University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, November 19
7:00 PM
University of Minnesota
vs
Rutgers
Players Mentioned
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Gophers Conclude Big Ten Home Slate vs. RU and UW
11/17/2021 12:28:00 PM | Volleyball
Minnesota will celebrate senior night on Friday against Rutgers
MINNEAPOLIS --Â The No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-7, 12-4 Big Ten) conclude their Big Ten home slate this weekend with matches against Rutgers (8-19, 0-16 Big Ten) and No. 6 Wisconsin (21-3, 13-3 Big Ten). The Gophers are in a three-way tie for third place with Purdue and Penn State. Nebraska and Wisconsin are currently tied for first in the league with four matches to go.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 9 Minnesota vs. Rutgers | 7 p.m. CT | B1G+
Friday, Nov. 19
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Broadcasters: TBA
Radio: J.W. Cox (Play-By-Play)
BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 9 Minnesota vs. No. 6 Wisconsin | 4 p.m. CT | BTN
Sunday, Nov. 21
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Broadcasters: Larry Puteney (Play-By-Play) and Salima Rockwell (Analyst)
Radio: J.W. Cox (Play-By-Play)
LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers fell to the No. 9 Purdue Boilermakers in four sets, 12-25, 25-14, 16-25, 22-25 on Sunday afternoon at Maturi Pavilion.
• The Golden Gophers were led by redshirt senior opposite Stephanie Samedy, who had 23 kills to go along with 13 digs. Jenna Wenaas had 10 kills and seven digs while Katie Myers had four kills and six blocks.
QUOTABLE
• "I thought we were in there and battled hard in the fourth set," said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. "At the end of the day, it just didn't go our way. That's the nature of sports sometimes. Purdue is a good team and they're playing well right now."
'U' HONORING FOUR SENIORS FRIDAY ON SENIOR NIGHT
• Minnesota will hold a post match ceremony on Friday after its game against Rutgers at Maturi Pavilion. Four seniors, Bayley McMenimen, Airi Miyabe, Katie Myers and Stephanie Samedy, will be honored.
• These seniors have a combined record of 115-26 at Minnesota. McMenimen, Miyabe and Samedy were all on the 2019 Gophers team that made the Final Four.
• McMenimen is an International business and accounting major while Miyabe majored in asian & middle eastern studies and is pursuing her master's in sports management. Katie Myers, who graduate transferred from Maryland in 2020, is also working on her master's in sports management. Stephanie Samedy graduated from Minnesota with a degree in psychology and is currently enrolled in a human resources and development graduate program.
STANDINGS UPDATE
• Minnesota is one game back of Nebraska and Wisconsin (13-3 Big Ten) for first place in the conference. The Gophers fell 3-0 to UW on Oct. 1 in Madison but will get a second shot at the Badgers on Sunday. The Gophers (12-4 Big Ten) are in a three-way tie for third with Purdue and Penn State with four matches to play.
SCOUTING RUTGERS
• The Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-19, 0-16 Big Ten) are searching for their first conference win this weekend when they take on Minnesota and Nebraska. RU is led by second-year head coach Caitlin Schweihofer.
• RU had several Big Ten firsts last year. Among the Scarlet Knights' spring 2021 accomplishments were the first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory and first-ever Big Ten series sweep.
• They are led by Beka Kojadinovic, who averages 2.79 kills and 2.63 digs per set.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
• The No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers (21-3, 13-3 Big Ten) have been to back-to-back Final Fours in addition to winning the last two Big Ten regular season titles. Led by Kelly Sheffield, UW is looking to stay ahead in the race for the conference championship this weekend.
• One of the most efficient hitting teams in the country, Wisconsin ranks No. 7 nationally at .292. Fifth-year senior Dana Rettke ranks third in the nation in hitting % (.455) and is a four-time All-American.
• Senior setter Sydney Hilley leads the nation with 11.94 assists per set. She has over 5,000 career assists. Defensive specialist Izzy Ashburn ranks third in the Big Ten in aces per set at 0.42.
GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST RUTGERS AND WISCONSIN
• Minnesota is 9-2 all-time against Rutgers, including an 8-0 record under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers have won eight of the nine matchups against RU in three sets. They last met twice in 2019, when the Gophers won in four at home and in three on the road. At home, the 'U' is 5-0 vs. RU.
• Minnesota is 52-34 against Wisconsin all-time, including 11-7 under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers had won eight in-a-row against UW from 2015-18 but the Badgers have won four straight in the series. At the Pav, Minnesota is 6-3 vs. Wisconsin under Hugh.
GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 144-41 (.778) in Big Ten competition. In his 10 seasons prior in charge, the Gophers have had nine seasons above .500 in conference play. In eight of those seasons, the 'U' went 15-5 or better in conference play, with the best being 19-1 in 2018. They need to win three of their final five Big Ten matches to finish at least 15-5 in 2021.
• 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.
MINNESOTA THRIVES AT HOME
• Under coach McCutcheon, Minnesota is 129-16 (.890) at home, including an 84-12 (.875) record during Big Ten home matches.
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 56-17 (.767) in the month of November. Since 2015, Minnesota is 37-8 (.822) in November, including a 19-4 (.826) record at home and an 18-4 (.818) record on the road.
SAMEDY TAKES HER GAME TO ANOTHER LEVEL IN 2021
• Stephanie Samedy had a phenomenal 2020-21 spring season, winning Big Ten Player of the Year in addition to being named a First Team AVCA All-American for the third time in her career. She had five 20+ kill performances and averaged 4.15 kills per set and 2.48 digs per set.
• She's taken her game to another level this fall, upping her numbers in almost every statistical category. She's averaging a Big Ten best 4.74 kills per set along with 3.76 digs per set. She's also had 10 20+ kill performances this season in 23 matches. No one else in the Big Ten has more than six 20+ kill matches and no other Power 5 player has more than nine.
SHE IS NUMBER 1
• Stephanie Samedy now has 1,897 career kills at Minnesota, which puts at her at No. 1 in school history in the rally scoring era. She passed Hall of Famer Chris Schaefer (1986-89) for fourth all-time Sunday. Assuming Minnesota plays at least two NCAA tournament games, she would need to average 17.2 kills over the next six to reach 2,000.
TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank No. 26 nationally in digs per set (16.81). CC McGraw leads the team (4.61) while Samedy (3.76) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.75) are right around four and three per set.
• CC McGraw ranks sixth in the conference in digs (415) and second in digs per set (4.61).
• 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.
SAMEDY AND WENAAS COMBINING AS LETHAL DUO
• Minnesota opposite Stephanie Samedy and outside Jenna Wenaas have combined for 699 of Minnesota's 1210 kills (.578). They've reached double digit kills a combined 39 times this season while Samedy has hit the 20-kill mark in 10 of her 23 matches. Statistically, they're the top attacking duo in the Big Ten Conference.
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 14 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 6-2 thus far with a 4-2 record against ranked opponents.
WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota travels to Penn State and Maryland on Friday, Nov. 26 and Saturday, Nov. 27 to complete the 2021 regular season. Â
BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 9 Minnesota vs. Rutgers | 7 p.m. CT | B1G+
Friday, Nov. 19
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Broadcasters: TBA
Radio: J.W. Cox (Play-By-Play)
BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 9 Minnesota vs. No. 6 Wisconsin | 4 p.m. CT | BTN
Sunday, Nov. 21
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Broadcasters: Larry Puteney (Play-By-Play) and Salima Rockwell (Analyst)
Radio: J.W. Cox (Play-By-Play)
LAST TIME OUT
• The No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers fell to the No. 9 Purdue Boilermakers in four sets, 12-25, 25-14, 16-25, 22-25 on Sunday afternoon at Maturi Pavilion.
• The Golden Gophers were led by redshirt senior opposite Stephanie Samedy, who had 23 kills to go along with 13 digs. Jenna Wenaas had 10 kills and seven digs while Katie Myers had four kills and six blocks.
QUOTABLE
• "I thought we were in there and battled hard in the fourth set," said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. "At the end of the day, it just didn't go our way. That's the nature of sports sometimes. Purdue is a good team and they're playing well right now."
'U' HONORING FOUR SENIORS FRIDAY ON SENIOR NIGHT
• Minnesota will hold a post match ceremony on Friday after its game against Rutgers at Maturi Pavilion. Four seniors, Bayley McMenimen, Airi Miyabe, Katie Myers and Stephanie Samedy, will be honored.
• These seniors have a combined record of 115-26 at Minnesota. McMenimen, Miyabe and Samedy were all on the 2019 Gophers team that made the Final Four.
• McMenimen is an International business and accounting major while Miyabe majored in asian & middle eastern studies and is pursuing her master's in sports management. Katie Myers, who graduate transferred from Maryland in 2020, is also working on her master's in sports management. Stephanie Samedy graduated from Minnesota with a degree in psychology and is currently enrolled in a human resources and development graduate program.
STANDINGS UPDATE
• Minnesota is one game back of Nebraska and Wisconsin (13-3 Big Ten) for first place in the conference. The Gophers fell 3-0 to UW on Oct. 1 in Madison but will get a second shot at the Badgers on Sunday. The Gophers (12-4 Big Ten) are in a three-way tie for third with Purdue and Penn State with four matches to play.
SCOUTING RUTGERS
• The Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-19, 0-16 Big Ten) are searching for their first conference win this weekend when they take on Minnesota and Nebraska. RU is led by second-year head coach Caitlin Schweihofer.
• RU had several Big Ten firsts last year. Among the Scarlet Knights' spring 2021 accomplishments were the first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory and first-ever Big Ten series sweep.
• They are led by Beka Kojadinovic, who averages 2.79 kills and 2.63 digs per set.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
• The No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers (21-3, 13-3 Big Ten) have been to back-to-back Final Fours in addition to winning the last two Big Ten regular season titles. Led by Kelly Sheffield, UW is looking to stay ahead in the race for the conference championship this weekend.
• One of the most efficient hitting teams in the country, Wisconsin ranks No. 7 nationally at .292. Fifth-year senior Dana Rettke ranks third in the nation in hitting % (.455) and is a four-time All-American.
• Senior setter Sydney Hilley leads the nation with 11.94 assists per set. She has over 5,000 career assists. Defensive specialist Izzy Ashburn ranks third in the Big Ten in aces per set at 0.42.
GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST RUTGERS AND WISCONSIN
• Minnesota is 9-2 all-time against Rutgers, including an 8-0 record under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers have won eight of the nine matchups against RU in three sets. They last met twice in 2019, when the Gophers won in four at home and in three on the road. At home, the 'U' is 5-0 vs. RU.
• Minnesota is 52-34 against Wisconsin all-time, including 11-7 under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers had won eight in-a-row against UW from 2015-18 but the Badgers have won four straight in the series. At the Pav, Minnesota is 6-3 vs. Wisconsin under Hugh.
GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 144-41 (.778) in Big Ten competition. In his 10 seasons prior in charge, the Gophers have had nine seasons above .500 in conference play. In eight of those seasons, the 'U' went 15-5 or better in conference play, with the best being 19-1 in 2018. They need to win three of their final five Big Ten matches to finish at least 15-5 in 2021.
• 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.
MINNESOTA THRIVES AT HOME
• Under coach McCutcheon, Minnesota is 129-16 (.890) at home, including an 84-12 (.875) record during Big Ten home matches.
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 56-17 (.767) in the month of November. Since 2015, Minnesota is 37-8 (.822) in November, including a 19-4 (.826) record at home and an 18-4 (.818) record on the road.
SAMEDY TAKES HER GAME TO ANOTHER LEVEL IN 2021
• Stephanie Samedy had a phenomenal 2020-21 spring season, winning Big Ten Player of the Year in addition to being named a First Team AVCA All-American for the third time in her career. She had five 20+ kill performances and averaged 4.15 kills per set and 2.48 digs per set.
• She's taken her game to another level this fall, upping her numbers in almost every statistical category. She's averaging a Big Ten best 4.74 kills per set along with 3.76 digs per set. She's also had 10 20+ kill performances this season in 23 matches. No one else in the Big Ten has more than six 20+ kill matches and no other Power 5 player has more than nine.
SHE IS NUMBER 1
• Stephanie Samedy now has 1,897 career kills at Minnesota, which puts at her at No. 1 in school history in the rally scoring era. She passed Hall of Famer Chris Schaefer (1986-89) for fourth all-time Sunday. Assuming Minnesota plays at least two NCAA tournament games, she would need to average 17.2 kills over the next six to reach 2,000.
TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank No. 26 nationally in digs per set (16.81). CC McGraw leads the team (4.61) while Samedy (3.76) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.75) are right around four and three per set.
• CC McGraw ranks sixth in the conference in digs (415) and second in digs per set (4.61).
• 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.
SAMEDY AND WENAAS COMBINING AS LETHAL DUO
• Minnesota opposite Stephanie Samedy and outside Jenna Wenaas have combined for 699 of Minnesota's 1210 kills (.578). They've reached double digit kills a combined 39 times this season while Samedy has hit the 20-kill mark in 10 of her 23 matches. Statistically, they're the top attacking duo in the Big Ten Conference.
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 14 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 6-2 thus far with a 4-2 record against ranked opponents.
WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota travels to Penn State and Maryland on Friday, Nov. 26 and Saturday, Nov. 27 to complete the 2021 regular season. Â
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Highlights: Gophers 3, Indiana 1
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Highlights: Gophers 1, Oregon 3
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