The No. 6 seeded Minnesota volleyball team fell to the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats in four sets (11-25, 25-23, 22-25, 24-26) in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. With the defeat, Minnesota’s season comes to an end with a 21-11 (13-7 Big Ten) record.
“I think what you want most is to have a chance late and I thought we had a chance late there in that fourth set to send it to five,” said head coach Keegan Cook. “I would’ve liked to see what we could do in a fifth set. I don’t want to think about the things that could’ve been – but just think about this senior class and I brought as many of them up here as they’d let me. What a special group right? They’ve given a lot to the program and some of them joined it in the transition, some of them stayed through it in the transition, but it says everything about them.”
Julia Hanson led Minnesota with 15 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Lydia Grote went for 13 kills while Mckenna Wucherer had 11. Phoebe Awoleye (six blocks) and Zeynep Palabiyik (15 digs) paced the defense.
The Gophers (21-11, 13-7 Big Ten) were outhit by Kentucky (22-7, 14-2 SEC) .326 to .223. UK led the battle in kills (64 to 49), digs (53 to 31) and aces (4 to 3). Minnesota outblocked UK 12 to 11.
“I have been at Minnesota my whole time in college, so five whole years with Keegan and all the staff that’s been changing,” said senior setter Melani Shaffmaster. “I’ve loved it since I got there, I loved it on my visit a long time ago. I think this year especially, I’ve never been on a team where the team is so good. I’ve been to Sweet 16s and Elite Eights in the past but you just know you are with a really special group when you can just feel it. I think obviously it sucks to lose – but at the end of the day, it was a lot of fun to be with these guys.”
Brooklyn DeLeye led the Wildcats with 22 kills and 11 digs while Megan Wilson had 11 with five blocks. Emma Grome dished out 51 assists with 12 digs.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Wildcats came out hot at home, scoring six of the first seven before Minnesota called a timeout. UK went up 9-2 before a 3-1 Gophers run made it 10-5. Kentucky scored the next four after that on three kills and a block, taking a 14-5 lead. Minnesota spent its last timeout at that point. UK did not slow down, scoring six of the next seven to go up 20-7. The ‘U’ would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way before falling, 25-11. UK hit .516 in the frame compared to .040 for Minnesota.
SET 2 | Minnesota tried to reset itself after a dominant first set by its opposition. The Gophers got it going early, scoring five of the first nine to take their first lead of the match. UK would score the next two, going up 6-5 before a 5-2 Minnesota spurt put the ‘U’ up two at 10-8. After exchanging points to 11-9, the Wildcats got a pair of kills, an ace and a block to go up 13-11, leading to a Minnesota timeout. UK tallied three more points in-a-row after the break, going up 16-11. Coach Cook called his last timeout of the frame at this point. The ‘U’ got back in it with a 6-2 run, cutting the deficit to 18-17, forcing a UK timeout. The Gophers would tie it at 18 and eventually take the lead back after two straight Acevedo aces. UK called its second timeout after a Grote kill made it 22-20, Minnesota. The Gophers would hold off the Wildcats for the final few points, getting kills from Grote and Hanson in addition to a service error from UK to end it, 25-23. Minnesota knotted up the match at one apiece.
SET 3 | After splitting the first six points, Kentucky got hot, scoring seven of the next nine to take a 10-5 lead. Coach Cook called his first timeout of the set after three straight kills from UK. The Gophers tried to chip away, multiple times getting the lead down to four before the Wildcats would push the lead back to five. Finally, trailing 14-9, a UK service error paired with kills from Shaffmaster and Wucherer made it 14-12, forcing a timeout from the home team. Kentucky went on a 4-2 run after the break, going up 18-14 and leading to coach Cook’s last timeout. The Wildcats would go up by as many as five at 21-16 before a 3-0 Gophers run got it back to within two at 21-19. Hanson had a block and a kill in the spurt. Leading 23-21, UK called timeout after an attacking error. Minnesota would cut it to 23-22 after a block by Minatee and Wucherer, but would get no closer. UK closed it out with a Minnesota service error and a block to win, 25-22.
SET 4 | The two teams jockeyed back and forth throughout the early fourth set, splitting the first 14 points before UK took a 9-7 lead after a couple ‘U’ errors. Minnesota would score five of the next seven to go up 12-11, getting three kills from Wucherer in the spurt. A 5-0 run after that gave the Wildcats a 16-12 lead, coming within 10 points away from putting away the Gophers. A UK service error, ace from Acevedo and a block from Awoleye and Hanson made it 16-15, leading to a Wildcats timeout. After a service error, the ‘U’ heated right back up, scoring four of five to take a 20-18 lead, forcing a UK timeout. Hanson had three kills in the spurt. Hanson buried another kill to make it 21-19 before two errors tied it up at 21. UK would take a 23-22 lead after a pair of kills, leading to Minnesota’s final timeout. The two teams were tied up at 23 and 24 before Kentucky finished it out, 26-24. UK had a kill and a ‘U’ hitting error to end it.
Game Notes
» The ‘U’ is now 3-4 all-time against Kentucky. Tonight was their first ever NCAA Tournament meeting.
» Minnesota is 20-8 all-time in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
» All-time in NCAA Tournament matches, Minnesota falls to 63-29. They’re 2-2 in tournament matches under Keegan Cook. It’s the Gophers second straight season that ended in the round of 32.
» Alex Acevedo had three aces, her eighth match of the year with multiple service aces.
» Julia Hanson had 15 kills for her 27th match of the year with 10+. She had 10-or-more kills in 15 consecutive matches.
» Zeynep Palabiyik posted a team-high 15 digs for her 26th match of the year with 10+.
» Melani Shaffmaster dished out 32 assists with eight digs, five kills and three blocks in her final game as a Gopher.
» Mckenna Wucherer posted 11 kills, hitting double figures for the 11th time this season.
» Phoebe Awoleye tallied six blocks in her final game in the Maroon and Gold. She ends her career with 644 total blocks.
» Lydia Grote registered 13 kills, two digs and a block in her final collegiate match.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
