The #19 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team closes out the road portion of their regular season schedule this weekend when they head to the East Coast for a pair of matches at Maryland and Rutgers. Both the Terrapins and Scarlet Knights have been overmatched in the Big Ten this season with Maryland entering Friday’s match against Minnesota with an 8-18 overall record and just a 1-15 conference record. Rutgers is not much better at 11-17 and just 2-14 in Big Ten play. But the Gophers can
not afford to overlook what should be a pair of easy wins as the last time they made this road trip in 2023 they would lose both matches.
Minnesota enters the final stretch of the Big Ten regular season with a 19-8 overall record and a 9-7 Big Ten record. With four games left in the conference schedule Minnesota is currently in a four-way tie for 6th place in the Big Ten standings with Penn State, Michigan and UCLA. The more important number is the Gophers RPI rankings which still sees them at #14 headed into the weekend. Minnesota is still very much in the hunt to potentially host a first and second round bracket of the NCAA Tournament at The Pav in two weekends. But for that to happen, there can be no slipups this weekend against the #176 and #178 ranked teams in the RPI.
The Gophers have been riding senior Julia Hansen down the stretch. This year, she leads the team and ranks in the top five in the Big Ten in kills (4.12, 4th) and points (4.77, 4th) per set. Her 444.0 total points put her at fourth in the conference and 63rd nationally. In her last nine matches, Julia is averaging 4.53 kills, 1.67 digs, 0.31 aces, 0.78 blocks and 5.32 points per set in those matches, hitting .326.
Last weekend Minnesota got some help from freshman middle blocker Jordan Taylor. She was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 2.13 blocks, 1.00 kills and 2.13 points per set in the wins over Penn State and Iowa. She went for five kills on .400 hitting with six blocks (one solo) in a sweep over Penn State on Friday. She followed that up with a career-high 11 blocks with three kills (.333) at Iowa. This season, Taylor ranks seventh in the Big Ten and leads all freshmen with 1.24 blocks per set.
Minnesota comes in on a two-match winning streak after sweeping then #24 Penn State 3-0 at The Pav last Friday before eeking out a 3-2 win at Iowa on Sunday afternoon. The win over the Hawkeyes continues a winning streak that extends back to 1995.
Minnesota lost in 2023 to Maryland for the first time in school history, but has otherwise dominated the Terrapins going 19-1 all-time over Maryland. Since Maryland joined the Big Ten the Gophers are 16-1 and have swept the Terrapins 13 of those 16 wis. The Terp’s lone Big Ten this season win came against Rutgers in October. Ajack Malual leads the Terps with 3.52 kills per set (kps), while Duru Gokcen averages 1.22 blocks per set (bps), a figure that puts her in the top-10 of the Big Ten. Ally Williams holds a team-best 3.04 digs per set (dps).
Minnesota also lost to Rutgers in 2023 but similarly has dominated the rest of the series going 13-3 all-time with 12 of the 13 wins coming via a 3-0 sweep including a win at the Pav in September. Rutgers pair of Big Ten wins have come against Maryland and Ohio State. Aspen Maxwell paces the Scarlet Knights with 3.46 kps while Lily Bolen holds 9.94 assists per set (aps). Defensively, Zora Hardison goes for 1.06 bps. Alleigh Dutton registers 3.16 dps.
Friday’s match at Maryland is set for a 6 PM Central start and will stream on B1G+. Sunday’s match at Rutgers will be a 3:30 PM Central start and will air on Big Ten Network. Minnesota returns home next week to close out the regular season with a pair of tough matches against ranked opponents they have allready lost to on the road this season in #11 Purdue and #10 Wisconsin.
