Michigan to Take to Road to Face No. 13 Minnesota, No. 1 Wisconsin

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team (2-9) will face off against two ranked teams on the road this week starting with No. 13 Minnesota on Friday (Sept. 29) at 6 p.m. CDT in Minneapolis before facing off against No. 1 Wisconsin in Madison on Sunday (Oct. 1) at 1 p.m. CDT. Both matches will be streamed live on B1G+.

Notes

• Michigan (2-9, 0-2 Big Ten) enters the weekend after losing its first two matches of the conference season last week. The Wolverines fell to Michigan State in straight sets at Crisler Center in front of a crowd of 6,569 -- the second-largest attendance in program history. U-M then traveled to Maryland and fell 3-0 to the Terps. The Maize and Blue has had a formidable early-season schedule, ranking 30th overall in opponent cumulative win percentage at .632 and an 84-49 overall record.

• Head coach Erin Virtue returns to Ann Arbor after spending the last two weeks in Poland with Team USA as an assistant coach. In Poland, the U.S. topped its group with a 6-1 record and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Director of operations Coley Pawlikowski also returns from Poland, where she served as team manager for Team USA.

• In the conference, Michigan ranks in the top five in four categories - aces per set (second, 2.00), team attacks per set (second, 34), digs per set (third, 14.08) and team service aces (fourth, 80). The Wolverines trail only Iowa in both attacks and digs per set.

• Kendall Murray has had a strong start to her senior year and leads the Wolverines in kills, aces and digs. Murray has 108 kills so far on the season with a 2.70 per-set average, good for 18th in the conference. Murray is already 60 percent of the way to reaching her total from last year of 183 in just 40 percent of the matches played. She also has tallied 19 service aces for a new career high and is fifth in the conference with 0.48 aces per set. Murray also is leading the team in digs (108) and needs just 36 more to set a new career high.

• Jacque Boney is second on the team in kills with 84 and first in blocks with 31 (six solo, 25 assists). She ranks 23rd in the Big Ten in blocks per set with a 0.91 and is 10th in the conference in hitting percentage (.356.) She also is ranked 25th in the Big Ten in kills per set at 2.47.

• So far this season, three freshmen have made an impact for the Wolverines in Valentina Vaulet, Lydia Johnson, and Morgan Burke. Vaulet is third on the team in kills with 80 and has seven aces so far. Johnson has 41 kills and 11 service aces and ranks third in the conference and 61st nationally in aces per set with 0.48. Burke has 79 assists on the season and has become the second setter in Michigan's 6-2 system.

• Minnesota has started the season 5-5 and 1-1 in the conference. All five losses have come at the hands of ranked teams, with two of the Gophers' wins coming against ranked opponents. Michigan is 17-59 in the all-time series against Minnesota, with the last U-M win coming in a five-set home match in 2021. The last time Michigan won in Minneapolis was a sweep on Nov. 13, 2011. The Gophers are ranked 13th in the nation and Michigan is 10-31 overall when facing a ranked Minnesota team. The last time U-M faced the Gophers while ranked 13th was 1989 -- a five-set win in Ann Arbor.

• Top-ranked Wisconsin is 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten to start the season. Michigan is 21-62 all-time against the Badgers, with U-M's last win coming on Nov. 4, 2018, in a four-set match in Madison. When the Badgers are ranked, U-M is 3-34 against them and 0-3 with the Badgers ranked No. 1.