No. 17 Gophers to Play in Capital Credit Union Classic

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The No. 17 Minnesota Golden Gophers are heading east to Wisconsin to take on the Green Bay Phoenix, North Dakota Fighting Hawks and Chicago State Cougars in the three-day Capital Credit Union Classic. Minnesota (4-3, 0-0 Big Ten) is coming off a 3-0 week with home wins over St. Thomas, LIU and Auburn. The Gophers close out non-conference play this weekend.

GAME INFORMATION
No. 17 Minnesota at Green Bay
Thursday, Sept. 19
7 p.m. CT
Kress Center
Green Bay, Wis.
TV: ESPN+ Dick Knapinski (Play-By-Play) and Mara Allen (Analyst)
Live Stats

GAME INFORMATION
No. 17 Minnesota vs. North Dakota
Friday, Sept. 20
5 p.m. CT
Kress Center
Green Bay, Wis.
TV: None
Live Stats

GAME INFORMATION
No. 17 Minnesota vs. Chicago St.
Saturday, Sept. 21
12 p.m. CT
Kress Center
Green Bay, Wis.
TV: None
Live Stats

NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota leads Green Bay, 2-0, North Dakota, 5-0, and Chicago State, 1-0.
First Meeting: 2016 (Green Bay), 1978 (North Dakota), 1980 (Chicago State)
Last Meeting: 2018 (Green Bay), 2017 (North Dakota), 1980 (Chicago State)

HEADING INTO THE MATCH
4,000 -- Redshirt Senior setter Melani Shaffmaster passed 4,000 career assists with her 27th assist Sept. 1 vs. Stanford. She is the eighth Gopher ever to reach 4,000 and one of four Gophers in history to record 4,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs.
500 -- Phoebe Awoleye reached 500 career blocks last Friday vs. Auburn. She is one of four active Division I players in the nation to reach the 500-block mark.
29 -- Libero Zeynep Palabiyik posted a career-best 29 digs Sept. 6 at No. 23 Baylor. She ranks 1st in the B1G with 4.48 dps.
19 -- Melani Shaffmaster led the Big Ten with 19 double doubles last season. She has 64 in her career, the most of any B1G setter.
14 -- Minnesota tallied 14 blocks in each of its first two matches, tying its season-high from last season. The Gophers have posted 10+ blocks in four of seven matches thus far.
12 -- Melani Shaffmaster is one of 12 players in the country to register a triple-double this season. She had a career-high 10 kills with 47 assists and 21 digs on Sept. 7 vs. TCU. She's the first Gopher to register a triple double since Sarah Wilhite did so in September of 2014.
9 -- Phoebe Awoleye ranks 9th among active DI players with 1.24 bps; ranks 4th with 506 total blocks.
8 -- All-time, the Gophers are 8-2 vs. teams from the Horizon League. Last loss in 1983 vs. Cleveland St.
8 -- Minnesota is 8-0 all-time combined vs. Green Bay (2-0), UND (5-0) and Chicago State (1-0).
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 4,220 career assists.
7 -- The Gophers ranks seventh in the B1G with 1.76 service aces per set.
4 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks fourth among active DI players with 4,220 career assists. She's one of four athletes in the country that has totaled 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs in her career.
4 -- Four Gophers matches have went to five sets. All three home matches last week were three sets.
2 -- The Gophers were just 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 1-2 this year. Their next top-25 ranked opponent will be No. 7 Wisconsin (Sept. 25).
1 -- Minnesota ranks first in the Big Ten with 18.07 digs per set. The second place team is Wisconsin at 15.52 dps. Opposing teams are hitting just .152 against the Gophers (T-5th in the B1G).

LAST TIME OUT
• No. 19 Minnesota is coming off a 3-0 week, with three sweeps at home over St. Thomas, LIU and Auburn. Lydia Grote had a big week for the Maroon and Gold, tallying 3.63 kills per set on .348 hitting. Her and middle Calissa Minatee (2.33 kps, 1.33 bps) were named to the Diet Coke Classic All-Tournament Team.

GOPHERS RANKED 17TH THIS WEEK
• 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 17 on Sept. 16, moving up from its No. 19 ranking on Sept. 9.

SCOUTING GREEN BAY
• Green Bay (3-6, 0-0 Horizon) is led by seventh-year head coach Abbey Sutherland. In her first year in 2018, Sutherland led the Phoenix to both the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships. They finished 20-11 (13-3 HL) and made the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Last season, she led them to the Horizon League Tournament final for the first time since 2018. The team finished 16-6 (13-5 HL) in 2023).
• The Phoenix were picked to finish fourth in the 10-team Horizon League by the coaches. Wright State was picked first, followed by Northern Kentucky and Milwaukee.
• Green Bay is led by libero Abby Gardner, who leads the team with 3.56 digs per set. Outside hitter Cora Behnke paces the Phoenix with 2.92 kills per set while two others average over 2.40 kps.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA
• North Dakota (5-3, 0-0 Summit League) is led by third-year head coach Jesse Tupac. In 2022, he took over a team that won just one match in the year prior and helped the Hawks make the Summit League Tournament for the first time since 2018, going 9-9 in league play. Last year, his team went 7-21 (4-12 Summit League). So far in 2024, the Fighting Hawks have posted wins over Tulane, SIUE, West Virginia, Belmont and WIU.
• UND was picked to a seventh-place finish by Summit League head coaches in the annual preseason poll, ahead of only St. Thomas and Oral Roberts. Omaha was picked to finish first. Graduate student-athlete Elizabeth Norries and junior Paige Barber were named UND's "Players to Watch" this season. Norris was one of only eight players in the country to notch four or more triple doubles in 2023. Barber paced the attack with 2.58 kills per set.
• So far in 2024, Barber leads the team with 2.53 kills per set while Norris paces the Fighting Hawks with 5.53 assists and 1.38 digs per set.

SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE
• Fifth-year head coach Tony Trifonov has taken the CSU volleyball program to new heights since his arrival. The Cougars achieved the most wins over a four-year span (39), qualified for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament two times after not having done so since joining the conference in 2013, earned berths in two postseason championships for the first time in school history (NIVC 2021, 2023) and was named the WAC Coach of the Year in 2021.
• Chicago State (4-5, 0-0 NEC) holds wins over Evansville, Miami (OH), Southern Indiana and UIC this season and they also took a set off of Indiana on the road. Last year, the team finished 13-9 and played in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
• Offensively, the Cougars are led by Patrycja Lagida, who holds 3.43 kills per set. She was named NEC Player of the Week after going for 3.00 kills and 2.67 digs per set in four matches. Libero Andrea Calderon leads CSU on defense, tallying 4.03 digs per set. She was named NEC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 10.

MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. GREEN BAY, NORTH DAKOTA AND CHICAGO STATE
• Against Green Bay, the Gophers are 2-0 all-time. They last met in the 2018 regular season, a 3-0 Minnesota win. The 'U' also beat Green Bay 3-0 in 2016. Both of the wins came at Maturi Pavilion.
• The Gophers lead UND 5-0 all-time, with their last meeting coming in 2017, a sweep in the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota has played Chicago State just once, and that came in a 2-0 sweep in 1980.

SHAFFMASTER SETS THE TABLE
• Gophers setter Melani Shaffmaster did a little bit of everything on Sept. 7 versus TCU. She became the first Gopher since Sarah Wilhite in 2014 to register a triple-double when she went for 10 kills, 47 assists and 21 digs in a five set defeat. The 10 kills was also a career-best for Shaffmaster.
• A 2022 First Team All-B1G selection, Melani Shaffmaster ranks No. 8 in program history in assists (4,220). She became the eighth Gopher to pass 4,000 with her 27th assist on Sept. 1 against No. 5 Stanford. She started her 2024 season with a massive performance in an upset of No. 1 Texas, posting 44 assists, 17 digs, six kills, four aces and three blocks. She had 40 assists and eight digs vs. No. 5 Stanford.
• Melani ranks 4th among active Division I players in assists and 69th in digs (1,244). She is one of just four active players in the country to have recorded 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs.

MINATEE MAKING MIDDLE MAGIC
• After playing sparingly as a true freshman in 2023, Calissa Minatee has stepped into a big role as a starter at middle blocker. She posted seven blocks in a five set loss to No. 5 Stanford on Sept. 1 before going for nine kills (.571) and six blocks in a win over No. 1 Texas Sept. 2.
• Minatee posted a career-best 11 kills Sept. 6 at No. 23 Baylor, her first 10+ kill match.
• Against St. Thomas on Tuesday night, Minatee tallied a career-best eight blocks. She was named to the Diet Coke Classic All-Tournament Team after posting 2.67 kills per set on .500 hitting with 0.67 blocks per set in two matches.

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 Marymout. She picked up right where she left off in 2023 with a couple big matches against No. 5 Stanford (six blocks) and No. 1 Texas (seven blocks). She added four blocks on Friday at Baylor and six more on Saturday against TCU.
• Awoleye ranks 4th among active DI players 506 blocks. She ranks 9th with 1.23 blocks per set. She ranks just seven behind Purdue's Raven Colvin for the No. 3 spot among active players.
• In 2023, she ranked 6th in the B1G and 17th nationally with her 1.34 bps.
• She tallied 15 5+ block matches and 6 8+ block matches last season in her first as a Gopher.

PALABIYIK PACES BACKCOURT
• Sophomore Turkish libero Zeynep Palabiyik got her feet wet as a true freshman but is set to take the next step with the graduation of Kylie Murr. She played in 20 matches (69 sets) as a freshman in 2023, averaging 1.12 digs, 0.28 assists and 0.13 aces per set.
• She had six-or-more digs seven times last year, including a career-high 11 in a win over Iowa. Serving for the first time in her career, she posted nine aces as well.
• Her sophomore season started with a bang after she tallied a then career-best 22 digs, six assists and even in a kill in an upset over No. 1 Texas. She had just one receiving error as well after having eight on Sept. 1 vs. No. 5 Stanford.
• Palabiyik posted a career-best 29 digs against Baylor and 24 vs. She ranks third in the Big Ten with 205 reception attempts and digs 130, but first in digs per set (4.48). She ranks 59th nationally in digs per set.

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. So far in 2024, the Gophers have totaled 51 for an average of just over seven per match. The Gophers rank 8th in the league in aces and 7th in aces per set (1.76).
• Hanson again led Minnesota against Baylor and TCU, going for 16 kills and a career-best 19 digs Friday and a career-best 23 kills Saturday. She was named Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament.
• After Friday's match versus Auburn, head coach Brent Crouch told AuburnTigers.com: "Minnesota is just an incredibly good serving team. Everyone that I've talked to who's played them has said that's the best serving team they've seen. It looked like that on video. It's really tough to be a team that's serving like that. We had some good runs but there's also some room to grow there. But I love where we are at this point of the year."

UP NEXT
Minnesota opens up Big Ten play on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at home vs. No. 7 Wisconsin. The Gophers also host No. 6 Purdue on Saturday, Sept. 28. Both matches will be streamed on BTN.

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Phoebe Awoleye

Lydia Grote

Calissa Minatee

Kylie Murr

Zeynep Palabiyik

Melani Shaffmaster