Minnesota Volleyball: Indiana and Purdue Preview

Minnesota got a little scare last weekend as Michigan State gave them a fight over five sets. Sparty has had the Gophers number over the last few seasons and this weekend they’ll face Purdue who split the series with the Gophers last season.

Friday will be Senior Night for the Gophers as they face IU at 7:00. Saturday at 7:30 the Gophers will take on Purdue; both matches will be on BTN+.

Michigan State gave Minnesota all they could ask for and more as they forced the Gophers to their first fifth set of the season last weekend. We won’t likely see another fifth set this weekend but IU and Purdue are going to give it their best shot. Indiana has knocked off Michigan this season and Purdue won in Happy Valley. As long as Minnesota can get back to passing well they should have little trouble picking up both wins this weekend.

Key Players

class, height, position, # name, stats, (statistical rank in the Big Ten) **stats from conference play**

Positions: MB- middle blocker, OH- outside hitter, RS- right side hitter, DS- defensive specialist, L- libero, S- setter

Stats: K/S- kills/set, B/S- blocks/set, D/S- digs/set. .000- hitting percentage, A/S- assists/set SA/S- service aces/set

So. 5’6 DS 2 Lauren Barnes- 3.04 D/S, 0.32 SA/S (7)

Fr. 5’9 L 7 CC McGraw- 4.36 D/S (6)

So. 6’2 RS 10 Stephanie Samedy- 3.4 K/S (9), .295 (13), 3.04 D/S

Jr. 6’0 MB 12 Taylor Morgan- 2.77 K/S, .386 (4), 1.04 B/S (10)

Sr. 5’11 S 13 Samantha Seliger-Swenson- 12.36 A/S (1), 2.64 D/S, 0.38 SA/S (2)

Jr. 6’0 OH 19 Alexis Hart- 3.21 K/S (13), .270 (12)

Fr. 6’0 OH 20 Adanna Rollins- 3.09 K/S (15), 2.81 D/S

So. 6’5 MB 21 Regan Pittman- 2.34 K/S, .384 (5), 1.17 B/S (6)

Indiana

Steven Aird’s squad passes well and competes hard but the Hoosiers (15-10, 6-8) are a couple of recruiting classes away from being a factor in the Big Ten race.

Key Players

Jr. 6’0 S 1 Victoria Brisack- 5.63 A/S (14)

Jr. 6’1 MB 2 Hayden Huybers- .344 (7), 0.87 B/S

So. 5’7 L 4 Bayli Lebo- 4.28 D/S (7)

Fr. 6’2 OH 11 Breana Edwards- 2.76 K/S

Jr. 6’2 MB 16 Deyshia Lofton- 2.31 K/S, .313 (10) , 1.0 B/S (12)

Fr. 5’10 S 18 Abigail Westenhofer- 4.52 A/S (15)

So. 6’0 OH 22 Kamryn Malloy- 2.04 K/S, 2.39 D/S, 0.27 SA/S

Purdue

The Boilers (21-4, 10-4) have some great pieces but they struggle to put them all together at times. Sherridan Atkinson is the unquestioned leader for Purdue and was key in the win over Penn State hitting over .500 tallying 32 kills. Minnesota survived that the other night from Wisconsin’s Dana Rettke. Purdue though has a better supporting cast offensively although they don’t pass as well as the Badgers. This game will come down to serving. If Purdue dials up the pressure and Minnesota struggles we could see what we saw last Saturday. But if Minnesota controls the serve-pass battle and force Purdue to play out of system often this could be a quick match.

Key Players

Rs Fr. 5’10 S 2 Hayley Bush- 11.23 A/S (4)

Sr. 5’9 DS 3 Brooke Peters- 4.13 D/S (9), 0.27 SA/S

So. 6’1 OH 4 Caitlyn Newton- 2.84 K/S, .274

Fr. 5’7 DS 10 Marissa Hornung- 2.52 D/S, 0.27 SA/S

Sr. 6’5 OH/RS 16 Sherridan Atkinson- 3.95 K/S (5), .301 (11), 0.32 SA/S (6)

Jr. 6’2 M 17 Blake Mohler- 2.39 K/S, .321 (8), 1.07 B/S (9)

Fr. 6’3 MB/OH 20 Grace Cleveland- 2.55 K/S, 0.93 B/S

Big Ten Standings

AVCA Rankings

1. BYU (52)
2. Stanford (12)
3. Minnesota
4. Illinois
5. Texas
6. Nebraska
7. Penn State
8. Wisconsin
9. Creighton
10. Pittsburgh

12. Purdue

15. Michigan

RPI Rankings

1. Stanford
2. Illinois
3. BYU
4. Minnesota
5. Texas

7. Wisconsin

12. Purdue

13. Michigan

14. Nebraska

17. Penn State

56. Northwestern

57. Indiana

65. Maryland

71. Ohio State

73. Iowa

79. Michigan State

210. Rutgers

NCAA Committee Rankings

1. BYU
2. Stanford
3. Minnesota
4. Illinois
5. Wisconsin
6. Texas
7. USC
8. Penn State
9. Nebraska
10. Creighton