No. 8 Gophers Travel to Michigan For Road Trip

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Gophers (8-4, 3-1 Big Ten) are set for their second consecutive Big Ten weekend road trip as they travel to Michigan to take on the Wolverines (9-4, 2-2 Big Ten) on Friday night and the Michigan State Spartans (8-5, 1-3 Big Ten) on Saturday. Minnesota has won seven of its last eight matches since starting 1-3. Of their four losses, all of them came to currently ranked teams, including three top 10 teams.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Friday, Oct. 8
No. 8 Minnesota at Michigan | 8 p.m. CT | BTN
Crisler Center
Ann Arbor, Mich.
BTN Broadcasters: Connor Onion (play-by-play) and Emily Ehman (analyst)

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Saturday, Oct. 9
No. 8 Minnesota at Michigan State | 5:30 p.m. CT | B1G+
Jenison Field House
East Lansing, Mich.

GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST MICHIGAN AND MICHIGAN STATE
• All-time, Minnesota is 59-15 against Michigan. The 'U' has won eight in-a-row and 10 of the last 11 against the Wolverines, with the lone loss coming in 2014. Under coach McCutcheon, the Gophers are 11-2 against UM. The Gophers beat Michigan in five sets on Sept. 24.
• Minnesota is 57-19 all-time against Michigan State. They've won five straight and six of the last seven in the series, including two three set wins during the 2020-21 spring season. Under coach McCutcheon, the Gophers are 11-3 against MSU.

GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 135-38 (.780) 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 MICHIGAN
• The Wolverines (9-4. 2-2 Big Ten) hold conference wins over Michigan State and Iowa with their losses coming to Minnesota and Nebraska.
• UM is led by head coach Mark Rosen, who has won 650 matches during his historic coaching career. He's spent the last 23 years at Michigan, making the NCAA Tournament 18 times.
• Paige Jones leads the Wolverines and ranks ninth in the Big Ten in kills per set at 3.56. Hannah Grant ranks seventh in the conference in digs per set (3.98).

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
• Michigan State (8-5, 1-3 Big Ten) is led by 17th year head coach Cathy George, who has won 299 matches for the Green and White in addition to leading the program to three Sweet 16's and an Elite Eight.
• Seven of MSU's eight victories have come by 3-0 scores, and the eighth a 3-1 triumph against Central Michigan. Four of MSU's five losses are to either a ranked team (No. 13 BYU, No. 12 Nebraska) or a team receiving votes in the AVCA poll (Wright State, Michigan).
• Naya Gros ranks third in the Big Ten and eighth nationally with 1.62 blocks per set. Her 63 total blocks is third in the B1G and 59th among Division I players. She is hitting .320 and averaging 1.49 kills per frame.

SAMEDY AND WENAAS COMBINING AS LETHAL DUO
• Minnesota opposite Stephanie Samedy and outside Jenna Wenaas have combined for 355 of Minnesota's 605 kills (.586). They've reached double digit kills a combined 20 times this season while Samedy has hit the 20-kill mark in seven of 11 matches. Statistically, they're the top attacking duo in the Big Ten Conference (chart below).

TOP BIG TEN ATTACKING DUOS (BY % OF TEAM'S KILLS)
1. Samedy/Wenaas (MINN) - 355/605 (.586)
2. Courtney Buzzerio/Addie VanderWeide (Iowa) - 344/527 (.527)
3. Paige Jones/Jess Mruzik (MICH) - 320/620 (.519)
4. Caitlyn Newton/Grace Cleveland (PUR) - 300/586 (.512)
5. Sam Csire/Paula Neciporuka (UMD) - 353/689 (.512)
6. Temi Thomas-Ailara/Hanna Lesiak (NW) - 388/786 (.494)
7. Mady Saris/Breana Edwards (IND) - 363/741 (.489)

TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers rank second in the Big Ten and 60th nationally in digs per set (16.02). CC McGraw leads the team (4.50) while Samedy (3.42) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.58) are right around four and three per set, respectively.
• CC McGraw ranks seventh in the conference in digs (207) and fourth in digs per set (4.50).

BLOCK PARTY IN MINNESOTA
• The Gophers rank No. 4 in the Big Ten and No. 21 nationally in blocks with 122.5 as a team and 2.66 per set.
• Ellie Husemann ranks fourth in the conference with 1.40 blocks per set while Katie Myers is right behind her at 1.09. Samedy ranks third at 0.79 while Wenaas leads all outsides in blocks at 0.69 per set.

SAMEDY RANKS AMONG NCAA ACTIVE LEADERS, 2021 LEADERS
• Stephanie Samedy currently ranks eighth among NCAA active leaders in career kills (1,702), eighth in total attacks (4,451), 24th in matches played (126) and 55th in digs (1,274). She also ranks 20th in kills per set (3.76).
• In 2021, Samedy ranks sixth in the nation in points per set (5.58), sixth in kills per set (5.05) and fifth in attacks per set (12.89). She leads the Big Ten in each offensive category.

SHAFFMASTER SETS THE TABLE
• A rare 6-foot-3 setter, Melani Shaffmaster was spectacular as a freshman. The New Castle, Ind., native averaged 9.69 assists per set.
• The sophomore leads Minnesota with 469 assists in 2021, averaging 10.42 per set. She ranks No. 5 in the Big Ten in assists and already ranks No. 13 in program history (1,118).

WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota will head home to play Northwestern at the Pav on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. CT on BTN.

Make sure to follow the Golden Gophers Volleyball team on Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok @GopherVBall to catch up with the latest happenings in the program.

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Ellie Husemann

CC McGraw

Katie Myers

Stephanie Samedy

Melani Shaffmaster

Jenna Wenaas