Minnesota Set for Home Opener vs. No. 1 Texas

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 10-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers are looking to bounce back from a 1-1 opening weekend in Madison. They lost to a top-10 team in Baylor in four sets and defeated TCU in three. The 'U' will take on two top-10 teams this week, including No. 1 Texas on Wednesday night at Maturi Pavilion. The Longhorns are 2-0 and are coming off a spring season that saw them finish as national runners-up.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 10 Minnesota vs. No. 1 Texas | 7 p.m. | BTN
Play-By-Play: Lisa Byington
Color Analyst: Salima Rockwell
Radio Play-By-Play (Listen): Corbu Stathes

SERIES INFORMATION
• Minnesota is 5-5 all-time against Texas.
• Last Meeting: 2019; First Meeting: 1981
• They last played in 2019 in Austin, Texas, and UT came away with a three-set win (22-25, 27-29, 33-35).
• Minnesota won the meeting before that, a four set win in Austin on Sept. 8, 2017.
• Perhaps the biggest matchup between the two teams came in the 2015 Final Four as Texas won in four sets.

SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
• Texas (2-0) began the 2021 season as the No. 1 team in the 2021 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Poll, returning nearly the entire roster from the team that finished as the NCAA runner-up.
• Logan Eggleston was named the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year and teammates Brionne Butler, Jhenna Gabriel, Skylar Fields and Asjia O'Neal joined her on the preseason team. The Longhorns were picked first in the Big 12 Preseason Poll for the 11th consecutive season and the 14th time in program history.
• Texas returns five players who landed on the AVCA All-American teams in 2020, led by first teamers Logan Eggleston and Brionne Butler. UT won the 2020 Big 12 title, which was the fourth-straight Big 12 Championship for the Longhorns, who have won or shared nine of the last 10 league championships.

MINNESOTA AGAINST NO. 1 RANKED TEAMS
• Under coach McCutcheon, Minnesota is 4-6 against No. 1 ranked teams. The Gophers have won two of their last three and three of their last five against No. 1 teams, however.
• Minnesota's last win against a No. 1 ranked team was on Sept. 14, 2019 against Stanford, a 3-1 win.
• The Gophers last home win against a No. 1 team was Nov. 23, 2016, a five-set victory over Nebraska.
• All-time, Minnesota is 4-22 against No. 1 ranked teams.

2020-21 RUNDOWN
• The 2020-21 season marked the 25th year the Golden Gophers advanced to the NCAA tournament. Minnesota has also advanced to the tournament in six-straight seasons and eight of nine seasons under tenth-year head coach Hugh McCutcheon. Minnesota has had a top-10 seed the past six seasons. The Gophers were the No. 2 seed in 2015, 2016 and 2018, No. 3 last year, and the No. 7 seed in both 2017 and 2019.
• Minnesota went 16-3 (15-2 Big Ten) in the 2020-21 spring season and entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed nationally. The Golden Gophers defeated Georgia Tech in round one before falling to Pittsburgh in five sets in the Sweet 16. The Gophers also finished as the Big Ten runner-up during the regular season.
• Four-time AVCA All-American and reigning Big Ten Player of the year Stephanie Samedy returns for her fifth year in the maroon and gold this fall. CC McGraw, who was named First Team All-Big Ten and AVCA All-America Honorable Mention in 2019, returns as another key piece for a Gophers team looking to take another step from last year.
• Sophomore Taylor Landfair was the nation's No. 1 recruit in the class of 2020 and made the All-Big Ten First Team, AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and was named the AVCA North Region Freshman of the Year in 2020-21. Fellow sophomore Melani Shaffmaster is back after being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and leading Minnesota in assists (649) from the setter position.

GOPHERS IN SEASON/HOME OPENERS
• All-time, Minnesota is 39-10 in season openers, including an 8-2 record in openers under Hugh McCutcheon.
• The Gophers have opened away from home in nine of 10 seasons under coach McCutcheon, tallying a 7-2 record in those games. Their only season opening losses under Hugh came on Aug. 30, 2015 in the Stanford Invite against Texas A&M and Friday against Baylor.
• All-time, Minnesota is also 39-10 in road/neutral site openers.
• In home openers, Minnesota is 9-0 under coach McCutcheon and 38-9 overall. Their last loss in a home opener come on Aug. 31, 2007 against No. 23 ranked Ohio. Since then, the Gophers have won 13 consecutive home openers.

GOPHERS IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is a superb 93-19 (.830) in non-conference competition.
• Of their 19 non-conferece losses, six have come to Stanford (1-6) and three have come to Texas (1-3).
• Minnesota has played ranked non-conference opponents in all 10 seasons under coach McCutcheon. In their last full non-con slate in 2019, the Gophers went 10-3 in out-of-conference play, going 3-2 against ranked opponents.

SAMEDY RETURNS AS REIGNING BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
• After an outstanding 2021 spring season, senior opposite hitter Stephanie Samedy was named the Big Ten Player of the Year. It marks Samedy's first-ever player of the year and Minnesota's seventh in school history. Of the seven, four have come under head coach Hugh McCutcheon. Samedy averaged a league-best 4.15 kills per set and 4.69 points per set.
• Samedy garnered American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-America honors in 2020-21, the fourth All-America honor of her career, including three on the first team. She also won the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award. The award, chosen by a nationwide vote of Division I women's volleyball coaches, national volleyball media, and fans, is given annually to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in Division I women's volleyball.
• She urrently ranks 10th among NCAA active leaders in career kills (1,518), 9th in total attacks (3,971), 24th in matches played (117) and 49th in digs (1,152).

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE AWAITS MINNESOTA
• The No.1--ranked Gophers have a gauntlet of schedule once again. In addition to playing 20 conference games in the always difficult Big Ten slate, they'll play 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.

LANDFAIR AND SAMEDY MAKE PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN
• Sophomore Taylor Landfair and redshirt senior Stephanie Samedy both landed a spot on the Preseason All-Big Ten team. It is Landfair's first preseason all-league honor and Samedy's fourth.
• The Gophers, ranked No. 7 by the AVCA preseason poll, are tabbed to finish fourth in the league standings, which was voted on by the conference coaches. Wisconsin was predicted to win the conference, followed by Nebraska, Penn State, Minnesota and Purdue to round out the top five.

WHAT'S NEXT
• Minnesota will travel to No. 5 Florida for a Sunday matinee at 1 p.m. Central time. ESPNU will provide television coverage.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Landfair

CC McGraw

Stephanie Samedy

Melani Shaffmaster