Minnesota Ready for Sunday Matinee versus Northwestern

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 24 Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-8, 3-4 Big Ten) are looking to build off their win on Wednesday when they take on the Northwestern Wildcats (9-8, 3-4 Big Ten) on Sunday afternoon at Maturi Pavilion. First serve is at 12:30 p.m. CT on B1G+.

NORTHWESTERN GAME INFORMATION
No. 24 Minnesota vs. Northwestern
Sunday, Oct. 15
12:30 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
TV/Stream: B1G+ - Emma Carpenter (Play-By-Play) and Meredith Nelson-Uram (Analyst)
Live Stats

NOTES TO KNOW
205 -- Keegan Cook won his 200th career game as a head coach on Aug. 26 vs. Baylor. His 205th and latest win came on Oct. 11 in a sweep at Michigan.
29 -- Middle Phoebe Awoleye ranks No. 29 in the nation and No. 4 in the Big Ten in blocks per set with 1.33.
15 -- Sophomore outside Mckenna Wucherer has had a breakout campaign in year two, leading the team and ranking 15th in the Big Ten with 3.37 kills per set.
13 -- Minnesota had won 13 straight matches over Northwestern before last years defeat at the Pav.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 3,489 career assists. She ranks 16th among active DI players. Her 10.08 assists per set put her at No. 18.
6 -- After playing eight ranked opponents in their first 12 games, the Gophers are playing six straight unranked opponents before taking on No. 15 Purdue on Oct. 26.
6 -- Of the past eight Big Ten Players of the Year have been Minnesota Golden Gophers. Taylor Landfair (2022) joins Stephanie Samedy (2020-21), Sam Seliger-Swenson (2018), Sarah Wilhite (2016) and Daly Santana (2015) as award winners.
5 -- In B1G games, Minnesota ranks in the top five in the league in hitting percentage (.245), kills (12.70), opponent hitting percentage (.182) and opponent kills (11.59).
4 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks third in the Big Ten with 9.62 assists per set against B1G teams.
3 -- Fifth year libero Kylie Murr ranks third in the Big Ten in digs per set through six weeks of play with 4.19. 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 15 matches this season.
3 -- Minnesota ranks third in the B1G in conference games in service aces per set with 1.48. The 'U' has totaled 40 total aces in its seven 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..
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'defeated Michigan in three sets in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, (26-24, 25-11, 25-16), breaking a three-game losing streak. Grote (11), Landfair (10) and Wucherer (10) reached double digits in kills as the Gophers hit a season-best .387 in the convincing victory. It was Minnesota's 12th victory in the last 13 matches vs. Michigan.

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 was 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 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. They beat Maryland on Friday night, 3-1, at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston.
• 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. NORTHWESTERN
• 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. All-time at the Pav, Minnesota is 28-9 against the Wildcats.

SHAFFMASTER AMONG B1G SETTER LEADS IN KILLS PER SET
• Gophers senior setter Melani Shaffmaster ranks second among all Big Ten setters with 1.00 kills per set in 2023. She's behind only NU's Alexa Rosseau (1.02 kps). After her is Indiana's Camryn Haworth (0.89 kps), Maryland's Sydney Dowler (0.79), Illinois' Brooke Mosher (0.71), Nebraska's Bergen Reilly (0.62) and PSU's Mac Podraza (0.60).

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. 29 nationally in blocks per set (1.33), including fourth in the Big Ten. Awoleye holds nine different 5+ block matches this season, a team-best.

DAVIS DOMINATING AT THE NET
• In her last three games, Arica Davis has registered 18 blocks (1.50 bps). She tied her season-high with seven blocks apiece against Maryland and Rutgers. She's posted seven 3+ block matches in 2023.

'U' HOLDING FIRM AT HOME
• Since 2015, Minnesota holds a 108-17 (.870) record at home. This includes a 36-6 (.857) non-conference mark. The only non-conference home losses during that time were in 2018 to Oregon, 2021/2023 to Texas, 2022 to Pepperdine and Stanford and in 2023 to Creighton.

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 nine matches, however, the 'U' has tallied 63 service aces, an average of 7.00 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.

PALABIYIK PUTTING ON PRESSER AS A SERVER
• The true freshman out of Turkey hasn't had a ton of experience serving - having played internationally her whole life before this season. In her last four games, however, Zeynep has tallied five aces, including a pair of games with two aces. She's averaging 0.38 aces per set in the last four matches.

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 (seven games), Landfair is hitting .309 with 3.00 kills, 2.22 digs and 0.44 blocks per set. She's hit double digits in kills in four of seven B1G games, hitting over .300 in five 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 stays home to host Rutgers and Michigan State next Friday and Sunday, respectively.

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Players Mentioned

Phoebe Awoleye

Arica Davis

Ellie Husemann

Taylor Landfair

Kylie Murr

Melani Shaffmaster

Mckenna Wucherer