The No. 6 seeded Minnesota volleyball team took down the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in four sets (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23) in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament Thursday night. With the victory, Minnesota has now won an NCAA Tournament match in 10 straight seasons.
Western Kentucky held advantages over Minnesota in hitting percentage (.250 to .186), kills (59 to 50), digs (61 to 60) and blocks (9 to 6), but fell victim to 18 service errors. This proved to be the difference as Minnesota was able to fight back in the fourth set after trailing 19 to 14 and move on to the Round of 32.
“I’m certainly as dissatisfied as I could be with an NCAA win, these guys know that and I feel fortunate I can tell them that,” said head coach Keegan Cook. They are mature enough to handle it, and they’ll be ready for tomorrow night.”
Julia Hanson led Minnesota with 13 kills and eight digs while Lydia Grote went for 12 kills and five digs. Melani Shaffmaster paced the offense with 29 assists and added 15 digs. Zeynep Palabiyik led the backcourt with 18 digs while Mckenna Wucherer posted nine kills with a service ace.
In the end, the Gophers (21-10, 13-7 Big Ten) took down Western Kentucky (28-7, 18-0 CUSA) to win their 63rd all-time NCAA Tournament match.
“To see our serve and pass to get us through, that has been trouble for us – so to be better in that phase of the game, it took a lot of work and had to be the thing to carry us through a really difficult match. Again, congratulations to Western Kentucky, they did a really good job. Mckenna [Wucherer] did a nice job serving late, when she hasn’t had a lot of chances this season. It was a pretty cool moment for her and us,” said Cook.
Alivia Skidmore led the Hilltoppers with 17 kills while Kaylee Cox had 12 kills and 13 digs. Callie Bauer posted 51 assists and eight digs.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The two teams jockeyed back and forth early on, splitting the first 18 points. Back-to-back kills from WKU put them up 11-9 before the ‘U’ answered with a pair of their own. Another 3-0 run from the Hilltoppers put the visitors up 14-11 before the Gophers answered with four straight to go up 15-14 into the media timeout. Two errors, a block from Awoleye and Hanson and a kill from Grote put the Gophers up by one. Minnesota was forced into a timeout shortly after that, however, when WKU answered with another 3-0 spurt to go up 17-15. The Hilltoppers would lead by as many as three at 19-16 before the ‘U’ fought back, ending the frame on a 9-3 run. Kills from Awoleye, Grote and Minatee put them up 21-20, leading to a WKU timeout. WKU would tie it up at 21-all after a kill before Minnesota ended the set with a 4-2 run, winning 25-22. Grote led her team with five kills in the first set while Awoleye totaled four.
SET 2 | Service errors from both teams dominated the first 10 points in set two. With the frame knotted up at five, two kills from Wucherer paired with one from Minatee put the ‘U’ up 9-5, forcing a Hilltoppers timeout. Minnesota refused to slow down after the break, capping a 6-0 with a WKU hitting error followed by another kill from Wucherer. The two teams split the next few points before a WKU service error, Awoleye kill and an ace from Palabiyik put Minnesota up 16-8, leading to another timeout. The Hilltoppers would cut the lead to six at 20-14 before a couple service errors helped put Minnesota up seven again at 23-16. WKU would cut the lead to four at 24-20, leading to a timeout from coach Cook. The Gophers would finish out the set, 25-20, after a kill from Grote.
SET 3 | Neither team led by more than a point until the 5-5 mark, where the Gophers went on a 3-0 spurt to go up 8-5. A block from Awoleye and Shaffmaster paired with kills from Melani and Wucherer tallied the points in the run. The Hilltoppers would fight back, scoring five of the next seven to tie the match at 10-10. Kills from Grote and Hanson put the ‘U’ in the lead by two at 12-10 again before WKU answered to tie it at 12. Another Grote kill and two WKU attacking errors made it 15-12 Minnesota, leading a timeout from the Hilltoppers. WKU would fight back after the timeout, scoring six of the next nine to tie up the frame at 18. A kill from Acevedo put Minnesota up 19-18 before three straight from WKU put them up 21-19, leading to a Gophers timeout. The Hilltoppers closed out the frame by scoring four in-a-row after the timeout, ending set three on a 7-0 run after trailing 19-18 to win, 25-19.
SET 4 | Once again the two teams were tied through 10 points at 5-5 before two kills and a Minnesota attacking error made it 8-5, WKU. After exchanging service errors, a kill from WKU put them up 10-6, leading to a Minnesota timeout. The Gophers would bring it to two points at 11-9 after a pair of kills from Hanson. The Hilltoppers answered, however, scoring six of nine to go up 17-12. A 7-2 Gophers run got the ‘U’ right back in it, tying the frame at 19-all. WKU would score three of the next four, however, going up 22-20. Minnesota then called its last timeout. The teams exchanged the next two points, which kept WKU in the lead at 23-21. Wucherer got her team back in the match after that, going for a kill and an ace to tie it up at 23. Hanson’s 13th kill of the match put Minnesota up one before a block from Grote and Minatee sealed the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1. The Gophers trailed 19-14 before finishing the set on an 11-4 run.
Game Notes
» The ‘U’ is now 2-0 all-time against Western Kentucky. It was their first time playing the Hilltoppers since 1984.
» Minnesota moves to 28-1 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers have won 16 straight first round games in the tournament.
» All-time in NCAA Tournament matches, Minnesota is 63-28.
» Minnesota is now 2-1 in tournament matches under Keegan Cook.
» Alex Acevedo went for two aces, her eighth match this year with multiple.
» Julia Hanson had 13 kills for her 26th match of the year with 10+. She’s had 10-or-more kills in 14 consecutive matches.
» Zeynep Palabiyik posted a team-high 18 digs for her 25th match of the year with 10+.
» Melani Shaffmaster dished out 29 assists with 15 digs for her 17th double-double of the year and 76th of her career.
» Mckenna Wucherer posted nine kills with a block and a service ace. The ace came in the fourth set with the team trailing 23-22 and it was her first one since Sept. 6.
Up Next
No. 6 Minnesota will take on No. 3 Kentucky (21-7, 14-2 SEC) tomorrow at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN+. It will again be played at Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
