University of Minnesota Athletics
VOLLEYBALL TEAM TO TAKE ON NORTHWESTERN AND WISCONSIN
10/24/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Minnesota Volleyball is On The Air
There will be no broadcast of the Northwestern match on Friday. The match on Saturday at Wisconsin will be broadcast live on radio and tape-delayed on television. Tom Witschen and Bruce Wolfe will have the live radio call from Madison beginning at approximately 6:50 p.m. on Saturday. Fox Sports Chicago will have a tape-delayed broadcast of the match on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. Midwest Sports Channel will broadcast to a Twin Cities audience.
Minnesota Holds No. 7 National Ranking in AVCA/USA Today Poll
Minnesota is ranked seventh in the Oct. 23 edition of the AVCA/USA Today poll, matching last week's ranking. In the Oct. 2 poll, the Golden Gophers were listed fifth, their highest ranking in school history. Minnesota has 1156 poll points, up from last week's 1149 poll points, but down from its school-record total of 1269 poll points in the Oct. 2 poll. Minnesota is one of five Big Ten teams in the USA Today poll. The others are No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 11 Penn State, No. 13 Ohio State and No. 23 Michigan State.
Hagen Named Co-Big Ten Player of the Week
Junior middle blocker Stephanie Hagen (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) was named the Co-Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday. She hit .509 in the two victories over Michigan State and Michigan and averaged 4.71 kills per game and 2.14 blocks per game in the two matches. Hagen leads Minnesota with a .434 hitting percentage overall and a .435 hitting percentage in conference play. In last week's stats, she led the Big Ten and was fourth nationally in hitting percentage. She continues to be the Golden Gophers' all-time leader with a .367 career hitting percentage. Hagen leads the Golden Gophers with a 1.59 blocks per game average overall and a 1.62 blocks per game average in Big Ten play. Last week, she led the Big Ten and was 15th nationally in blocks per game. This is Hagen's second Big Ten award, after being named the Big Ten Player of the Week and the AVCA National Player of the Week on Oct. 2.
Minnesota, Wisconsin Share Conference Lead
Minnesota and Wisconsin both won two road matches last weekend to maintain a tie for first place in the Big Ten standings. Penn State defeated Ohio State in five games in Columbus, dropping the Buckeyes one match behind the Gophers and Badgers. Penn State has the conference's longest winning streak of seven matches, and at 7-3, is in fourth place. This week's key match features Minnesota and Wisconsin at the Wisconsin Fieldhouse. Since the Big Ten went to the current double round-robin format in 1985, the conference champion has never had more than two losses in the conference season.
A Record-Setting Season in Progress
Minnesota is on pace to set school records in winning percentage in both overall and Big Ten matches for a season. The Gophers' current .952 winning percentage is above the overall school record of .832 set in 1974 and the NCAA-era record of .763 set in 1989. Minnesota is over the 20-win plateau for the seventh time in the last nine seasons and has reached 20 wins faster than any team in school history. The Gophers finished 9-1 in the first half of the Big Ten season for the first time and are chasing the 15-5 Big Ten mark posted by last year's squad.
Minnesota Adds Two Road Wins Last Weekend
Minnesota began last week with a 6-15, 15-8, 15-11, 15-4 win over Michigan State Friday night at Jenison Fieldhouse. Stephanie Hagen led Minnesota with 19 kills and a .514 hitting percentage. The Gophers had a season-high 13 service aces, led by Lindsey Berg (Honolulu, Hawaii/ Punahou), who had a season-high six service aces. The Gophers completed a sweep of the state of Michigan with a 15-5, 15-9, 15-9 win over Michigan at Cliff Keen Arena. Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) had 23 kills to lead Minnesota, while Hagen had 14 kills at a .500 hitting percentage and matched a season-high with nine blocks. Minnesota outblocked Michigan 17-6 in the contest.
Branagh Continues Climb Up Big Ten List
Senior outside hitter Nicole Branagh surpassed the 2,000-kill milestone Oct. 11 against Iowa and is now among the top five in all-time Big Ten kills. She has accumulated double-figure kills in 60 consecutive Big Ten matches. Branagh is 41 kills shy of fourth place on the all-time Big Ten list.
Branagh leads Minnesota with 5.09 kills per game overall and 5.29 kills per game in Big Ten play. In last week's stats, she was second in the Big Ten and 19th nationally in kills per game. Branagh's .288 hitting percentage this season is better than her .264 hitting percentage in her first three years. She has 216 digs this season, giving her 1,036 for her career, good for eighth on Minnesota's career list. Branagh has never missed a match in her 121-match Minnesota career.
Berg Sets Season High in Service Aces
Junior Lindsey Berg (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou) was the first player ever to lead the Big Ten in service aces for two consecutive years and has a chance to do it for the third year in a row. She has 41 aces in 67 games this season, an average of 0.61 aces per game, including a season-high six aces against Michigan State on Friday. Berg led the Big Ten and was 11th nationally in aces per game last week. She has 172 career service aces, good for seventh place on Minnesota's career list. Berg is among the Big Ten leaders with 13.60 assists per game. She was second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally in assists per game last week.
Block Party
Minnesota set a school record for blocks in 1999, averaging 3.22 blocks per game. The Golden Gophers have had brilliant blocking numbers in the last two weeks, averaging 4.47 blocks per game in the four matches against Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan. Minnesota moved its season blocking average up to 3.17 blocks per game and 3.66 blocks per game in Big Ten matches. Last week, the Golden Gophers ranked third in the Big Ten and 17th nationally in blocks per game.
Offensive Efficiency
Minnesota's offense continues to lead the Big Ten in hitting percentage. The Gophers are hitting .291 for the season, well ahead of last year's average and the school record for hitting percentage. Minnesota hit .261 as a team in 1999, the second-best percentage in school history. The Golden Gopher record for a season is .270, set by the 1996 team. Minnesota was sixth nationally in team hitting percentage last week.
The Opponents
Northwestern (4-16, 1-9) has lost its last eight matches in a row, with three of the last four decisions lasting five games. The Wildcats' lone win in the first half of the season was against then-No. 3 Penn State in five games. First-year middle blocker Erika Lange leads Northwestern with 3.42 kills per game and a .278 hitting percentage. Minnesota has won the last 14 matches against Northwestern, including a 15-8, 15-3, 15-7 sweep at the Sports Pavilion on Oct. 7. The Golden Gophers have won six straight matches at Northwestern, with the last loss occuring on Oct. 16, 1993.
Sixth-ranked Wisconsin (19-2, 9-1) has won six consecutive matches since its only Big Ten loss, at home to Ohio State in five games. The Badgers have only dropped four games in conference play, losing three to Ohio State and a 15-13 game to Michigan State. Junior Sherisa Livingston leads the Wisconsin attack with a .376 hitting percentage, 5.06 kills per game and 1.30 blocks per game. Minnesota's only loss of the 2000 season came at the hands of Wisconsin on Oct. 6 at the Sports Pavilion, 15-13, 15-1, 15-13. The Badgers have won six of the last seven meetings between the two teams.
Up Next for the Gophers
Minnesota returns to the Sports Pavilion to play Indiana on Friday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. and Penn State on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast on WDGY AM 630. The Indiana match will be telecast by Midwest Sports Channel on a delayed basis Friday, Nov. 3 at 9:30 p.m. The Penn State match will be telecast by ESPN2 on a delayed basis Tuesday, Nov. 7 at noon.