LEXINGTON, Ky. – Julia Hanson had 13 kills and Lydia Grote added 12 as Minnesota beat Western Kentucky in four sets (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23) in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Thursday night inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Melani Shaffmaster had 29 assists and 15 digs for the Golden Gophers, while Zeynep Palabiyik had 18 digs for Minnesota.
In set one, WKU grabbed and early lead, 6-4, but the teams played evenly early. The Hilltoppers led 20-18 but Minnesota closed the set with a 7-2 run to claim the set 25-22.
The second set was tight early, but the Golden Gophers went on a 6-0 scoring run to take an 11-5 lead. From there, Minnesota was able to cruise to a 25-20 set victory.
Western Kentucky jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in set three. With WKU leading 5-4, Minnesota went on a 4-0 run to take the lead 8-5. The set would remain close, and the teams were tied at 18-18 when WKU made its run. The Hilltoppers outscored the Golden Gophers 7-1 down the stretch to claim the third set 25-19.
WKU looked to be in control of the fourth set, leading 19-14. However, Minnesota would go on a 10-4 run to close the set, winning 25-23 and claiming the match.
With the win, Minnesota advances to Friday’s second-round match, where they will face the winner of Thursday’s second match between Kentucky and Cleveland State. That match is set for a 7 p.m. ET first serve and it can be seen on ESPN Plus.
NCAA REGIONAL POSTGAME QUOTES
MINNESOTA VS. WKU
HISTORIC MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
DECEMBER 5, 2024
WKU QUOTES
WKU Head Coach Travis Hudson
Opening Statement…
“Well, this is, man, this is one of those once every couple year matches where you pick up a box score afterwards. You know, we out-hit Minnesota, we out-blocked Minnesota, we out-dug Minnesota, and still found our way to the bottom of the score. It sure doesn’t happen very often in our sport, but it happened today. You know serving obviously is going to be a big question. I’m with you on that. I mean, serving is the area you’ve got to attack Minnesota, and we just, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know if we talked about it too much or what we did, but we just weren’t good from the service line, clearly. You know, the fact that we did that from the service line, and still, you know, we’re in a position to win the match. I think It says what this team turned into, because we weren’t that early in the year and we turned into a team that I think, if you watched and you know anything about volleyball, you realize we can really play.”
On the fourth set…
“You know, I mean we were really in control of the first and the fourth sets. They played to 25 and you know, Minnesota, I’m not surprised Minnesota fought their way back in. I mean, Minnesota, when you’re in the Big 10 you’re tested every night. You know you’re not going to rock them to the point where they stop playing. So I wasn’t surprised they were closing. To be honest, I like how we played down the stretch of that fourth set, I thought we continued to make plays. I felt good. I fully expected to be in a fifth set. They closed it all the way back, and then we called a time out, and then we jumped back up to a two point lead. I’m very comfortable. I mean, everything we were doing was starting to work, offensively. So it was just, it was just a certain, I hate to keep coming back to serve and pass, but it was a certain pass battle. They came out of that timeout and they aced us, and then had another one that hit and crawled over. Look, I won’t lose a lot of sleep over this one. I thought we did the things we needed to do to win. It shows in the in the stat sheet, with the exception of first, you know, having that ball in our hand from the service line.”
#8 Kaylee Cox, OH
On the slow start …
“I honestly don’t really know, I was just going out there and playing my hardest. And sometimes it just doesn’t go the way that you want it to. And I’m very proud of myself for fighting out of that hole, though. It’s hard whenever you’re getting into those matches and you start off slow to dig yourself out of that. So I’m proud of myself for getting out of that hole.”
On fighting through adversity all year getting to this point…
“We’ve had a great support system too. We’ve had many people come on the road with us that typically don’t come on the road. And so having that huge support system from everybody around Bowling Green and Western has been huge for our success and just sticking together and being player led too.”
#33 Kenadee Coyle, RS
On fighting through adversity all year getting to this point…
“Having both of your head coaches go down right before you go down to UTEP, not the best, but before they even got hurt, Travis always says he likes it when it’s us against the world. And we kind of took that and decided that this was how we were going to finish out season. Twelve of us and the four coaches we have that it was going to be us against the world no matter where we went. I think banding together and just leaning on each other in every hard moment is the only way that you can get through stuff like that.
MINNESOTA QUOTES
Minnesota Head Coach Keegan Cook
Opening statement…
“First and foremost, congratulations to Western Kentucky. A program that plays things at the highest level, I thought they looked like they normally do, talented offensive team, can put some service pressure on you as well. I thought they were good, I thought they were better than us for long stretches. I am not surprised, I think Travis does an incredible job with his program, and I think a lot of young coaches should look at how he does things on and off the court and model what they do around him. I’ve watched him for a long time, so feeling fortunate to get to coach my team another night. But, certainly as dissatisfied as I could be with an NCAA win, these guys know that and I feel fortunate I can tell them that. They are mature enough to handle it, and they’ll be ready for tomorrow against the winner of the next match. Tonight to see our serve and pass to get us through, that has been a trouble for us so to be better in that phase of the game, it took a lot of work and had to be the thing to carry us through a really difficult match. Again, congratulations to Western Kentucky, good job by these guys. Mckenna, nice job serving late, when she hasn’t had a lot of chances to this season. A pretty cool moment for her and us. Good job Mel, leading us through a tough one.”
On Western Kentucky’s playing ability…
“Yeah, we got out blocked tonight which is something we are not used to. Most nights we are leading in that category. The speed negated our length at times, and we have a good offense with their middles, which is something you don’t see every day but something they practice every day. There were some big moments at the end where there were a couple of key blocks, but on the whole I thought they did things that they do offensively which makes them difficult and I thought we had some people in their first tournament game who had nerves and didn’t look totally like themselves but now that out of the way I expect a better version of them tomorrow.”
#5 Melani Shaffmaster, S
On closing out after losing third set…
“For the most part, they went on a really big run. We got stuck in row one. I think we just kinda laid down is my impression of what happened. Coach talked to us when we switched sides heading into the fourth set. At the end of the day, we can’t get stuck in rotation for eight points so, finding ways to score different, having different people come in and out. I think that’s the good thing about our team is we have a lot of people that can come in-and-out and play pretty well so, just figuring out the right combinations that we needed for this particular moment or game. I think we kinda figured it out there in four, then it got a little scary, but Mckenna saved us but yeah just figuring out ways to score because they’re a good blocking team, really good defensive team.”
On how the BIG 10 competition prepares them…
“I agree. I was talking to someone a couple days before we left about it. I just think volleyball is growing in the BIG 10 since we added the new teams. With the attendance and the fans that show up to watch good volleyball is super enjoyable. So, we get to play in front of, I think, almost 5500 people every single night were at the PAV, and when we travel, it’s just as many people. It’s a super good environment for whoever just wants to watch good volleyball. I think that helps us get prepared for away venues that might be rougher than playing in the PAV. But yeah, I think every night’s a battle if we’re at Rutgers or at Wisconsin I think it’s anyone’s game.”
#3 Mckenna Wucherer, OH
On how the BIG 10 competition prepares them…
“Yeah, every game in the BIG 10, you have to bring your best. There’s no games where you can take the night off so, even in practice when we’re just playing 6-on-6, both sides bring it every single day. All of our players show up every single day. So, we’re getting challenged day-in and day-out and that prepares us for the biggest moments, especially here on the NCAA stage.”
