The ‘Cats’ duo of first-year middle blockers also continued the impressive starts to their seasons. Hayley Schaaf hit .353 across the two matches en route to eight kills, while Maya Stillwell capped off her first weekend of Big Ten action with three kills on .429 hitting against the Bruins. The pair leads the Wildcats’ roster in attack percentage heading into the weekend, with Stillwell hitting .333 on the season and Schaaf hitting .328.
This will be the 88th all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Gophers, who have faced off in all but three seasons since they first met in 1976. Minnesota leads the series 67-20 and has won each of the last three meetings - one at home and two in Evanston.Â
Minnesota enters action against Northwestern ranked No. 20 in the AVCA/Taraflex poll after dropping its first two conference contests last weekend - a pair of 3-1 losses to Illinois and then-No. 20 Oregon. Despite the losses, the Gophers remain a high-powered offense, ranking 19th in the NCAA in aces, 16th in assists per set and 21st in hitting percentage. McKenna Wucherer has led the charge, entering play against Northwestern with a 4.97 kills-per-set average that ranks third in the nation and tops the Big Ten.
Next up for Northwestern will be an 8-4 Ohio State squad that defeated Iowa before falling to No. 1 Nebraska last weekend. The Huskers halted a six-match winning streak for the Buckeyes.
The ‘Cats are 20-61 all-time against Ohio State, dating back to their inaugural meeting in 1975. Northwestern won last year’s meeting in Columbus in four sets, while the Buckeyes took the four matches prior to that, dating back to 2021.
After this week’s matches, the ‘Cats will head back on the road for a pair of matches on the East Coast. Northwestern will first visit No. 16 Penn State next Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT, then travel to College Park to face Maryland at 6 p.m. CT in the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday. Both matches will be streamed on B1G+.
