Major Road Test Awaits at No. 2 Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The No. 16 Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-8, 9-5 B1G) hit the road for a major test at No. 2 Nebraska (24-1, 14-0 B1G) on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. Big Ten Network will televise with Larry Punteney (play-by-play) and Emily Ehman (analyst) on the call. The Huskers enter having won 21 straight matches, dating back to Sept. 3 against SMU. The last time NU lost a home match was Nov. 26, 2022 in a 3-0 sweep against the Gophers. They've won 33 straight at the Bob Devaney Center.

The Gophers fell twice at home last weekend, but have won seven of their last 10 overall. Minnesota is 6-3 in true road matches this season.

NEBRASKA GAME INFORMATION
No. 16 Minnesota at No. 2 Nebraska
Thursday, Nov. 14
8 p.m.
Devaney Center
Lincoln, Neb.
TV: BTN - Larry Punteney (Play-By-Play) and Emily Ehman (Analyst)
Live Stats

NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota trails Nebraska, 38-12. Streak: Nebraska W2
First Meeting: 1975
Last Meeting: 2023

HEADING INTO THE MATCH
598 -- Phoebe Awoleye reached 500 career blocks Sept. 13 vs. Auburn. She is one of four active Division I players in the nation to reach the 500-block mark. She currently holds 598 and was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after totaling 24 combined in six sets vs. Indiana (Oct. 11) and Maryland (Oct. 12).
52 -- Melani Shaffmaster and Julia Hanson were named to the AVCA Top-52 Player of the Year Watch List. Shaffmaster was named to the original 36 list while Hanson was added as one of 16 additions on Oct. 18.
47 -- The 'U' comes in at No. 47 in the country, holding opponents to just .175 hitting for the year. Nine of Minnesota's opponents have hit over .200 this season. Four have been below .100.
33 -- Nebraska has won 33 consecutive home matches, dating back to the 2022 loss to Minnesota (Nov. 26, 2022, 3-0 sweep).
29 -- Shaffmaster is one of 29 players in the country to register a triple-double in '24. She had a career-high 10 kills with 47 assists and 21 digs on Sept. 7. She's the first Gopher to register a triple-double since Sarah Wilhite in Sept. of 2014.
13 -- Times this season Minnesota has posted 10+ blocks as a team, including six of the last 10 matches.
10 -- The 'U' has won 10-or-more Big Ten games in every season except for one dating back to 1999. They can clinch their 10th straight with 10+ wins Thursday versus Nebraska.
8 -- Minnesota matches have gone five sets (4-4 record), 13 have been sweeps (12-2) and two have been in four sets (0-2).
7 -- Phoebe Awoleye ranks 8th among active DI players with 1.28 bps; ranks 3rd with 598 total blocks.
7 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks seventh in Gophers history and fourth among active DI players with 4,785 career assists. She passed Lindsey Taatjes for No. 7 all-time at the 'U' last week.
6 -- The 'U' is 6-19 all-time against Nebraska in Lincoln. Four of the wins have come since 2015, however.
3 -- Minnesota ranks third in the Big Ten and 23rd nationally with 250.0 total blocks in 2024.
3 -- The 'U' has won three of the last five matchups versus Nebraska in Lincoln. The Gophers tallied their first sweep of NU on the road since 1980 with their 2022 victory (6th win all-time in Lincoln).
2 -- The Gophers were just 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 2-6 in 2024 with wins over No. 1 Texas, No. 7 Wisconsin. Their losses came against No. 3 Penn State, No. 5 Stanford, No. 10 Purdue, No. 12 Oregon, No. 21 USC and No. 23 Baylor.
2 -- Phoebe Awoleye ranks second in the Big Ten and seventh in the country with 1.49 blocks per set.
2 -- Minnesota ranks second in the Big Ten (111th in the NCAA) with 15.00 digs per set.
2 -- In B1G matches only, Minnesota ranks 2nd with 2.88 blocks per set (150 blocks), behind Wisconsin.
1 -- Phoebe Awoleye set the new NCAA high for blocks in a three-set match with 14 on Oct. 12 vs. Maryland. Her 14 blocks also tied a program record for stuffs in a single match.
1 -- In Big Ten play (14 matches), Phoebe Awoleye leads the Big Ten with 1.69 bps and 88 blocks.
1 -- The Gophers tied an NCAA season-best for a three set match with 19.0 blocks vs. Maryland on Oct. 12.

LAST TIME OUT
• The then No. 14 Minnesota volleyball team fell twice at home last week, falling in four sets to Washington on Thursday and in three to No. 12 Oregon on Saturday. The losses broke a four-match winning streak. Julia Hanson led the 'U' offensively, posting 15 kills Thursday and 18 Saturday. Setter Melani Shaffmaster had two double-doubles while Zeynep Palabiyik posted double-digit digs in both matches.

GOPHERS IN THE RANKINGS
• The Gophers entered the 2024 season with a No. 18 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll.
• 18th was Minnesota's lowest preseason ranking since coming in at No. 22 in 2006.
• They came in at 16 in the AVCA Poll on Nov. 11, moving down two spots from the Nov. 4 rankings. Minnesota has been ranked as high as 12 this year (Sept. 30) and as low as 19 (Sept. 9).
• Minnesota comes in at 31 in the RPI rankings and No. 16 in the NCAA DI Committee's Top-16 rankings.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS UPDATE
• With three weeks to go in the 2024 regular season, Minnesota (9-5 B1G) sits in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Big Ten standings. Nebraska (14-0), Penn State (13-1), Wisconsin (12-2), Purdue (11-3) and Oregon (10-4) are in front of the 'U'. Illinois and USC are tied at 9-5.

FOUR GOPHERS SIGN IN CLASS OF 2025
• Minnesota signed four players for its 2025 class on Wednesday, Nov. 13. The 2025 class is ranked by multiple recruiting sites as a top-10 class in the country.
• Libero/defensive specialist McKenna Garr (Rush City, Minn./Rush City H.S.), opposite Carly Gilk (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park H.S.), outside Kelly Kinney (West Palm Beach, Fla./The King's Academy) and middle blocker Jordan Taylor (Houston, Texas/Langham Creek H.S.) have all signed on to be Minnesota Golden Gophers.
• "The 2025 recruiting class will be a special group for our coaching staff," said head coach Keegan Cook. "Although they are not technically our first recruiting class, they are the first class that we recruited from start to finish here at Minnesota and all of them verbally committed before we coached our first match in the Pav."

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
• No. 2 Nebraska (24-1, 14-0 B1G) is led by 25th-year head coach John Cook. The Huskers are looking to win their second consecutive Big Ten title in 2024. NU went to the national championship match last season, finishing 33-2 (19-1 Big Ten). So far in 2024, they've gone 9-0 against top-25 ranked opponents.
• NU was picked to finish first in the 2024 Big Ten Preseason Poll. Outsides Harper Murray and former Gopher Taylor Landfair joined setter Bergen Reilly and libero Lexi Rodriguez as preseason all-league honorees.
• Murray leads the offense with 3.31 kills per set while Reilly paces the team with 11.12 assists per set. The Huskers rank second in the league with 14.28 kps and are tied for first in opponent hitting percentage, holding its opposition to just .157 per night.

MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. NEBRASKA
• Minnesota is 12-38 all-time against the Huskers. Nebraska won the two matchups last year, taking them in three sets in Lincoln and four sets in Minneapolis.
• Minnesota has won five of the last nine in the series, including their first sweep in Lincoln since 1980 in 2022. The Gophers played NU just once in three of the last four seasons.
• All-time in Lincoln, the Gophers are just 6-19. Two of the wins have been sweeps (1980, 2022), three were in four sets (2015, 2018, 2021) and one was in five sets (1978). The Gophers have won three of the last five matchups between the two teams in Lincoln.

STREAKS TO WATCH
• Phoebe Awoleye has tallied multiple blocks in 13 of the last 14 matches. She's posted seven-or-more blocks in eight of the last 10 matches, including 60 total blocks in the last eight contests.
• Calissa Minatee has earned five-or-more kills in 14 matches this season. Minnesota is 11-3 when she has 5+ kills.
• Julia Hanson has totaled 10+ kills in 19 of 24 matches this year, including 10 times in Big Ten play.
• Hanson has tallied 10+ kills in seven consecutive matches. During that span, she's averaged 4.67 kills per set on .332 hitting. She's also totaled 1.79 digs and 0.29 service aces per set.
• Melani Shaffmaster has tallied double-doubles in 12 of 24 matches this season.
• Mckenna Wucherer has posted 10+ kills in four of the last five matches.

SCHEDULE TESTING MINNESOTA ONCE AGAIN
• Opponent-wise, Minnesota will play 10 matches against preseason top-25 ranked teams in 2024. They'll play five matches against preseason top-five ranked teams, squaring off against No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Wisconsin (twice) and No. 5 Stanford. They'll also take on top-10 ranked teams Penn State (7), Purdue (8) and Oregon (10). The Gophers travel to No. 21 USC and played No. 23 Baylor this year as well.
• Other teams Minnesota played that made the NCAA Tournament include LIU, Auburn and TCU.
• 13 of Minnesota's 30 matches will come against teams that competed in the postseason in 2023.
• Eight of Minnesota's 24 matches thus far have come against top-25 ranked opponents (2-6 record).

SHAFFMASTER SETTING THE TABLE
• A 2022 First Team All-B1G selection, Melani Shaffmaster ranks No. 7 in program history in assists (4,785). She became the eighth Gopher to pass 4,000 with her 27th assist on Sept. 1 against No. 5 Stanford. She passed Gopher great Lindsey Taatjes (2001-04) for No. 7 all-time last week.
• Melani ranks 4th among active Division I players in assists and 81st in digs (1,387). Shaffmaster also ranks 109th in blocks (329). She is one of just four active players in the country to have recorded 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
• Mel became the first Gopher setter to reach 4,000 assists, 1,00 digs, 300 blocks and 300 kills in her career.

AWOLEYE ANCHORING THE FRONT LINE
• A redshirt senior from Marietta, Ga., Phoebe Awoleye has been a revelation in the middle for Minnesota. She came last year after playing two years at Georgia and one year at Loyola Marymount.
• Awoleye ranks 3rd among active DI players with 598 blocks. She ranks 8th with 1.28 blocks per set.
• In 2024, Awoleye has tallied 3+ blocks in 16 matches and 5+ blocks 13 times. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 14 after tallying 24 blocks in just six sets on Oct. 11 and 12.
• Awoleye ranks second in the Big Ten with 1.49 blocks per set in 2024. In Big Ten matches, Awoleye leads the league with 1.69 blocks per set.

MINNESOTA MILESTONES
• Phoebe Awoleye passed 500 career blocks on Sept. 13 vs. Auburn. She ranks No. 3 among all active Division I players with 598 in her collegiate career.
• Melani Shaffmaster passed 4,000 assists during the first match of the season, becoming the eighth Gopher ever to hit the mark. She also became the first Gopher to hit 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 300 blocks and 300 kills on Oct. 4 at UCLA. She ranks fourth among all active Division I players in assists with 4,785.
• Shaffmaster clinched her fourth straight season with 20+ service aces last weekend. She became the first Gophers setter to reach 400 kills last Sunday at Michigan (402 for her career).
• Lydia Grote (238) reached the 200-kill mark for the fourth time in her career.
• Julia Hanson clinched her first career 200+ kill season on Oct. 12 vs. Maryland. She also hit 20 service aces for the first time in her career. Hanson posted a career-best four aces Nov. 3 at Michigan.

GOPHERS IN BIG TEN CATEGORIES
• The 'U' ranks second in the B1G in digs per set (15.00) and in digs (1,350) in 2024. The Gophers are ranked fifth in opposing hitting percentage (.169) and fourth in blocks per set (2.78). Minnesota ranks third in blocks (250.0).
• In conference play only, the Gophers rank third in total blocks (150), second in blocks per set (2.88), sixth in kills (671) and sixth in hitting percentage (.250).

UP NEXT
Minnesota hosts Michigan (16-9, 6-8 Big Ten) on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. B1G+ will stream the match.

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Players Mentioned

Phoebe Awoleye

Lydia Grote

Julia Hanson

Taylor Landfair

Calissa Minatee

Zeynep Palabiyik

Melani Shaffmaster

Mckenna Wucherer