The Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team heads to Indiana this weekend for a pair of games against ranked opponents. The #20 ranked Gophers will face #23 Indiana in Bloomington on Friday night before
heading northwestward to face #11 Purdue on Sunday afternoon. It will be just the second and third ranked opponents that Minnesota has faced this season after a season opening loss to #9 Texas A&M in Sioux Falls.
The Gophers continue on the road after a Pacific Northwest split last weekend. The Gophers fell 3-1 to Oregon in Eugene on Friday before picking up a 3-1 win on Saturday in Seattle against Washington. With eight of 20 Big Ten games completed the Gophers sit in a tie for 6th place in the Big Ten at 5-3 with both Michigan State and Penn State.
The Gophers will look to continue their historical dominance over Indiana when the two teams meet on Friday. Minnesota is 63-16 all-time against the Hoosiers and have won 19 of their last 20 against Indiana. The Hoosiers last win in the series was 2014. Indiana is looking to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 and is off to one of the best starts in school history. They currently are 15-3 and 6-2 in the Big Ten and have wins over #14 Miami, #17 USC, and #24 UCLA this season. Friday night’s match will be the first match to feature two ranked opponents in Bloomington since 1997! Indiana ranks in the top three of the B1G in hitting percentage (.292) and are led offensively by opposite Avry Tatum (3.37 kps) and setter Teodora Kričković (10.75 aps).
Sunday the Gophers head to West Lafayette to face #11 Purdue. Minnesota leads the all-time series over the Boilermakers 57-36, but Purdue has dominated the Gophers in recent seasons having won three in a row and five of the last six. The Boilermakers are also 15-3 over all and 6-2 in conference play and have five ranked wins this season over #15 Kansas, #10 SMU, #24 UCLA, #17 USC and #22 Indiana this season. Kenna Wollard (4.66 kps) leads the team in kills while setter Taylor Anderson (10.56 aps) runs the offense.
Gopher middle blocker Lourdes Meyers will make her return to West Lafayette after transferring to Minnesota from Purdue this summer. She is leading the Minnesota middles this season averaging 1.85 kills and 1.18 blocks per set. She ranks 11th in the Big Ten with 72 total blocks. She is coming off of her best match of her season on Saturday at Washington, going for 12 kills and a career-high nine blocks.
Friday’s match against Indiana will start at 5 PM and will air on Big Ten Network. Sunday’s match at Purdue will begin at Noon and will stream on B1G+.
