocks), behind Wisconsin and Oregon.
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 (16 matches), Phoebe Awoleye leads the Big Ten with 1.65 bps and 99 blocks. The next closest player in conference play to her has just 83 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. 16 Minnesota volleyball team took down Michigan (25-8, 24-26, 25-17, 25-15) in four sets on Sunday afternoon, breaking a three match losing streak. Julia Hanson went for a career-high 24 kills while Grote and Wucherer also reached double figures. Alex Acevedo totaled a career-best seven service aces, which was just one off the Maturi Pavilion record. Zeynep Palabiyik went for a 14-dig, 13-assist double-double (first of career).
GOPHERS IN THE RANKINGS
• The Gophers entered the 2024 season with a No. 18 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll.
• 18th was Minnesota’s lowest preseason ranking since coming in at No. 22 in 2006.
• They came in at 16 in the AVCA Poll on Nov. 18, staying put from the Nov. 11 rankings. Minnesota has been ranked as high as 12 this year (Sept. 30) and as low as 19 (Sept. 9).
• Minnesota comes in at 28 in the RPI rankings and No. 16 in the NCAA DI Committee’s Top-16 rankings.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
• No. 6 Wisconsin (20-5, 14-2 B1G) is led by 12th-year head coach Kelly Sheffield. He’s led the Badgers to five Final Fours since he’s been at the helm, including a national title in 2021. Wisconsin has won four of the last five Big Ten regular season titles and is coming off its fourth Final Four appearance since 2019.
• The Badgers enter Wednesday’s matchup on a five-game winning streak since being swept by Nebraska at home on Nov. 1. Besides Nebraska, Oregon (3-1) is the only other Big Ten team to win a set at UW Fieldhouse.
• UW is led by reigning AVCA/Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Franklin, who paces the team with 4.47 kills per set. Carter Booth leads the defense with 1.25 blocks per set while Charlie Fuerbringer contributes 10.86 assists per set.
MINNESOTA’S HISTORY VS. WISCONSIN
• Minnesota is 54-38 all-time versus Wisconsin, including a 19-25 road record. The Gophers broke a six-game losing streak in the series in 2022 with a 3-0 sweep on Sept. 25 at the Pav. Prior to the six-game slide, the Gophers had won eight straight in the series from 2015-18. Last year, Wisconsin took the lone match in Madison, 3-0.
• The Gophers won a thriller at Maturi Pavilion on Sept. 25 to open Big Ten play in a 3-2 victory. Lydia Grote led the ‘U’ with 17 kills and 16 digs while Melani Shaffmaster posted 47 assists and 10 digs. Julia Hanson went for 15 kills, including the game-winner to end set five, 18-16.
• On the road in Madison, Minnesota hasn’t won since 2018. Wisconsin has taken five straight home matches in the series. From 2015-18, Minnesota went 4-0 at UW Fieldhouse. Former Gopher Samantha Seliger-Swenson went 8-0 against the Badgers in her time at Minnesota. Now her sisters, Olivia and Stella, are 1-0 after the September win. Since Minnesota’s win at UW in 2018, the Badgers are 86-7 at UW Fieldhouse. Minnesota has won one set there since 2018 (3-1 loss in 2022).
MEL MUSES
Gopher senior setter Melani Shaffmaster on this re-match:
HANSON ON A HEATER IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Minnesota junior outside Julia Hanson is on an absolute tear throughout the past month. Named Big Ten Player of the Week on Oct. 28, the Savage, Minn., native has tallied 10+ kills in each of the last nine matches, including seven 15+ kill bouts and two with 20+. She hit 20 and 24 kills in two matches last week.
• Hanson leads the team and ranks eighth in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.88). She’s also hitting .270 for the year, which trails only Wisconsin’s Sarah Franklin (.308) and Purdue’s Eva Hudson (.290) among B1G pins.
AWOLEYE AIMS HIGH IN FINAL SEASON
• Senior middle Phoebe Awoleye is having a big time final year in the Maroon and Gold. In B1G play (16 matches), she leads all Big Ten players with 1.65 blocks per set and 99 total blocks. The next closest players to her are Carter Booth, UW (1.57 bps) and Zuzanna Kulig, MSU (83 blocks).
• In conference play, she’s posted five-or-more blocks 10 times, eight-or-more six times and 10+ twice. Awoleye set the conference and school record in a three-set match with 14 blocks Oct. 12 against Maryland.
• Awoleye ranks second in the Big Ten (all matches) with 1.48 blocks per set in 2024
MINNESOTA AGAINST TOP-10, TOP-5 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 eight teams in the country to do so.
• Besides Minnesota, only Nebraska (6), Pitt (4), Louisville (3), Penn State (3), SMU (2), Stanford (2), Creighton (2) and Wisconsin (2) have won multiple matches against top-10 ranked opponents.
• Since 2018, Minnesota is 3-14 in true road games against top-five ranked opponents. The Gophers went 0-3 last year in games at No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Nebraska and No. 5 Stanford. Their last true road win over a top-five team was Nov. 26, 2022 at then No. 5 Nebraska in a sweep.
GROTE KEEPS GROWING IN FIFTH SEASON
• A transfer from California, Lydia Grote stepped up in a big way at the opposite position for the Maroon and Gold. She’s hit 10+ kills in 15 matches, including a streak of seven straight in Big Ten play with double digits (Sept. 25-Oct. 18). She ranks second on the team in aces per set (0.30) and total aces (27) this season.
• A Second Team All-Big Ten selection in 2023, Grote has upped her kills (2.95 from 2.68), digs (1.57 from 1.03) and points (3.65 from 3.40) from last season.
• Grote was named to Michella Chester’s NCAA Rotation of the Week on Sept. 30 after tallying 34 kills and 30 digs in two matches against top-10 opponents that week.
GOPHERS STANDING OUT IN ATTENDANCE AT THE PAV
• In 2024, Minnesota ranks fourth nationally in average attendance with 4,876 fans per match. Only Nebraska, Wisconsin and Hawaii average more fans per game.
ACEVEDO ADDING TO THE MIX
• Redshirt freshman Alex Acevedo has been finding her role for Minnesota in the past couple weeks. On Nov. 14 at No. 2 Nebraska, she posted a career-high 20 digs (most for a Minnesota outside since 2021) with seven kills. It was her first ever 10+ dig match.
• She followed that up with 12 digs and a career-best seven aces on Nov. 17 in a win over Michigan. So far in 2024, she’s played in 24 matches, totaling a team-best 0.36 aces per set with 1.42 digs and 0.90 kps.
MINNESOTA MILESTONES
• Phoebe Awoleye passed 600 career blocks on Nov. 14 at NU. She ranks No. 3 among all active Division I players with 609 in her collegiate career.
• Melani Shaffmaster passed 4,800 assists on Nov. 14 at Nebraska. She ranks fourth among all active Division I players in assists with 4,874. She could be the sixth Gopher ever to pass 5,000 in her career.
• Shaffmaster clinched her fourth straight season with 20+ service aces last weekend. She became the first Gophers setter to reach 400 kills last Sunday at Michigan (412 for her career).
• Lydia Grote (268) reached the 200-kill mark for the fourth time in her career.
• Julia Hanson clinched her first career 300+ kill season Nov. 7 vs. Washington. She also hit 20 service aces for the first time in her career. Hanson posted a career-best four aces Nov. 3 at Michigan.
UNDER .200, 10+ BLOCKS CLUB
• The Minnesota defense has held 17 of its 26 opponents this year under .200 hitting. Teams are hitting just .170 against the Gophers on the year (fourth in B1G).
• The Gophers have totaled 10+ blocks 14 times this season (high of 19 on Oct. 12). Out of Big Ten teams, only USC (15) has totaled more 10+ block matches this season than Minnesota.
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
