Gophers Head to Ohio State, Northwestern for Weekend Road Swing

MINNEAPOLIS -- The RV Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-10, 6-6 Big Ten) head out for their final full weekend road trip of the 2023 regular season when they take on Ohio State (8-13, 5-7 Big Ten) on Friday and Northwestern (11-12, 5-8 Big Ten) on Sunday. Friday's match will be a 5:30 p.m. CT first serve while Sunday's will be 1 p.m. BTN will televise on Friday while B1G+ will stream on Sunday.

OHIO STATE GAME INFORMATION
RV Minnesota at Ohio State
Friday, Nov. 3
6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT
Covelli Center
Columbus, Ohio
TV/Stream: BTN - Sloane Martin (Play-By-Play) and Audrey Flaugh (Analyst)
Live Stats

NORTHWESTERN GAME INFORMATION
RV Minnesota at Northwestern
Sunday, Nov. 5
1 p.m. CT
Welsh-Ryan Arena
Evanston, Ill.
TV/Stream: B1G+ - Rhett Roelandt (Play-By-Play) and TBD (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.
53 -- Minnesota has won 53 of the 90 matchups all-time against Wisconsin (.589). The Gophers broke a six-game losing streak in the series last year with a 3-0 sweep on Sept. 25, 2022 at the Pav. Prior to the six-game slide, the Gophers had won eight straight in the series from 2015-18.
45 -- Middle Phoebe Awoleye ranks No. 45 in the nation and No. 5 in the Big Ten in blocks per set with 1.26.
19 -- Kylie Murr is the only Big Ten player to post double digit digs in every match this season. She's done so 19 times. Dating back to last season, she has 28 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 3.28 kills per set.
11 -- Melani Shaffmaster leads the Big Ten with 11 double doubles this season. She has tallied 52 in her career.
9 -- Mckenna Wucherer has posted 10+ kill matches in nine out of the last 11 matches. She had 17 (.235), a team-best, Sunday.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 3,626 career assists. She ranks 16th among active DI players. Her 10.04 assists per set put her at No. 21.
7 -- Minnesota's Taylor Landfair has hit over .300 in eight of the team's 11 Big Ten matches in 2023, including seven 10+ kill matches. No other B1G pin has hit over .300 more than six times.
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 last Sunday versus Michigan State.
2 -- Minnesota ranks second in the B1G in league games in service aces per set (1.62). The 'U' has totaled 68 aces in its 11 conference games in 2023, second behind only Wisconsin (71).
2 -- The Gophers are 2-7 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, No. 13 Penn State and No. 16 Purdue.
2 -- Melani Shaffmaster has posted 40+ assists four times in 2023 (3-1 record).
1 -- The Gophers are searching for their first win at UW Fieldhouse since 2018. The Gophers have dropped their last four at Wisconsin. All-time, Minnesota is 18-25 vs. Wisconsin in Madison.

GOPHERS PLAY IN MOST-WATCHED COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL MATCH OF ALL-TIME
• On Sunday, Oct. 29, the matchup between Minnesota and Wisconsin on FOX drew 1.659 million viewers, making it the most-watched college volleyball game of all time.

LAST TIME OUT
• The 'U' fell to No. 2 Wisconsin (13-25, 20-25, 19-25) on Sunday at the UW Fieldhouse in the first collegiate volleyball match played on FOX. Melani Shaffmaster went for 21 assists and 16 digs to lead Minnesota while Taylor Landfair had 12 kills and seven digs. Kylie Murr posted her 20th 10+ dig match with 12.

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. 30 for the third week in-a-row. Minnesota is receiving the most votes of any unranked team with 35.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• The Ohio State Buckeyes are led by fourth-year head coach Jen Flynn Oldenberg. OSU enters the weekend at 8-13 (5-7 Big Ten) as they're going through a rebuilding year after losing five key seniors from their 2022 team that made the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. OSU is 0-11 against ranked opponents in 2023.
• Ohio State has made three straight NCAA Tournaments (Sweet 16 each time) and haven't missed since 2019.
• As a team, OSU ranks fourth in the Big Ten in digs per set at 14.08. From the pin, Emily Londot leads the conference in kills (4.81) and points (5.21) per set. Middle Rylee Rader is hitting .377 for the year, which ranks her fourth in the Big Ten. Freshman setter Mia Tuman ranks fifth in the league with 9.36 assists per set.

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
• Northwestern is led by eighth-year head coach Shane Davis. In non-conference play, the Wildcats went 6-4, notching its top win over then No. 13 San Diego. They have beaten No. 17 Purdue and Michigan St., both on the road, in B1G play. They've won two of their last four, both five set wins, over Michigan and Indiana.
• Libero Eilee Stinson ranks third in the Big Ten in digs per set with 4.20 this season while outside Julia Sangiacomo ranks first on the team and sixth in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.91).
• The Wildcats have a pair of Minnesota connections with former middle blocker Ellie Husemann 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. OHIO STATE AND NORTHWESTERN
• Minnesota is 47-37 all-time against Ohio State, winning 10 of the last 12 in the series. The losses came last year in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and Oct. 12, 2022 at the Pav. Minnesota won in four sets on Nov. 24, 2022 in Columbus and is 8-1 on the road against the Buckeyes in their last nine meetings.
• The 'U' is 63-20 all-time vs. Northwestern. Minnesota defeated NU in five sets on Oct. 15 in their matchup this season. Last year, NU defeated the Gophers last year in five sets at the Pav. 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.

MILESTONE WATCH
• On Oct. 22 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 995 career kills and needs just five 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 53 double doubles.
• Mel started this season with double doubles in 13 of 20 games thus far, which is a Big Ten-best. She is one of just nine players in the country (only one in the Power Five) with 13+ double doubles in 2023.
• Shaffmaster ranks second among all Big Ten setters with 1.00 kills per set while leading with 3.08 digs per set and 13 double doubles. She ranks third in blocks with 0.61.

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 eight games, Arica Davis has registered 40 blocks (1.47 bps). She set a new season-high with eight last Sunday in a four set win over Michigan State after going for seven in a sweep over Rutgers on Friday. She's posted 11 3+ block matches in 2023 and has tallied 5+ block matches in six of the past seven games. In conference play, Davis ranks seventh with 1.21 blocks per set.

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 2,239 career digs, which ranks No. 6 of all active collegiate players in the nation.
• Murr ranks sixth in the B1G with 4.10 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 3.93 dps.
• 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 29 straight 10+ dig matches (second longest active streak in the country).

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 14 matches, however, the 'U' has tallied 92 service aces, an average of 6.57 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 five 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 (12 games), Landfair is hitting .292 with 3.24 kills, 2.24 digs and 0.49 blocks per set. She's hit double digits in kills in eight B1G games, hitting over .300 in eight of the 12 matches. She's one of two Big Ten pins to hit > .300 in eight 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 995 career kills and needs just five more to reach 1,000 for her career at Minnesota.

UP NEXT
Minnesota will play No. 19 Purdue at home on Friday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Phoebe Awoleye

Arica Davis

Ellie Husemann

Taylor Landfair

CC McGraw

Kylie Murr

Melani Shaffmaster

Mckenna Wucherer