No. 16 Gophers Look to Start 2-0 in B1G Play vs. No. 10 Purdue

MINNEAPOLIS-- The No. 16 Minnesota Golden Gophers are looking to win their eighth consecutive match on Saturday and start Big Ten play 2-0 for the first time since 2021 when they welcome the No. 10 Purdue Boilermakers to Maturi Pavilion.

The match is set for 5:30 p.m. CT and Big Ten Network will provide television coverage. Sloane Martin (play-by-play) and Meredith Nelson Uram (analyst) will be on the call. Gopher fans can also tune in for radio coverage (Tanner Hoops) on GopherSports.com.

GAME INFORMATION
No. 16 Minnesota vs. No. 10 Purdue
Saturday, Sept. 28
5:30 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
TV: BTN - Sloane Martin (Play-By-Play) and Meredith Nelson-Uram (Analyst)
Radio: GopherSports.com
Live Stats

NOTES TO KNOW
Minnesota leads Purdue, 57-35.
Streak: Purdue, Won Two Straight
First Meeting: 1975
Last Meeting: 2023

TRAFFIC ADVISORY:
Ongoing construction will impact traffic flow on 4th Street between Oak Street and I-35W. All fans are encouraged to utilize other roads to avoid delays. Please allow for extra time on your way to and from Maturi Pavilion. Fans are encouraged to purchase parking passes in advance. All fans arriving at Maturi Pavilion without a parking pass should park in Lot 37 or Maroon Lot.

HEADING INTO THE MATCH
500 -- 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 515.
29 -- Libero Zeynep Palabiyik posted a career-best 29 digs Sept. 6 at No. 23 Baylor. She has six matches with 20+ digs (B1G best) in 2024 and ranks 1st in the B1G with 4.47 dps.
29 -- Minnesota is 29-11 all-time against Purdue at Maturi Pavilion. The Gophers have won 20 of the past 22 at home against the Boilermakers, dating back to 1999. Purdue has won two of the last three (2023, 2021) at Minnesota, however.
22 -- Melani Shaffmaster is one of 22 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.
19 -- Melani Shaffmaster led the Big Ten with 19 double doubles last season. She has 66 in her career, the most of any B1G setter (7 in 2024). Shaffmaster was named to the AVCA Top-36 Player of the Year Watch List on Sept. 19. The three-time All-B1G honoree is looking to earn her first All-America honor in 2024.
17 -- The Gophers rank 17th nationally with 17.05 digs per set.
15 -- The 'U' comes in at No. 15 in the country, holding opponents to just .142 hitting for the year. Only two of Minnesota's opponents have hit over .200 this season (Stanford, Baylor). Four have been below .100.
13 -- Minnesota has now won its last 13 B1G home openers. Its last loss was in 2011 to Illinois.
11 -- Phoebe Awoleye ranks 11th among active DI players with 1.23 bps; ranks 4th with 515 total blocks.
9 -- Calissa Minatee ranks ninth in the B1G with 49 total blocks and in the top-15 with 1.17 blocks per set.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Gophers history with 4,334 career assists.
7 -- Minnesota ranks seventh in the B1G with 2.53 blocks per set. They've had 10+ blocks in five matches.
6 -- The Gophers ranks sixth in the B1G with 1.77 service aces per set.
5 -- Of the Gophers matches have went five sets (2-3 record), other six have been sweeps (6-0).
4 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks fourth among active DI players with 4,334 career assists. She's one of four athletes in the country that has totaled 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs in her career. The next closest Big Ten setter to her in career assists is Wisconsin's Carly Anderson at 3,697.
2 -- The Gophers were just 2-11 against ranked opponents in 2023, taking wins over No. 15 Baylor and No. 6 Oregon. Minnesota is 2-2 this year with wins over No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin. Their losses came against No. 5 Stanford and No. 23 Baylor (both 3-2 in five sets).
2 -- Minnesota has two top-10 ranked wins by the end of September for the first time since 2019. That year, they beat No. 10 Oregon, No. 7 Florida and No. 1 Stanford by September 30.
1 -- Minnesota ranks first in the Big Ten with 17.05 digs per set. The second place team is Wisconsin at 15.43 dps. No other team is within 2.0 digs per set of the Golden Gophers. Opposing teams are hitting just .125 against the Gophers (2nd in the B1G)

LAST TIME OUT
• No. 16 Minnesota took down No. 7 Wisconsin in five sets (19-25, 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, 18-16) to begin Big Ten play 1-0 on Wednesday night. Lydia Grote paced Minnesota with 17 kills and 16 digs while Melani Shaffmaster posted her seventh double-double of the year with 47 assists and 10 digs. With the win, the Gophers improved to 54-38 all-time against UW, winning 12 of the past 16 in the series at the Pav.

GOPHERS WITH SEASON-BESTS WEDNESDAY VS. WISCONSIN
• Lydia Grote had 17 kills (season-best) with 16 digs (career-best) and three aces (tied season-best).
• Alex Acevedo tallied 12 kills and 12.5 points (both career-best).
• Melani Shaffmaster went for 47 assists (tied season-best).
• Calissa Minatee totaled 11 kills (tied career-best).
• Zeynep Palabiyik tied career-bests in both assists (6) and aces (2).

GOPHERS RANKED 16TH THIS WEEK
• The Gophers entered the 2024 season with a No. 18 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll.
• The Gophers have been ranked in the preseason poll in nine straight seasons and 23 of the last 25.
• Minnesota has been ranked all four weeks of the AVCA Top-25 poll in 2024.
• 18th was Minnesota's lowest preseason ranking since coming in at No. 22 in 2006. They came in at 16 on Sept. 23, moving up one spot from the No. 17 ranking last week.

SCOUTING PURDUE
• No. 10 Purdue is led by 23rd-year head coach Dave Shondell, who's led the Boilermakers to 18 NCAA Tournaments, including four Elite Eights, in his tenure. PU entered the 2024 season ranked No. 8 after making the Sweet 16 in 2023. This year, they are 9-3 (0-1 B1G) and enter Saturday's match on a three-match losing skid.
• Purdue was chosen to finish fourth in the B1G Preseason Coaches Poll and outsides Chloe Chicoine and Eva Hudson garnered All-Big Ten Preseason honors. Hudson was a 2023 AVCA Second Team All-American while Chicoine made the third team. Both were First Team All-Big Ten honorees.
• Hudson (4.27 kills per set) and Chicoine (3.41 kps) pace the offense while middle blocker Raven Colvin leads the defense with 1.90 blocks per set, which is the top mark in the Big Ten.

MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. PURDUE
• Minnesota is 57-35 all-time against Purdue. At home, Minnesota is 29-11, winning 20 of the past 22 in the series at Maturi Pavilion. Purdue is on a two-match winning streak in the series after winning both last year.
• The Boilermakers have won two of the last three matchups between the two teams at the Pav, winning 3-1 in both 2021 and 2023. Minnesota has won six of the last 10 matchups in the series, but PU has won four of the past five, dating back to the fall 2021 season.

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. 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 515 blocks. She ranks 11 th with 1.23 blocks per set. She ranks just seven behind Purdue's Raven Colvin for the No. 3 spot among active players.
• In 2024, Awoleye has tallied 3+ blocks in eight matches and 5+ blocks five times.

CONSISTENCY IN CONFERENCE PLAY
• Since 2012, Minnesota is 174-55 (.761) in B1G play, including 11 seasons over .500 in league play.
• In 10 of those seasons, the 'U' went 15-5 or better in B1G play, with the best being 19-1 in 2018.
• Last year was the first season since 2014 (9-11 Big Ten) that Minnesota will have won less than 15 of its conference matches. However, it clinched its ninth straight winning B1G season on Nov. 18 against Ohio State. Minnesota had won 15-or-more B1G bouts in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
• The Gophers won Big Ten titles in 2016 and 2018 and have finished either first, second or third in 10 of the last 11 seasons. The Gophers tied with Ohio State for third place in 2022. Minnesota took fifth in the conference in 2023 behind Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State and Purdue..

ACEVEDO AND THIBAULT PROVIDING BOOST FROM TRANSER PORTAL
• An Oregon transfer, Alex Acevedo made her collegiate debut on Sept. 6 at No. 23 Baylor. She went for 10 kills and seven in her first match. Another UO transfer, Kate Thibault, who's played in all 11 games, posted a career-high 14 digs vs. TCU.
• Acevedo posted a career-high four aces on Sept. 13 against Auburn, while Thibault posted her second 10+ dig match of the season on the same night. Thibault has three 10+ dig matches this season while Acevedo has posted four-or-more kills five times.
• Acevedo tallied a career-best 12 kills on Sept. 25 in a five set win over Wisconsin.

PALABIYIK PACES BACKCOURT
• Sophomore Turkish libero Zeynep Palabiyik got her feet wet as a true freshman but is taking the next step since 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.
• So far in 2024, Palabiyik holds 10+ digs in nine of 11 matches and 20+ in six matches.
• Palabiyik leads the Big Ten in digs per set (4.47) and 20+ dig matches (6). She ranks second in digs (192) and third in reception attempts (261).

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 76 for an average of just under seven per match. The Gophers rank sixth in the league in aces and 5th in aces per set (1.77).

UP NEXT
Minnesota travels to the West Coast to take on UCLA and No. 20 USC next Friday and Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Acevedo

Phoebe Awoleye

Lydia Grote

Calissa Minatee

Kylie Murr

Zeynep Palabiyik

Melani Shaffmaster

Kate Thibault