Well everyone, it’s just me tonight, and it’s been a while since we’ve even had a home match to cover, and even longer since you only had to read my thoughts. So bear with us, and I promise to have Krista Chin back for tomorrow’s Illinois game.

**Special Treat tonight, Tony Morimoto, our Daily photographer is going to be working with me to try and upload some pics to the blog in-game… stay tuned, it could be a historic night!**

The Gophers look happy to be home, with smiles and chatter all around during warmups. Personally, I’m just hoping Christine Tan and Brook Dieter don’t drill me with a ball, as they are warming up near the media area here.

Minnesota is coming in on a 3-match losing streak, dropping matches to No. 20 Michigan, No. 1 Penn State and unranked Indiana on the road over the last few weeks.

Purdue, meanwhile, is coming off of a five-set win over Michigan at home in comeback style, winning the final three sets after dropping the first two.

The Boilermakers and Gophers have identical conference records, and enter tonight tied for third in the conference.

On an injury note, coach Mike Hebert told us earlier this week that Lauren Gibbemeyer and Kelly Schmidt may not be available for practice due to injury, and as the Gophers began to warm up, it was backup middle blocker Ariana Filho who started in that position. All three took swings, but we could see time from Filho tonight.

Around the league: Penn State still leads the conference, and has yet to drop a set this year. They defeated Indiana 25-13, 25-14, 25-22 in the mid-week match Wednesday, and defeated Michigan State tonight, 25-20, 25-11, 25-18.

Also in the Big Ten, No. 20 Michigan leads Northwestern 2-0 at Michigan, 25-21, 25-21.

MINNESOTA STARTING LINEUP

MB: Lauren Gibbemeyer
OH: Brook Dieter
MB: Kelly Schmidt
S: Rachel Hartmann
OH: Pamela Luiz
OH: Kyla Roehrig
L: Christine Tan