Minnesota Makes Road Trip to Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 24 Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-8, 2-4 Big Ten) head east to take on the Michigan Wolverines (3-12, 1-5 Big Ten) on Wednesday night. BTN will provide television coverage for the second matchup of the season between the two teams. First serve is at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT .

MICHIGAN GAME INFORMATION
No. 24 Minnesota at Michigan
Wednesday, Oct. 11
8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
Crisler Center
Ann Arbor, Mich.
TV/Stream: BTN - Sloane Martin (Play-By-Play) and Rainelle Jones (Analyst)
Live Stats

NOTES TO KNOW
204 -- Keegan Cook won his 200th career game as a head coach on Aug. 26 vs. Baylor. His 204th and latest win came on Friday, Sept. 29 in a sweep over Michigan.
27 -- The 2022 season was the 27th year the Golden Gophers advanced to the NCAA tournament. The Gophers have been to eight-straight NCAA tournament's and 23 of the last 24.
22 -- Middle Phoebe Awoleye ranks No. 21 in the nation and No. 4 in the Big Ten in blocks per set with 1.37.
15 -- Sophomore outside Mckenna Wucherer has had a breakout campaign in year two, leading the team and ranking 15th in the Big Ten with 3.38 kills per set.
11 -- Minnesota has won 11 of the last 12 in the series against Michigan. The only loss was in 2021 (five sets) at Michigan.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 3,456 career assists.She ranks 15th among active DI players.
6 -- After playing eight ranked opponents in their first 12 games, the Gophers are playing six straight unranked opponents before taking on No. 19 Purdue on Oct. 26.
5 -- In B1G games, Minnesota ranks in the top five in the league in hitting percentage (.229), kills (12.46), opponent hitting percentage (.192) and opponent kills (11.79).
3 -- Fifth year libero Kylie Murr ranks third in the Big Ten in digs per set through six weeks of play with 4.20. She's one of two players in the league to tally two 25+ dig matches in 2023. She had 27 vs. TCU (Aug. 25) and Maryland (Oct. 6). Murr has 10+ digs in all 14 matches this season.
3 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks third in the Big Ten with 9.39 assists per set against B1G teams.
3 -- Minnesota ranks third in the B1G in conference games in service aces per set with 1.46. The 'U' has totaled 35 total aces in its six conference games in 2023.
2 -- The Gophers are 2-6 against ranked opponents this season, taking wins over then No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. The 'U' has lost ranked tilts to now No. 7 Texas, No. 14 Florida, No. 3 Stanford, No. 17 Creighton, No. 2 Nebraska and No. 13 Penn State.
2 -- Melani Shaffmaster has posted 50+ assists twice in 2023 (five set wins vs. Oregon and Iowa).
1 -- Minnesota junior outside Taylor Landfair was the 2022 Big Ten Player of the Year and an AVCA First Team All-American last season. She was the only Big Ten player to make first team honors.

LAST TIME OUT
• The 'U' fell to Maryland in five sets (18-25, 25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 10-15) on Friday and to Rutgers (20-25, 22-25, 25-16, 14-25) on Saturday night. The Gophers had been 18-0 all-time against Maryland and 11-2 versus Rutgers (hadn't lost since 1983) leading into the matches. Lydia Grote led the Gophers with 18 kills on Friday while Mckenna Wucherer had 16 on Saturday. Kylie Murr had 39 combined digs in the two matches.

GOPHERS RANKED 24TH IN AVCA POLL
• The Gophers entered the 2023 season with a No. 7 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll. After a No. 16 ranking on Oct. 2, Minnesota is ranked 24th coming into this week. Minnesota has been ranked in the past 130 AVCA polls (2,956 days), dating back to Sept. 7, 2015.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN
• Michigan is led by first year head coach Erin Virtue, who was announced as the seventh head coach in Michigan volleyball history on Jan. 17, 2023. She returns to Ann Arbor after spending five seasons (2011-15) with the Maize and Blue as an assistant. She is currently a member of the USA Women's National Team program, where she serves as offensive coordinator.
• The Wolverines three wins came against Sacred Heart and North Carolina (both sweeps), and Northwestern (3-1). The win over the Wildcats was Virtue's first conference win as head coach.
• Senior opposite Kendall Murray leads the team with 2.60 kills per set while Lydia Johnson paces the team on the service line with 0.48 aces per set (ranks third in the Big Ten).

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
• The Northwestern Wildcats are led by eighth-year head coach Shane Davis. In non-conference play, the Wildcats went 6-4, notching wins over then No. 13 San Diego, Illinois State and Yale amongst others. They have beaten No. 17 Purdue and Michigan State, both on the road, in B1G play.
• Libero Eilee Stinson leads the Big Ten in digs per set with 4.31 this season while outside Julia Sangiacomo ranks first on the team and sixth in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.85).
• The Wildcats have a pair of Minnesota connections with former middle blocker Ellie Husemann (0.58 kps, 0.45 bps) spending her final year of college eligibility in Evanston. She played from 2019-22 at Minnesota, playing in 50 matches. Former Gophers volunteer assistant coach Pedro Mendes is also on the sideline for the Wildcats as an assistant coach. He spent the 2022 season with Minnesota

MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. MICHIGAN AND NORTHWESTERN
• Minnesota is 62-16 all-time against Michigan. The Gophers have won 11 of the last 12 in the series versus the Wolverines. The lone loss came in 2021, a five set defeat in Ann Arbor. Minnesota swept Michigan at the Pav on Sept. 29.
• The 'U' is 62-20 all-time vs. Northwestern. NU defeated the Gophers last year in five sets, however. In their last meeting in Evanston in 2021, the Gophers came from two sets down to reverse sweep the Wildcats. Taylor Landfair led the way with a then career-high 25 kills. Minnesota had won 13 straight in the series before last season.

DOUBLE DOUBLE QUEEN
• Melani Shaffmaster tied for the Big Ten lead in double doubles (10+ assists and digs) with 14 in 2022. Illinois' Diana Brown also had 14. Ohio State's Mac Podraza (12) ranked third while Indiana's Camryn Haworth ranked fourth (11). For her career, Shaffmaster has tallied 44 double doubles.
• Mel started this season with double doubles in eight of 14 games thus far, a Big Ten-best. She totaled season-bests in assists (57) Sept. 21 at Iowa to go along with 14 digs and eight kills (career-best).

AWOLEYE BUILDS A WALL
• A senior LMU transfer originally hailing from Marietta, Ga., Phoebe Awoleye started her Gophers career with a 'bang' on opening weekend. She posted 16 blocks (2.29 bps) and five kills on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament honors. Awoleye had a career-high 10 blocks in the win over No. 15 Baylor as the Gophers silenced the Bears attack, holding them to .000 hitting.
• She now ranks No. 22 nationally in blocks per set (1.37), including fourth in the Big Ten. Awoleye holds nine different 5+ block matches this season, a team-best.

GROTE KEEPS GROWING ON GOPHER NATION
• A transfer from California, Lydia Grote has stepped up in a big way at the opposite position for the Maroon and Gold. She ranks second on the team in kills per set (2.57) and first in pin hitters in hitting percentage (.274). She places third in aces per set (0.25) and fourth in blocks per set (0.74).
• The Burbank, Calif., native is one of three Gophers, joining Taylor Landfair and Mckenna Wucherer, to tally double digit kills in five-or-more matches this fall. She's posted 13-more-more kills in six of her last 10 matches, including a season-best 20 kills with 13 digs and two aces on Sept. 16 versus Creighton. She had 18 on Friday night at Maryland.

SERVING STEPS UP FOR THE MAROON AND GOLD
• One of head coach Keegan's Cook's points of emphasis is for Minnesota to be a tough serving team to compete against. In their first six games, Minnesota had five-or-less service aces in each match (21 total).
• In their last eight matches, however, the 'U' has tallied 58 service aces, an average of 7.25 per match. The Gophers totaled a season-best 12 Sept. 14 against High Point and added 11 versus Creighton Sept. 14 before putting down eight last Thursday at Iowa.

GOPHERS CLIMB THE LADDER IN B1G CATEGORIES
• Through their first six Big Ten games in 2023, the Gophers rank in the top-five of the conference in hitting percentage (.229, 5th), opponent hitting percentage (.192 ps, 5th), opponent kills (11.79, 5th), kills (12.46, 5th) and service aces (1.46, 3rd).

LANDFAIR COMING INTO FORM TO BEGIN BIG PLAY
• 2022 Big Ten Player of the Year and First Team All-American Taylor Landfair had her best showing of the season to kick off Big Tn play on Sept. 21 at Iowa. She led the team with 18 kills (tied her season-high) on a 2023-best .405 hitting. She also totaled season-bests in digs (11), assists (6) and blocks (4).
• In conference play (six games), Landfair is hitting .308 with 2.96 kills, 2.00 digs and 0.46 blocks per set. She's hit double digits in kills in three of six B1G games, hitting over .300 in four of the matches. In eight non-conference games, Landfair hit just .123 with 2.47 kills, 1.66 digs and 0.44 blocks per set.

UP NEXT
Minnesota comes back home to play Northwestern on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT on B1G+.

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Players Mentioned

Phoebe Awoleye

Lydia Grote

Ellie Husemann

Taylor Landfair

Kylie Murr

Melani Shaffmaster

Mckenna Wucherer