University of Minnesota Athletics
Thursday, November 11
Iowa City, IA
6:00 PM
University of Minnesota
at
Iowa
Players Mentioned
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/ Volleyball
Middle Blocker
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Gophers Travel to Iowa for Thursday Night Matchup
11/10/2021 5:54:00 PM | Volleyball
Minnesota is 81-11 all-time vs. Iowa
MINNEAPOLIS --Â The No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-6, 11-3 Big Ten) have gone 15-3 since starting the season 1-3. Minnesota is on a five match winning streak, including three top-10 wins against No. 6 Nebraska (3-2) and then Ohio State twice (3-1). The 'U' took down No. 25 Illinois Saturday night for their fourth straight top-25 ranked win. On Thursday night, they'll be in Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes (4-20, 2-12 Big Ten). Minnesota has won 47 straight matches against the Hawkeyes dating back to 1995.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 8 Minnesota at Iowa | 6 p.m. CT | B1G+
Xtream Arena
Iowa City, Iowa
LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers have won five straight and seven of the past eight matches. They took down No. 7 Ohio State in four sets and No. 25 Illinois in three sets, both on the road, last weekend.
• Samedy led the 'U' with 19 kills and 22 digs vs. OSU and 15 kills and eight digs vs. Illinois. CC McGraw had 18 digs Thursday and 15 Saturday. Minnesota has won four straight matches vs. top-25 ranked opponents.
SCOUTING IOWA
• Iowa (4-20, 2-12 Big Ten) is 1-1 since head coach Vicki Brown was fired on Nov. 4. It was her third season in charge in Iowa City. Acting head coaches Dave Brown and William Tatge led the Hawkeyes to a 3-1 win over Indiana on Nov. 5 in their first game leading the program.
• Senior Courtney Buzzerio leads the squad with 347 kills, 4.035 kills per set, and 872 attacks. She ranks second in the Big Ten in kills per set (4.03).
• The Hawkeyes finally welcomed fans to brand new Xtream Arena for the first time as they faced Syracuse in the Cy-Hawk Series Tournament on Sept. 9, 2021.
GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST IOWA
• Minnesota is 81-11 all-time against Iowa, including a 14-0 record under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers have won 47 straight matches against the Hawkeyes, dating back to 1995.
• Of the 14 matches against Iowa under Hugh, Minnesota took 10 of them in three sets. The two teams played twice last year in Minneapolis, with the 'U' taking both in three sets (April 2-3, 2021).Â
GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 143-40 (.781) 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.Â
• 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.
HAPPY HUGHVEMBER
• Now in year 10 under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota has been a team that gets better throughout the course of the season. Under Hugh, the Gophers are 55-16 (.775) in the month of November. Since 2015, Minnesota is 36-7 (.837) in November, including a 19-3 (.863) record at home and a 17-4 (.809) record on the road.Â
SAMEDY TAKES HER GAME TO ANOTHER LEVEL IN 2021
• Stephanie Samedy currently ranks sixth among NCAA active leaders in career kills (1,862), ninth in total attacks (4,867), 24th in matches played (136) and 53rd in digs (1,435). She also ranks 17th in kills per set (3.82).
• In 2021, Samedy ranks 14th in the nation in points per set (5.18), 12th in kills per set (4.70) and 11th in attacks per set (12.34). She leads the Big Ten in each offensive category.
SHE IS NUMBER 1
• Stephanie Samedy now has 1,862 career kills at Minnesota, which puts her at No. 1 in school history in the rally scoring era. She's 34 behind Chris Schaefer (1986-89) for fourth all-time. Samedy has to average 23 kills per match to reach 2,000 career kills in the regular season. Assuming Minnesota plays at least two NCAA tournament matches, she would need to average 17.25 kills over the next eight to reach 2,000.
TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank No. 21 nationally in digs per set (17.00). CC McGraw leads the team (4.58) while Samedy (3.85) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.79) are right around four and three per set.
• CC McGraw ranks fourth in the conference in digs (380) and second in digs per set (4.58).
• The Gophers had a season-high 107 digs on Oct. 30 vs. Nebraska, their most digs since they had 108 on Feb. 5, 2021 at Purdue. The 107 digs was a Big Ten match high for the season.
BLOCK PARTY IN MINNESOTA
• The Gophers rank No. 6 in the Big Ten and in the top 50 nationally in blocks with 207 as a team and 2.49 per set.
• Ellie Husemann ranks eighth in the conference with 1.23 blocks per set while Katie Myers is right behind her at 1.18 (10th). Shea Rubright ranks third at 0.85.
GOPHERS SIGN FOUR IN CLASS OF 2022
• Another top-15 ranked recruiting class will land in Minneapolis for the 2022 season as The Golden Gophers welcome middle blocker Carter Booth (Denver, Colo.) and outsides Julia Hanson (Savage, Minn.) and Mckenna Wucherer (Brookfield, Wis.) to the program.
• The No. 1 player in Colorado, the 6-foot-7 Booth should immediately help the Gophers in the middle. She's a 2021 Second Team AVCA All-American and finished her high school career with 346 blocks (86 solo).
• Julia Hanson is an outside from Prior Lake, Minn. She's also a Second Team AVCA All-American and comes to the Gophers after winning 2021 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year.
• Brookfield, Wis., native Mckenna Wucherer is the No. 1 2022 recruit out of Wisconsin. She was a First Team AVCA All-American this fall and competed internationally on the USA U-18 team that finished third at the FIVB World Championships this past summer.
DIFFICULT SCHEDULE AWAITS MINNESOTA TO FINISH 2021
• The No. 8-ranked Gophers have a gauntlet of schedule once again. In addition to playing 20 conference games in the always difficult Big Ten slate, they played eight non-conference matches, including five against AVCA top-25 ranked teams.
• Minnesota is set to take on seven teams ranked in the AVCA preseason top-10 (second most top-10 games in the country). The Gophers have 13 ranked opponents out of 28 games on their schedule.
• In their final 12 matches of this season, the Gophers are set to face eight ranked opponents. In the final 12-match stretch, Minnesota is 5-1, with a 4-1 record against ranked opponents.
WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota takes on No. 9 Purdue (18-5, 10-4 Big Ten) on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network. The Gophers are set to welcome back over 20 alumni on Sunday. Â
BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 8 Minnesota at Iowa | 6 p.m. CT | B1G+
Xtream Arena
Iowa City, Iowa
LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers have won five straight and seven of the past eight matches. They took down No. 7 Ohio State in four sets and No. 25 Illinois in three sets, both on the road, last weekend.
• Samedy led the 'U' with 19 kills and 22 digs vs. OSU and 15 kills and eight digs vs. Illinois. CC McGraw had 18 digs Thursday and 15 Saturday. Minnesota has won four straight matches vs. top-25 ranked opponents.
SCOUTING IOWA
• Iowa (4-20, 2-12 Big Ten) is 1-1 since head coach Vicki Brown was fired on Nov. 4. It was her third season in charge in Iowa City. Acting head coaches Dave Brown and William Tatge led the Hawkeyes to a 3-1 win over Indiana on Nov. 5 in their first game leading the program.
• Senior Courtney Buzzerio leads the squad with 347 kills, 4.035 kills per set, and 872 attacks. She ranks second in the Big Ten in kills per set (4.03).
• The Hawkeyes finally welcomed fans to brand new Xtream Arena for the first time as they faced Syracuse in the Cy-Hawk Series Tournament on Sept. 9, 2021.
GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST IOWA
• Minnesota is 81-11 all-time against Iowa, including a 14-0 record under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers have won 47 straight matches against the Hawkeyes, dating back to 1995.
• Of the 14 matches against Iowa under Hugh, Minnesota took 10 of them in three sets. The two teams played twice last year in Minneapolis, with the 'U' taking both in three sets (April 2-3, 2021).Â
GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 143-40 (.781) 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.Â
• 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.
HAPPY HUGHVEMBER
• Now in year 10 under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota has been a team that gets better throughout the course of the season. Under Hugh, the Gophers are 55-16 (.775) in the month of November. Since 2015, Minnesota is 36-7 (.837) in November, including a 19-3 (.863) record at home and a 17-4 (.809) record on the road.Â
SAMEDY TAKES HER GAME TO ANOTHER LEVEL IN 2021
• Stephanie Samedy currently ranks sixth among NCAA active leaders in career kills (1,862), ninth in total attacks (4,867), 24th in matches played (136) and 53rd in digs (1,435). She also ranks 17th in kills per set (3.82).
• In 2021, Samedy ranks 14th in the nation in points per set (5.18), 12th in kills per set (4.70) and 11th in attacks per set (12.34). She leads the Big Ten in each offensive category.
SHE IS NUMBER 1
• Stephanie Samedy now has 1,862 career kills at Minnesota, which puts her at No. 1 in school history in the rally scoring era. She's 34 behind Chris Schaefer (1986-89) for fourth all-time. Samedy has to average 23 kills per match to reach 2,000 career kills in the regular season. Assuming Minnesota plays at least two NCAA tournament matches, she would need to average 17.25 kills over the next eight to reach 2,000.
TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank No. 21 nationally in digs per set (17.00). CC McGraw leads the team (4.58) while Samedy (3.85) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.79) are right around four and three per set.
• CC McGraw ranks fourth in the conference in digs (380) and second in digs per set (4.58).
• The Gophers had a season-high 107 digs on Oct. 30 vs. Nebraska, their most digs since they had 108 on Feb. 5, 2021 at Purdue. The 107 digs was a Big Ten match high for the season.
BLOCK PARTY IN MINNESOTA
• The Gophers rank No. 6 in the Big Ten and in the top 50 nationally in blocks with 207 as a team and 2.49 per set.
• Ellie Husemann ranks eighth in the conference with 1.23 blocks per set while Katie Myers is right behind her at 1.18 (10th). Shea Rubright ranks third at 0.85.
GOPHERS SIGN FOUR IN CLASS OF 2022
• Another top-15 ranked recruiting class will land in Minneapolis for the 2022 season as The Golden Gophers welcome middle blocker Carter Booth (Denver, Colo.) and outsides Julia Hanson (Savage, Minn.) and Mckenna Wucherer (Brookfield, Wis.) to the program.
• The No. 1 player in Colorado, the 6-foot-7 Booth should immediately help the Gophers in the middle. She's a 2021 Second Team AVCA All-American and finished her high school career with 346 blocks (86 solo).
• Julia Hanson is an outside from Prior Lake, Minn. She's also a Second Team AVCA All-American and comes to the Gophers after winning 2021 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year.
• Brookfield, Wis., native Mckenna Wucherer is the No. 1 2022 recruit out of Wisconsin. She was a First Team AVCA All-American this fall and competed internationally on the USA U-18 team that finished third at the FIVB World Championships this past summer.
DIFFICULT SCHEDULE AWAITS MINNESOTA TO FINISH 2021
• The No. 8-ranked Gophers have a gauntlet of schedule once again. In addition to playing 20 conference games in the always difficult Big Ten slate, they played eight non-conference matches, including five against AVCA top-25 ranked teams.
• Minnesota is set to take on seven teams ranked in the AVCA preseason top-10 (second most top-10 games in the country). The Gophers have 13 ranked opponents out of 28 games on their schedule.
• In their final 12 matches of this season, the Gophers are set to face eight ranked opponents. In the final 12-match stretch, Minnesota is 5-1, with a 4-1 record against ranked opponents.
WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota takes on No. 9 Purdue (18-5, 10-4 Big Ten) on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network. The Gophers are set to welcome back over 20 alumni on Sunday. Â
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Highlights: Gophers 1, Wisconsin 3
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Travel Vlog in Seattle
Wednesday, November 05
Highlights: Gophers 2, USC 3
Saturday, November 01