The No. 19 Minnesota Golden Gophers are hosting the Diet Coke Classic at Maturi Pavilion once again. They’ll take on LIU on Thursday night before hosting Auburn on Friday on B1G+. LIU and Auburn will compete on Saturday morning, Sept. 14, at 11:30 a.m. CT. All three matches will be streamed on B1G+.
GAME INFORMATION
No. 19 Minnesota vs. LIU
Thursday, Sept. 12
7 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
GAME INFORMATION
No. 19 Minnesota vs. Auburn
Friday, Sept. 13
6 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
GAME INFORMATION
LIU vs. Auburn
Saturday, Sept. 14
11:30 a.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota leads LIU, 2-0, and trails Auburn, 1-2
First Meeting: 2004 (LIU) and 1990 (Auburn)
Last Meeting: 2012 (LIU) and 2009 (Auburn)
HEADING INTO THE MATCH
4,000 — Redshirt Senior setter Melani Shaffmaster passed 4,000 career assists with her 27th assist Sept. 1 vs. Stanford. She is the eighth Gopher ever to reach 4,000 and one of four Gophers in history to record 4,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs.
59 — Minnesota is 59-9 all-time in the Diet Coke Classic. They went 1-1 last year with a 3-1 win over High Point and a 3-1 loss to No. 14 Creighton.
43 — All-time, the Gophers are 43-10 in home openers after Tuesday night. Their last loss came in 2021 against No. 1 Texas (3-1). Before that, it was in 2007 against No. 23 Ohio State. Minnesota has won 15 of its last 17 home openers.
43 — The Gophers 43-21 all-time against SEC teams.
29 — Libero Zeynep Palabiyik posted a career-best 29 digs Friday at No. 23 Baylor. She ranks 1st in the B1G with 4.65 dps.
28 — The ‘U’ clinched its 28th straight winning season with a win over OSU on Nov. 18. The last time they didn’t have a winning season was in 1995 (13-17, 7-13 Big Ten). In the 53-year history of Gopher volleyball, the team has had only five losing seasons.
24 — The ‘U’ made its 24th NCAA Tournament in the last 25 seasons, including its ninth straight, in 2023.
19 — Melani Shaffmaster led the Big Ten with 19 double doubles last season. She has 63 in her career, the most of any B1G setter.
14 — Minnesota tallied 14 blocks in each of its first two matches, tying its season-high from last season. The Gophers have posted 10+ blocks in four of five matches thus far.
12 — Melani Shaffmaster is one of 12 players in the country to register a triple-double this season. She had a career-high 10 kills with 47 assists and 21 digs on Sept. 7 vs. TCU. She’s the first Gopher to register a triple double since Sarah Wilhite did so in September of 2014.
10 — Phoebe Awoleye ranks 10th among active DI players with 1.23 bps; ranks 4th with 497 total blocks.
9 — The Gophers have had nine straight seasons winning over half of their B1G games, dating back to 2014 (9-11). Minnesota has had winning conference seasons in 21 of the last 22 seasons.
4 — Melani Shaffmaster ranks fourth among active DI players with 4,170 career assists. She’s one of four athletes in the country that has totaled 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs in her career.
4 — Four of Minnesota’s five matches have gone to five sets. The average game time has been 2:28.
2 — The Gophers were just 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 1-2 this year. Their next top-25 ranked opponent will be Wisconsin (Sept. 25).
LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 19 Minnesota volleyball team racked up 11 blocks on the way to a 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-16, 25-21) over the St. Thomas Tommies Tuesday night in their home opener at Maturi Pavilion. The Gophers (2-3, 0-0) Big Ten) offense was paced by Julia Hanson, who finished with 10 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .286, and by Lydia Grote, who had 10 kills while hitting .259. Defensively, Minnesota had two players reach double figures in digs as Zeynep Palabiyik had 20 and Melani Shaffmaster had 10.
GOPHERS RANKED 19TH ENTERING WEEK THREE
• 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.
• The last time Minnesota was unranked in a preseason poll was before the 2015 season in which they went on to make the Final Four.
• 18th was Minnesota’s lowest preseason ranking since coming in at No. 22 in 2006. They came in at 19 on Sept. 9 after beating No. 1 Texas but falling to No. 23 Baylor and TCU.
SCOUTING LIU
LIU is led by second-year head coach Amable Martinez. The Sharks went 13-19 (9-5 NEC) in his first year in 2023, taking home the Northeast Conference title after defeating No. 1 Sacred Heart and No. 2 FDU in the conference tournament and semifinals, respectively. LIU made the NCAA Tournament and fell 3-0 to No. 1 Nebraska.
• Camelia Mendez, who was named the NEC Tournament MVP last year after tallying 30 kills in two matches, leads the Sharks with 2.74 kills per set this season. Defensively, senior Alasha Colon paces the backcourt with 4.85 dps.
• LIU is 1-6 so far in 2024, with its lone win coming over Quinnipiac. The Sharks have lost their last three matches in straight sets to Tennessee, UCLA and Rutgers, respectively.
SCOUTING AUBURN
• The Auburn Tigers (6-0, 0-0 SEC) are led by fifth-year head coach Brent Crouch. AU has been to two straight NCAA Tournaments for the first time in school history. Overall, the program has been to three NCAA Tournaments.
• Auburn was picked to finish 10th in the 15-team SEC in the preseason poll. Junior outside Madison Scheer was named to the All-SEC Preseason Team. Scheer paces the team thus far with 3.50 kills per set in 2024. Alexis Dacosta leads the backcourt with 5.00 digs per set while Chelsey McCurdy averages 1.40 blocks per set.
• The Tigers best win of 2024 came on Sunday against No. 15 Florida St., when they came away with a 3-1 win at home. Scheer had 15 kills while Alexis Dacosta had 20 digs and Emma Moore tallied eight blocks.
• The sister of Minnesota’s Kate Thibault, Paige, plays for Auburn. She is a senior libero/defensive specialist.
MINNESOTA’S HISTORY VS. LIU AND AUBURN
• Against LIU, the Gophers are 2-0 all-time. They last met in the 2012 regular season, a 3-0 Minnesota win at Maturi Pavilion.
• Minnesota is 1-2 all-time against Auburn. The two teams have not met since 2009, a 3-0 Minnesota win at Maturi Pavilion.
(info and picture courtesy of Gopher Sports)
