The Gophers and their Four All-Big Ten players will try to keep their season alive
The Minnesota Gophers will look to extend their season a bit longer when they kick off the NCAA Tournament Thursday afternoon in Lexington Kentucky. The Gophers who received the #6 seed in the Pittsburgh Region will face Western Kentucky at 3:30 PM on Thursday with the winner advancing to face the winner of #3 Kentucky and Cleveland State Friday night for a trip to the Sweet 16.
Minnesota was hoping to receive a top 16 national seed when the pairings were announced on Sunday and earn at least one more home match at Maturi Pavillion. Unfortunately, Minnesota’s RPI slipped as they faced some of the weaker teams in the conference to end the season and this the Gophers will head to the road. Minnesota will look to continue their NCAA Tournament success in opening round matches. This is the 29th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and the 10th straight. In opening round matches Minnesota is 27-1. The Gophers have won 15 straight first round matches, dating back to 2007 (3-1 loss vs. Sacramento State). If the Gophers were to advance, they are fairly good in the second round as well with a program record of 20-7. The Gophers all-time record in NCAA Tournaments is 62-28. Minnesota has made the Final Four six times (2003, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2019).
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers enter the season as the Conference USA Auto bid winners. They finished the regular season with a 28-6 record and were a perfect 18-0 in CUSA play. In fact the Hilltoppers have won five straight conference titles going a perfect 68-0 in CUSA play. They will not be an easy out for the Gophers as they are a battle tested team and have won at least one NCAA Tournament match in five straight seasons. But the Hilltoppers have not faired well against ranked teams this season. They’re 0-3 vs. top-25 teams with losses to #9 Kentucky (3-1) #16 Tennessee (3-2), and #24 Dayton (3-0). In common opponents the Hilltoppers also lost to both Michigan State and Illinois this season, two teams the Gophers went 2-0 against sweeping the Spartans 3-0 and defeating the Illini 3-1. WKU is led by Conference USA Player of the Year Kaylee Cox, who led the team with 3.72 kills and 2.66 digs per set. Callie Bauer, who averages nearly 11 assists per set, was named Setter of the Year. Kenadee Coyle and Izzy Van De Wiele both received First Team All-Conference USA honors as well. Minnesota is 1-0 all time against the Hilltoppers with a win in 1984.
Minnesota will be bringing some new individual hardware with them to Kentucky as the Big Ten awards were announced on Monday. A trio of Gophers make the First Team All-Big Ten with graduate students Lydia Grote and Melanie Shaffmaster joined by junior Julia Hansen.
Hansen is on a roll as of late and was named both the Big Ten and National Player of the Week for her performance last weekend where she recorded 6.44 points, 5.63 kills, 2.00 digs, 0.63 blocks and 0.13 assists per set. In last Wednesday’s match at Illinois, Hanson had 22 kills (.283) with seven digs, three blocks and an ace. Friday against Ohio State she went for 23 kills (.400) with nine digs, two blocks and three aces. She was a unanimous nomniee to the first time after recording double-digit kills in 25 of 30 matches, including seven 20+ kill matches. She led the Gophers with 4.61 points and 4.05 kills per set.
Shaffmaster earned her third consecutive postseason honor from the Big Ten. Melanie averaged 9.27 assists, 0.96 kills, 2.76 digs, 0.64 blocks and 0.21 aces per set in 2024, tallying 16 double-doubles. Grote earned her second career postseason honor after being Second Team All-Big Ten a season ago. She ranked second on the team with 3.63 points and 2.88 kills per set while leading the ‘U’ with 0.33 aces per set.
Minnesota also added middle blocker Phoebe Awoleye to the Second Team All-Big Ten. She led the Big Ten with 1.64 blocks per set in conference play, tallying 125 blocks. No other Big Ten player was within 25 blocks of her in league competition. For the season, she recorded 1.50 blocks per set, a figure that ranks No. 4 all-time for a single season at Minnesota and put her in the top-15 nationally this year.
Thursday’s match will begin at 3:30 and will stream live on ESPN+.