Minnesota Hosts Indiana for Sunday Matinee

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 12 Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-5, 5-2 Big Ten) are in the midst of a four-match home stand as they get set to host the Indiana Hoosiers (8-11, 2-5 BIg Ten) on Sunday. This will be their first meeting since the 2019 season. Minnesota has won nine of its last 11 matches since starting 1-3. First serve is set for 2 p.m. Central time and B1G+ will provide television coverage.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Sunday, Oct. 17
No. 12 Minnesota vs. Indiana | 2 p.m. CT | B1G+
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
B1G+ Broadcasters: Johnny Kahner (play-by-play) and Sloane Martin (analyst)

LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 12 University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated the Northwestern Wildcats in three sets, 25-20, 25-10, 25-14, on Wednesday evening.
• The Golden Gophers (10-5, 5-2 Big Ten) were led by redshirt senior opposite Stephanie Samedy, who registered 10 kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Airi Miyabe had a team-high 11 kills while Shea Rubright had five kills and six blocks for the maroon and gold.
• As a team, Minnesota hit .318 with 38 kills, four aces, 43 digs and 11 blocks.

GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST INDIANA
• Minnesota is 58-16 all-time against Indiana, including a 12-1 mark under Hugh McCutcheon. The lone loss came in 2014, a four set loss. The Gophers have won nine in-a-row in the series, taking eight of the contests in three sets. They last played on Sept. 27, 2019 (25-11, 25-10, 25-11).

GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 137-39 (.778) in Big Ten competition. In his nine seasons prior to 2021, the Gophers have had eight seasons above .500 in conference play. In all eight of those seasons, the 'U' went 15-5 or better in conference play, with the best being 19-1 in 2018.
• The Gophers won Big Ten titles in 2016 and 2018 and have finished either first, second or third in eight of the last nine seasons.

SCOUTING INDIANA
• Indiana (8-11, 2-5 Big Ten) holds conference wins over MSU and Rutgers while dropping matches to Maryland, Nebraska, Purdue, Ohio State and Penn State.
• The Hoosiers took Penn State to four sets on Oct. 2 in Bloomington and nearly took it to five, falling 25-22 in the fourth set. IU is led by head coach Steve Aird, who's in his fourth year in charge.
• Paula Cerame ranks fifth in the Big Ten in digs per set (4.30) while Kaley Rammelsburg ranks seventh in the conference in hitting percentage (.385).

SAMEDY AND WENAAS COMBINING AS LETHAL DUO
• Minnesota opposite Stephanie Samedy and outside Jenna Wenaas have combined for 434 of Minnesota's 767 kills (.565). They've reached double digit kills a combined 25 times this season while Samedy has hit the 20-kill mark in seven of 14 matches. Statistically, they're the top attacking duo in the Big Ten Conference

TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 53rd nationally in digs per set (16.09). CC McGraw leads the team (4.47) while Samedy (3.51) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.67) are right around four and three per set, respectively.
• CC McGraw ranks fifth in the conference in digs (259) and fourth in digs per set (4.47).

BLOCK PARTY IN MINNESOTA
• The Gophers rank No. 4 in the Big Ten and No. 31 nationally in blocks with 150.5 as a team and 2.59 per set.
• Ellie Husemann ranks tenth in the conference with 1.26 blocks per set while Katie Myers is right behind her at 1.11. Shea Rubright ranks third at 0.83 while Samedy has 0.76.

GOPHERS WINNING BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Stephanie Samedy won her first ever B1G Defensive Player of the Week award Oct. 11. She had a season-high 22 digs Friday at Michigan. She also had 12 digs Saturday and posted double doubles twice this weekend.
• Wenaas became the third Gopher to win a weekly conference award on Sept. 20 when she was named player of the week, her first weekly honor from the league. She had 28 kills, 19 digs and eight blocks total.
• Minnesota seniors CC McGraw and Stephanie Samedy were named Big Ten Defensive Player and Big Ten Player of the Week on Sept. 13. McGraw spearheaded strong defensive efforts for Minnesota in two victories this weekend over top-15 teams. It was her third career defensive player of the week honor.
• Samedy notched her second player of the week honor in three weeks on Sept. 27 after she tallied 30 kills and 17 digs vs. Michigan and 11 kills/14 digs Sunday vs. Maryland. It was her tenth career Big Ten POW honor.

GOPHERS RANKING HIGHLY IN ATTENDANCE AT THE PAV
• No conference in the country has proven to be a better draw than the Big Ten, with 10 conference programs ranked in the top 25 in the latest NCAA attendance rankings through Sunday's matches, including the top three and seven of the top 15 in the nation. Nebraska remains No. 1 (8,148 fans per match), with Wisconsin second (7,540) and Minnesota third (5,151).
• Of the 19 highest-attended NCAA Division I volleyball matches this season, all 19 featured a Big Ten school. Five were hosted by Minnesota.

WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota will host No. 15 Penn State (12-4, 4-2 Big Ten) and No. 7 Ohio State (14-2, 4-2 Big Ten) on Friday, Oct. 22 and Sunday, Oct 24 at the Pav.

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Players Mentioned

Ellie Husemann

CC McGraw

Airi Miyabe

Katie Myers

Shea Rubright

Stephanie Samedy

Melani Shaffmaster

Jenna Wenaas