University of Minnesota Athletics
Thursday, October 26
West Lafayette, IN
6:00 PM
University of Minnesota
at
Purdue
Players Mentioned
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/ Volleyball
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Photo by: Keya Shapiro
Minnesota Hits the Road to Take on No. 16 Purdue
10/25/2023 11:20:00 AM | Volleyball
The Gophers are looking to continue a four-game winning streak
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The RV Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-8, 6-4 Big Ten) are getting set to take on the No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers (13-6, 7-3 Big Ten) on Thursday night at Holloway Gym. First serve is at 6 p.m. CT on BTN.
PURDUE GAME INFORMATION
RV Minnesota at No. 16 Purdue
Thursday, Oct. 26
7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT
Holloway Gym
West Lafayette, Ind.
TV/Stream: BTN - Connor Onion (Play-By-Play) and Emily Ehman (Analyst)
Live Stats
NOTES TO KNOW
208 -- Keegan Cook won his 200th career game as a head coach on Aug. 26 vs. Baylor. He won his 207th and 208th games this past weekend against Rutgers and Michigan State.
130 -- Minnesota had been ranked in 130 straight AVCA polls, dating back to Sept. 7, 2015, before the Oct. 16 poll.
33 -- Middle Phoebe Awoleye ranks No. 33 in the nation and No. 4 in the Big Ten in blocks per set with 1.30.
18 -- Kylie Murr is the only Big Ten player to post double digit digs in every match this season. She's done so 18 times. Dating back to last season, she has 27 straight 10+ dig match games.
15 -- Sophomore outside Mckenna Wucherer has had a breakout campaign in year two, leading the team and ranking 15th in the Big Ten with 3.30 kills per set.Â
11 -- Melani Shaffmaster leads the Big Ten with 11 double doubles this season. She has tallied 52 in her career.
10 -- Minnesota has won 10 of the last 14 matchups against Purdue, including three of the last four in West Lafayette.
9 -- Mckenna Wucherer has posted 10+ kill matches in nine out of the last 10 matches. She had 17 (.235), a team-best, Sunday.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 3,588 career assists. She ranks 16th among active DI players. Her 10.02 assists per set put her at No. 22.
7 -- Minnesota outside Taylor Landfair has hit over .300 in seven of the team's 10 Big Ten matches in 2023, including six 10+ kill matches. No other B1G pin has hit over .300 more than six times.
6 -- After playing eight ranked teams in their first 12 games, the Gophers played six straight unranked opponents before taking on No. 16Â Purdue on Oct. 26. No. 2 Wisconsin awaits Sunday.
5 -- Fifth year libero Kylie Murr ranks fifth in the Big Ten in digs per set through two months of play with 4.11. 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).
4 -- Melani Shaffmaster became the fourth Gopher all-time to reach 3,500 career assists and 1,000 digs with her ninth dig of the match on Sunday versus Michigan State.
2 -- Minnesota ranks second in the B1G in league games in service aces per set (1.72). The 'U' has totaled 67 aces in its 10 conference games in 2023, second behind only Wisconsin (71).
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. 5 Texas, No. 19 Florida, No. 3 Stanford, No. 17 Creighton, No. 1 Nebraska and No. 13 Penn State.
2 -- Melani Shaffmaster has posted 40+ assists four times in 2023 (3-1 record).
1 -- The Gophers are searching for their first win at Holloway Gym since the 2021 spring season. The Gophers have won three of the last four at Purdue and are 25-15 in West Lafayette all-time.
LAST TIME OUT
• The 'U' defeated Rutgers (25-23, 25-17, 25-9) on Friday and Michigan State (25-15, 23-25, 25-16, 25-20). Taylor Landfair posted nine kills while Arica Davis had seven blocks in the win Friday while Mckenna Wucherer went for 17 kills Sunday combined with 35 assists/14 digs from Melani Shaffmaster.
GOPHERS UNRANKED IN AVCA POLL
• The Gophers entered the 2023 season with a No. 7 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll. Before last week, the Gophers were ranked in the past 130 AVCA polls (2,965 days), dating back to Sept. 7, 2015. Minnesota was unranked for on Oct. 23 for the second week in-a-row despite going 2-0 last week. Minnesota is receiving the most votes of any unranked team with 70. They'll have their chance to re-enter the polls next week with ranked games on tap at No. 16 Purdue and No. 2 Wisconsin on the road.
SCOUTING PURDUE
• The No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers (13-6, 7-3 Big Ten) are having another strong season under head coach Dave Shondell, who is in year 22 as the man in charge in West Lafayette.
• Purdue holds top-25 wins this season over then No. 23 Kansas, No. 19 Marquette, No. 19 Kentucky, and most recently, No. 11 Penn State. Only the Kentucky win took place at Holloway Gymnasium. Overall, Purdue is 4-2 against ranked opposition in 2023.
• Sophomore Eva Hudson leads the Boilers with 4.03 kills per set, while freshman (No. 1 overall 2023 recruit) Chloe Chicoine ranks second with 3.88. They rank fifth and sixth in the Big Ten, respectively, in kills. Middle blocker Raven Colvin ranks third in the league in blocks per set (1.40) and is coming off her second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honor of the year this week.
MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. PURDUE
• Minnesota is 57-33 all-time against Purdue. The Gophers have won 10 of the last 14 in the series, with the losses coming in 2017 and 2022 in West Lafayette, Ind., and in 2021 at the Pav. Minnesota is 25-15 all-time on the road against Purdue. The two teams split last year, with Purdue sweeping in West Lafayette and Minnesota winning in four in Minneapolis.
MILESTONE WATCH
• Melani ranks 16th among active Division I players with 3,588 career assists. Her 10.02 aps career average is 22nd and her 1,005 digs are 176th.
• On Sunday vs. MSU, Mel became the fourth Gopher all-time to record 3,500 assists and 1,000 digs. She joined Sharon Oesterling (1986-89), Samantha Seliger-Swenson (2015-18) and Lindsey Taatjes (2001-04) on the list.
• Taylor Landfair holds 967 career kills and needs just 33 more to reach 1,000 for her career at Minnesota.
DOUBLE DOUBLE QUEEN
• Melani Shaffmaster tied for the Big Ten lead in double doubles (10+ assists and digs) with 14 in 2022.  For her career, Shaffmaster has tallied 52 double doubles.
• Mel started this season with double doubles in 11 of 18 games thus far, tied for a Big Ten-best (with Illinois' Brooke Mosher). She is one of just 13 players in the country (two in the Power Five) with 11+ double doubles in 2023.
SHAFFMASTER STANDS OUT AMONG SETTERS
• Gophers senior setter Melani Shaffmaster ranks tied for first with NU's Alexa Rosseau for all Big Ten setters with 0.97 kills per set in 2023. She leads all B1G setters with 2.97 digs per set and ranks third in blocks with 0.65. Shaffmaster is tied for the lead among all B1G setters with 11 double doubles.
WUCHERER TAKING THE NEXT STEP
• A 2021 AVCA and Under Armour First Team All-American and the Wis. Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Brookfield, Wis., came to Minnesota as one of the most decorated players in Wisconsin prep history. She was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2022.
• In 2022, she missed the first six games with an injury before returning to hit double figures in kills in 11 matches.
• She ended the year averaging 2.79 kills per set, which ranked second on the team. Wucherer made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2022.
• The start of 2023 has been all she can ask for, as Wucherer posted 30 kills on .464 hitting on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge MVP honors on Aug. 26. Wucherer holds double digit kills in 15 games, a team-best. She tallied her first 20+ kill match (21) with a career-best 10 digs in a win over No. 6 Oregon on Sep. 8.
DAVIS DOMINATING AT THE NET
• In her last six games, Arica Davis has registered 39 blocks (1.63 bps). She set a new season-high with eight on Sunday in a four set win over Michigan State after going for seven in a sweep over Rutgers on Friday. She's posted 10 3+ block matches in 2023 and has tallied 5+ block matches in each of the past six games.
WE WANT MURR
• 2022 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Kylie Murr came to Dinkytown for her fifth year of college volleyball after spending the first four at Ohio State.
• She led the Big Ten in both total digs (530) and digs per set (4.69) last year and stepped into the Gophers libero position that two-time All-American CC McGraw departed from due to graduation.
• Murr started 2023 off with a bang, winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after posting 40 digs (5.71 dps) and 15 assists on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament honors on Aug. 26. Murr holds 2,227 career digs, which ranks No. 6 of all active collegiate players in the nation.
• Murr ranks fifth in the B1G with 4.11 digs per set in 2023 and is one of three players in the league to have two 25+ dig matches this season. In conference play only, Murr ranks eighth with 3.92 dps.Â
• Murr is the only player in the Big Ten to record 10+ digs in every match this season. Dating back to last season she's recorded 27 straight 10+ dig matches.
SERVING STEPS UP FOR THE MAROON AND GOLD
• One of head coach Keegan's Cook's points of emphasis is 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 12 matches, however, the 'U' has tallied 90 service aces, an average of 7.50 per match. The Gophers tied a season-best with 12 on Oct. 15 versus Northwestern.
• The Gophers have had four matches with 10+ aces this season, including two in the last three games (12 vs. Northwestern on Oct. 15); (10 vs. MSU on Oct. 22).
LANDFAIR ROUNDING INTO FORM IN BIG TEN 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 Ten 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 (10 games), Landfair is hitting .291 with 3.03 kills, 2.26 digs and 0.49 blocks per set. She's hit double digits in kills in six of 10 B1G games, hitting over .300 in seven of the matches. She's the only Big Ten pin to hit > .300 in seven league games. In eight preseason games, Landfair hit just .123 with 2.47 kills, 1.66 digs and 0.44 blocks per set.
• Landfair holds 967 career kills and needs just 33 more to reach 1,000 for her career at Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Minnesota goes to No. 2 Wisconsin (18-1, 9-1 Big Ten) on Sunday. The game is at 3:45 p.m. on FOX, following Vikings at Packers. It will be the first regular season NCAA volleyball match to air on FOX.
PURDUE GAME INFORMATION
RV Minnesota at No. 16 Purdue
Thursday, Oct. 26
7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT
Holloway Gym
West Lafayette, Ind.
TV/Stream: BTN - Connor Onion (Play-By-Play) and Emily Ehman (Analyst)
Live Stats
NOTES TO KNOW
208 -- Keegan Cook won his 200th career game as a head coach on Aug. 26 vs. Baylor. He won his 207th and 208th games this past weekend against Rutgers and Michigan State.
130 -- Minnesota had been ranked in 130 straight AVCA polls, dating back to Sept. 7, 2015, before the Oct. 16 poll.
33 -- Middle Phoebe Awoleye ranks No. 33 in the nation and No. 4 in the Big Ten in blocks per set with 1.30.
18 -- Kylie Murr is the only Big Ten player to post double digit digs in every match this season. She's done so 18 times. Dating back to last season, she has 27 straight 10+ dig match games.
15 -- Sophomore outside Mckenna Wucherer has had a breakout campaign in year two, leading the team and ranking 15th in the Big Ten with 3.30 kills per set.Â
11 -- Melani Shaffmaster leads the Big Ten with 11 double doubles this season. She has tallied 52 in her career.
10 -- Minnesota has won 10 of the last 14 matchups against Purdue, including three of the last four in West Lafayette.
9 -- Mckenna Wucherer has posted 10+ kill matches in nine out of the last 10 matches. She had 17 (.235), a team-best, Sunday.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 3,588 career assists. She ranks 16th among active DI players. Her 10.02 assists per set put her at No. 22.
7 -- Minnesota outside Taylor Landfair has hit over .300 in seven of the team's 10 Big Ten matches in 2023, including six 10+ kill matches. No other B1G pin has hit over .300 more than six times.
6 -- After playing eight ranked teams in their first 12 games, the Gophers played six straight unranked opponents before taking on No. 16Â Purdue on Oct. 26. No. 2 Wisconsin awaits Sunday.
5 -- Fifth year libero Kylie Murr ranks fifth in the Big Ten in digs per set through two months of play with 4.11. 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).
4 -- Melani Shaffmaster became the fourth Gopher all-time to reach 3,500 career assists and 1,000 digs with her ninth dig of the match on Sunday versus Michigan State.
2 -- Minnesota ranks second in the B1G in league games in service aces per set (1.72). The 'U' has totaled 67 aces in its 10 conference games in 2023, second behind only Wisconsin (71).
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. 5 Texas, No. 19 Florida, No. 3 Stanford, No. 17 Creighton, No. 1 Nebraska and No. 13 Penn State.
2 -- Melani Shaffmaster has posted 40+ assists four times in 2023 (3-1 record).
1 -- The Gophers are searching for their first win at Holloway Gym since the 2021 spring season. The Gophers have won three of the last four at Purdue and are 25-15 in West Lafayette all-time.
LAST TIME OUT
• The 'U' defeated Rutgers (25-23, 25-17, 25-9) on Friday and Michigan State (25-15, 23-25, 25-16, 25-20). Taylor Landfair posted nine kills while Arica Davis had seven blocks in the win Friday while Mckenna Wucherer went for 17 kills Sunday combined with 35 assists/14 digs from Melani Shaffmaster.
GOPHERS UNRANKED IN AVCA POLL
• The Gophers entered the 2023 season with a No. 7 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll. Before last week, the Gophers were ranked in the past 130 AVCA polls (2,965 days), dating back to Sept. 7, 2015. Minnesota was unranked for on Oct. 23 for the second week in-a-row despite going 2-0 last week. Minnesota is receiving the most votes of any unranked team with 70. They'll have their chance to re-enter the polls next week with ranked games on tap at No. 16 Purdue and No. 2 Wisconsin on the road.
SCOUTING PURDUE
• The No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers (13-6, 7-3 Big Ten) are having another strong season under head coach Dave Shondell, who is in year 22 as the man in charge in West Lafayette.
• Purdue holds top-25 wins this season over then No. 23 Kansas, No. 19 Marquette, No. 19 Kentucky, and most recently, No. 11 Penn State. Only the Kentucky win took place at Holloway Gymnasium. Overall, Purdue is 4-2 against ranked opposition in 2023.
• Sophomore Eva Hudson leads the Boilers with 4.03 kills per set, while freshman (No. 1 overall 2023 recruit) Chloe Chicoine ranks second with 3.88. They rank fifth and sixth in the Big Ten, respectively, in kills. Middle blocker Raven Colvin ranks third in the league in blocks per set (1.40) and is coming off her second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honor of the year this week.
MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. PURDUE
• Minnesota is 57-33 all-time against Purdue. The Gophers have won 10 of the last 14 in the series, with the losses coming in 2017 and 2022 in West Lafayette, Ind., and in 2021 at the Pav. Minnesota is 25-15 all-time on the road against Purdue. The two teams split last year, with Purdue sweeping in West Lafayette and Minnesota winning in four in Minneapolis.
MILESTONE WATCH
• Melani ranks 16th among active Division I players with 3,588 career assists. Her 10.02 aps career average is 22nd and her 1,005 digs are 176th.
• On Sunday vs. MSU, Mel became the fourth Gopher all-time to record 3,500 assists and 1,000 digs. She joined Sharon Oesterling (1986-89), Samantha Seliger-Swenson (2015-18) and Lindsey Taatjes (2001-04) on the list.
• Taylor Landfair holds 967 career kills and needs just 33 more to reach 1,000 for her career at Minnesota.
DOUBLE DOUBLE QUEEN
• Melani Shaffmaster tied for the Big Ten lead in double doubles (10+ assists and digs) with 14 in 2022.  For her career, Shaffmaster has tallied 52 double doubles.
• Mel started this season with double doubles in 11 of 18 games thus far, tied for a Big Ten-best (with Illinois' Brooke Mosher). She is one of just 13 players in the country (two in the Power Five) with 11+ double doubles in 2023.
SHAFFMASTER STANDS OUT AMONG SETTERS
• Gophers senior setter Melani Shaffmaster ranks tied for first with NU's Alexa Rosseau for all Big Ten setters with 0.97 kills per set in 2023. She leads all B1G setters with 2.97 digs per set and ranks third in blocks with 0.65. Shaffmaster is tied for the lead among all B1G setters with 11 double doubles.
WUCHERER TAKING THE NEXT STEP
• A 2021 AVCA and Under Armour First Team All-American and the Wis. Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Brookfield, Wis., came to Minnesota as one of the most decorated players in Wisconsin prep history. She was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2022.
• In 2022, she missed the first six games with an injury before returning to hit double figures in kills in 11 matches.
• She ended the year averaging 2.79 kills per set, which ranked second on the team. Wucherer made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2022.
• The start of 2023 has been all she can ask for, as Wucherer posted 30 kills on .464 hitting on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge MVP honors on Aug. 26. Wucherer holds double digit kills in 15 games, a team-best. She tallied her first 20+ kill match (21) with a career-best 10 digs in a win over No. 6 Oregon on Sep. 8.
DAVIS DOMINATING AT THE NET
• In her last six games, Arica Davis has registered 39 blocks (1.63 bps). She set a new season-high with eight on Sunday in a four set win over Michigan State after going for seven in a sweep over Rutgers on Friday. She's posted 10 3+ block matches in 2023 and has tallied 5+ block matches in each of the past six games.
WE WANT MURR
• 2022 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Kylie Murr came to Dinkytown for her fifth year of college volleyball after spending the first four at Ohio State.
• She led the Big Ten in both total digs (530) and digs per set (4.69) last year and stepped into the Gophers libero position that two-time All-American CC McGraw departed from due to graduation.
• Murr started 2023 off with a bang, winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after posting 40 digs (5.71 dps) and 15 assists on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament honors on Aug. 26. Murr holds 2,227 career digs, which ranks No. 6 of all active collegiate players in the nation.
• Murr ranks fifth in the B1G with 4.11 digs per set in 2023 and is one of three players in the league to have two 25+ dig matches this season. In conference play only, Murr ranks eighth with 3.92 dps.Â
• Murr is the only player in the Big Ten to record 10+ digs in every match this season. Dating back to last season she's recorded 27 straight 10+ dig matches.
SERVING STEPS UP FOR THE MAROON AND GOLD
• One of head coach Keegan's Cook's points of emphasis is 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 12 matches, however, the 'U' has tallied 90 service aces, an average of 7.50 per match. The Gophers tied a season-best with 12 on Oct. 15 versus Northwestern.
• The Gophers have had four matches with 10+ aces this season, including two in the last three games (12 vs. Northwestern on Oct. 15); (10 vs. MSU on Oct. 22).
LANDFAIR ROUNDING INTO FORM IN BIG TEN 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 Ten 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 (10 games), Landfair is hitting .291 with 3.03 kills, 2.26 digs and 0.49 blocks per set. She's hit double digits in kills in six of 10 B1G games, hitting over .300 in seven of the matches. She's the only Big Ten pin to hit > .300 in seven league games. In eight preseason games, Landfair hit just .123 with 2.47 kills, 1.66 digs and 0.44 blocks per set.
• Landfair holds 967 career kills and needs just 33 more to reach 1,000 for her career at Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Minnesota goes to No. 2 Wisconsin (18-1, 9-1 Big Ten) on Sunday. The game is at 3:45 p.m. on FOX, following Vikings at Packers. It will be the first regular season NCAA volleyball match to air on FOX.
Cinematic Recap: Gophers Sweep Illini
Thursday, October 30
Highlights: Gophers 3, Illinois 0
Wednesday, October 29
Highlights: Gophers 2, Purdue 3
Sunday, October 26
Highlights: Gophers 3, Indiana 1
Friday, October 24