What happened?

After playing seven of their first 10 matches away from home, the No. 16 Gophers were anticipating a big-time opening Big Ten match Wednesday night against No. 7 Wisconsin in front of a sellout crowd at Maturi Pavilion.

It lived up to the hype. The atmosphere was electric. The volleyball was played at a championship level.

The Gophers picked up their first win in the series since 2022 with the 19-25, 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, 18-16 upset.

Students lined up around the block decked in gold to pack the arena seats filled with gold pom poms. Athletes from other teams came to show support in force.

Drawing from the crowd's energy, the Gophers sent the match into a fifth set for the fifth time this season. They hadn't won in that fashion since the upset vs. No. 1 Texas but persevered to get a seventh straight win.

"Just unforgettable," Gophers coach Keegan Cook said. "Felt a lot of gratitude to be here. It's nice to give back to this community that stood by us through a tough year last year. The kids who stayed and the staff continue to move this thing in the right direction."

BOXSCORE: Gophers 3, Wisconsin 2

Senior Lydia Grote came alive with a season-high 17 kills and a career-high 16 digs to lead four players in double digit kills. Junior Julia Hanson kept up the best season of her career with 15 kills. Redshirt freshman Alex Acevedo recorded a career-high 12 kills in place of the team's second-leading hitter Mckenna Wucherer, who was nursing an injury.

Despite facing a significant height disadvantage with Wisconsin's frontline that went 6-9, 6-7 and 6-4, the Gophers still finished with nine blocks and hit .250 in the match.

After a 21-kill performance in last year's three-set win against the Gophers in Madison, NCAA Player of the Year Sarah Franklin matched that total again to lead the Badgers, but they weren't able to answer the Gophers offensively for most of the night.

Turning point

The Gophers displayed arguably their two most dominant sets against ranked opponents by beating the Badgers by 10 points in both the second and fourth sets. They twice had scoring runs of five straight points in the second set. In the third set, junior Lauren Crowl served up an ace to seal the victory with Minnesota's sixth straight point. Five different players scored during that stretch, including Hanson and Calissa Minatee, who also tied her career-high with 11 kills in the match. Libero Zeynep Palabiyik finished with 24 digs, including several clutch defensive plays in those key sets.

What does it mean?

Cook purposefully challenged the Gophers with a grueling nonconference schedule to prepare them for the Big Ten, with four teams added from the Pac-12. After the upset vs. No. 1 Texas, Cook's team dropped two straight matches but bounced back to win six in a row, including the last home match vs. Auburn. Facing top 10 teams Wisconsin and Purdue at home to start conference play wasn't any tougher than playing Stanford, Texas, Baylor, and TCU in non-league action. The Gophers were 2-11 vs. ranked opponents in 2023. They improved to 2-2 already this year after Wednesday's win vs. Wisconsin.

MVP?

Grote, who transferred from California last year, showed why she had a career-high 28 kills in a Pac-12 match two years ago. The All-Big Ten outside hitter last season was overshadowed by Hanson's breakout start to 2024, but she delivered when the Gophers needed it most Wednesday night. After a rough opening set, Grote responded with a team-best six kills in the critical second set win. Her best match this season before Wednesday was 15 kills vs. Baylor.

"That was pretty special," Grote said. "I don't think there's going to be one much like that in the rest of my career in college, pro or wherever life takes me. We worked so hard for that moment. Just to finally get there and celebrate with each other is an amazing feeling."

Up next

The Gophers play No. 10 Purdue at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Maturi Pavilion. The Boilermakers swept them last season, including 3-1 in Minneapolis. The last time the Gophers defeated back-to-back top 10 teams was during the 2022 season against Ohio State and Nebraska on the road.