University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Set for Road Action
10/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| Minnesota (11-3) at Maryland (10-8) & Rutgers (3-13) | |
| Fri., Oct. 9 | Minnesota at Maryland (6 p.m. CT) |
| BTN Plus | Live Stats | Live Update | |
| Location | College Park, Md. |
| Sun., Oct. 11 | Minnesota at Rutgers (1 p.m. CT) |
| | Live Updates | |
| Location | Piscataway, N.J. |
| Official Site | Minnesota | Maryland | Rutgers |
| Social Media | @GopherVball | Facebook |
Weekly Notes
GOPHERS BACK ON THE ROAD FOR MARYLAND/RUTGERS WEEKEND
The No. 11 University of Minnesota volleyball team is back on the road this week as it travels to Maryland and Rutgers, Oct. 9 & 11. Minnesota plays the Terrapins on Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. CT, followed by a 1 p.m. CT tilt against the Scarlet Knights on Sunday.
FOLLOWING THE GOPHERS
BTN Plus is set to stream the Minnesota/Maryland match Friday. A game day live page and live statistics will be available on gophersports.com both the Maryland and Rutgers matches.
ON THE DOCKET
Minnesota plays back-to-back matches against No. 16 Wisconsin next week. The Gophers travel to Madison on Oct. 14 to play the Badgers at 7 p.m. The Gophers then host Wisconsin, Oct. 17, also at 7 p.m.
GOPHERS RANK 10TH IN RPI
In the first NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) ranks, the Golden Gophers hold the 10th best in the nation. The RPI is one of the tools used by the NCAA Selection Committee to evaluate teams for the post season. In the top 10 alone, four hail from the Big Ten Conference in Nebraska (4), Penn State (6), Ohio State (8) and the Gophers. Along with Big Ten teams ranked high in the RPI, Minnesota also competed against Stanford (7), Louisville (15) and North Carolina (39) in the non-conference season.
ABOUT MARYLAND
Maryland enters the weekend with a 10-8 overall record and looking for its first Big Ten Conference win of the season. The Terrapins opened league action with two losses to Illinois and Northwestern (3-0), before falling to Indiana and Purdue (3-1). Adreene Elliot has 208 kills to average 3.20 per set, followed by Liz Twilley with 185 kills. As a team, Maryland leads the league in service aces as the Terps average 1.54 per set. Both Abby Bentz and Amy Dion have 19 aces this season, while Ashlyn MacGregor and Kelsey Wicinski follow with 15 each. Dion also leads the team with 253 digs.
ABOUT RUTGERS
Rutgers enters the weekend with a 3-13 overall record and an 0-4 mark in Big Ten play. Meme Fletcher leads the team with 176 kills to average 4.29 per set, as Lauren Cloyd follows with 125. Anna Sudbury leads the team with 447 assists, while Ali Schroeter has a team-high 188 digs.
ALL TIME SERIES & LAST TIME
Minnesota is facing Maryland for the sixth time in program history this Friday as the Gophers have won all five previous meetings, dating back to 1986. The Gophers earned a 3-0 win (10/10/14) at home against the Terrapins and a 3-2 win at Maryland (11/19/14).
Minnesota and Rutgers will meet for just the fourth time in program history, with the first coming in 1983 with the Scarlet Knights holding a 2-1 all time series. The Gophers faced Rutgers just once last season as Minnesota won, 3-0 at the Sports Pavilion.
LAST WEEK'S RECAPS
Minnesota upset then-No. 7 Illinois in five sets Saturday night, 26-24, 22-25, 22-25, 25-10, 15-6. The win marked the first time Minnesota defeated that high of an opponent since Oct. 2013 when the Gophers defeated then-No. 5 Michigan State. Being down 2-1, Minnesota came back and hit .395 in the final two sets, including a .480 clip in the fourth set. For the match, the Gophers hit .323 to the Illiini's .176 and out blocked them, 16-6. Daly Santana led the Gophers with 26 kills in 62 attempts.Hannah Tapp followed with 14 kills and nine blocks. Sarah Wilhite hit for .476 with 11 kills. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 58 assists and Dalianliz Rosado had 16 digs.
Minnesota defeated Northwestern, 3-0, Wednesday at the Sports Pavilion. The Golden Gophers won 25-16, 25-23, 25-21, to improve to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play. Hannah Tapp led the Gophers when she hit .333 and had 11 kills. Daly Santana had 12 kills and two aces, and Paige Tapp had six kills and hit .357. Dalianliz Rosado had 16 digs, while Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 36 assists. The Wildcats held a 7-6 block lead, but the Gophers led in kills (41-38), digs (62-58) and aces (7-1).
WHERE THEY RANK
Minnesota ranks high within a few NCAA categories. The Gophers rank 24th in team hitting percentage (.265) and 16th in blocks per set (2.83). Individually, Paige Tapp ranks 19th nationally in blocks per set (1.42), while Daly Santana ranks 17th in points per set at 4.46. Among league leaders, Santana leads the pack, while Tapp ranks third in the league. Samantha Seliger-Swenson averages 11.00 assists per set, good enough for 30th overall in the nation and seventh in the Big Ten.
DID YOU KNOW?
Daly Santana's 39 kills and 93 attacks against Louisville (9/4/15) still ranks as the most kills and attack attempts by any Division I volleyball player this season.
GOPHERS RANKED NO. 11
After a five-set win over then-No. 7 Illinois last Saturday, the University of Minnesota volleyball program moved up to No. 11 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, announced Monday by the AVCA today. Minnesota jumped from No. 16 to No. 11 in the recent AVCA poll, its highest ranking since the 2013 season. Southern California has taken over the No. 1 spot, followed by Texas (2), Penn State (3) and Nebraska (4). Also ranked in the top 25 are Big Ten foes Ohio State (10), Illinois (13), Wisconsin (16), Purdue (19) and Michigan (24). Michigan State is also receiving votes.
