Gophers Travel to Iowa City for Wednesday Night Battle

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-6, 5-3 Big Ten) will try to go back on the road and earn a conference victory this week in Iowa City, Iowa. The Gophers are 2-1 on the road in Big Ten play in 2022. ESPNU will provide streaming coverage with first serve set for 6 p.m. Central time. Anne Marie Anderson and Nicole Branagh will be on the call.

IOWA BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 9 Minnesota at Iowa | 6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Wednesday, Oct. 19
Xtream Arena
Iowa City, Iowa
Broadcasters:Anne Marie Anderson (Play-By-Play) and Nicole Branagh (Analyst)

NUMBERS TO KNOW:
265 -- Minnesota head coach Hugh McCutcheon holds a 265-71 (.788) collegiate coaching record and has led Minnesota to two Big Ten Championships, three Final Fours, nine trips to the Sweet 16 and five to the Elite Eight. He joins Mike Hebert (1996-2011; 381-136 (.737)) and Stephanie Schleuder (1982-1994; 263-173 (.603)) as the third coach in Minnesota history to win 260 matches. Hebert also led the 'U' to three Final Fours.
26 --The 2021 season marked the 26th year the Golden Gophers advanced to the NCAA tournament. Minnesota has also advanced to the tournament in seven-straight seasons and nine of 10 seasons under head coach Hugh McCutcheon.
10 -- Of Minnesota's first 16 matches are versus ranked opponents. The Gophers are 5-5 in those games.
9 -- Melani Shaffmaster now ranks 9th all-time in Minnesota history with 2,497 career assists.
7 -- Of Minnesota's eight non-conference matches were against teams that made the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Seven of the teams were ranked or receiving votes when Minnesota played.
6 -- Of the eight teams Minnesota played in non-conference competition were ranked at the time of their matchup.
5 -- Fifth-year senior libero CC McGraw ranks No. 5 all-time at Minnesota with 1,726 career digs. She's just 12 away from passing Jessica Granquist (2008-11) for No. 4 all-time.
4 -- Transfers were added to the mix in 2022. Arica Davis (MB, Ohio State), Elise McGhie (S, Kansas), Miranda Wucherer (S/RS, N. Kentucky) and Naya Gros (MB, Michigan State) are the additions.
3 -- Gophers earned All-Big Ten honors last season. Five-time First Team All-Big Ten honoree Stephanie Samedy departs, but CC McGraw (first team) and Jenna Wenaas (second team) return.
2 -- Hugh McCutcheon became the second winningest coach in Minnesota history with Sunday's win over Michigan State, his 264th win at the helm of Minnesota.

HUGH'S LAST HURRAH
• The 2022 season will be head coach Hugh McCutcheon's last as the man in charge of Minnesota's volleyball program, he announced on Sunday, Oct. 16. Associate head coach Matt Houk will serve as interim head coach of the program after the season while a national search is conducted.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Gophers were swept by No. 6 Ohio State on Wednesday night. Landfair and Wucherer had 10 kills each for the 'U', which hit a season-low .097 compared to .284 for the Buckeyes.
• Minnesota responded with a three set win against Illinois on Saturday afternoon at the Pav. Taylor Landfair had 12 kills while Jenna Wenaas posted 11 kills and nine digs. Rachel Kilkelly posted a season-best 10 digs.

SCOUTING IOWA
• The Iowa Hawkeyes are led by first-year head coach Jim Barnes. Barnes was the head coach at Tulane from 2016-21 before being hired in December to lead Iowa's program.
• UI went 6-5 in non-conference play and is 1-7 in Big Ten play thus far, with their win coming in a 3-2 victory over Indiana. The Hawkeyes have taken Penn State and Purdue to five sets in narrow losses.
• In the backcourt, Mari Hinkle leads the Hawkeyes and the Big Ten with 4.23 digs per set. UI ranks sixth in the conference with 13.90 dps. Lily Tessier ranks 10th with 7.41 assists per set.

HISTORY VS. IOWA
• Minnesota is 83-11 all-time against Iowa, including a 16-0 record under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers have won 49 straight matches against the Hawkeyes, dating back to 1995.
• Of the 16 matches against Iowa under Hugh, Minnesota took 11 of them in three sets. The two teams played once last year in Iowa City (3-0) and once this year in Minneapolis (3-1) so far.

LANDFAIR HAVING PROLIFIC THIRD SEASON
• The No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2020, Taylor Landfair had an excellent true freshman season in the spring of 2021. She ranked second on the Gophers in kills per set and made First Team All-Big Ten and AVCA All-America honorable mention.Last fall wasn't quite as fun for Landfair as she sat out most of the year (played just nine games) with an abdominal injury.
• She's back and better than ever in 2022, leading the 'U' in kills with 4.55 per set so far this year. She's also averaging over 1.7 digs and nearly 0.6 blocks per set, playing all six rotations. Landfair was named MVP of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge after leading all players in points and kills. She's led Minnesota in kills 14 of 15 games in 2022.
• Landfair ranks second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally with 4.55 kills per set. Her 5.02 p/s ranks 14th.
• Landfair is one of just two players in the nation to have 10+ kills in every match this season.

MCGRAW MOVES HER WAY UP RECORD BOOKS
• CC McGraw ranks No. 5 in Gophers history with 1,726 digs. CC is now 274 digs away from becoming just the 10th player in B1G Volleyball history and second Gopher ever to reach 2,000 in her career.
• McGraw ranks 22nd among active Division I players in digs and first in the Big Ten.
• In three of her four seasons, McGraw has made Minnesota's top-20 list for most digs in the season. In 2018, she had 428 (18th), 450 (16th) in 2019 and a career-best 510 in 2021 (12th). She's the second Gopher to have three-or-more seasons with 400-or-more digs.

GROS PROVIDES A SPARK
• Graduate transfer Naya Gros played for four seasons at Michigan State University, where she appeared in 107 matches (386 sets) and averaged 1.80 kills per set on .290 hitting while adding 1.20 blocks per set. She had her best season as a Spartan in 2021, tallying a career-best 1.31 b/s.
• Naya came off the bench on Sept. 4 to provide a huge spark against Florida. In three sets played she tallied five kills and four blocks while hitting .444 in her first extended action in Minnesota.
• She posted season-highs in kills (12) and blocks (5) on Oct. 2 vs. Iowa in a Gophers win.
• Gros returned to MSU on Sunday with seven kills on 1.000 hitting to go with five blocks. She led the Gophers with seven blocks on Wednesday vs. OSU, ranking second on the team with 1.28 per set on the year.

RECORD WATCH
• CC McGraw ranks No. 5 in Minnesota history with 1,726 digs. She's behind only Paula Gentil (2002-05) 2,791, Christine Tan (2006-09) 1,927, Dalianliz Rosado (2014-17) 1,870 and Jessica Granquist (2008-11) 1,737. With 17 digs Saturday, she can pass Granquist for No. 4.
• McGraw ranks in the top 25 at Minnesota in matches played (118). She is 15 games away from being inside the top 20 all-time.
• Melani Shaffmaster is ninth all-time at Minnesota in assists (2,497).

GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 151-45 (.773) in Big Ten competition. In his 10 seasons prior in charge, the Gophers have had nine seasons above .500 in conference play. In nine 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.

HUGH MCCUTCHEON'S TEAMS AFTER A LOSS
• In his career at Minnesota, coach McCutcheon's teams hold a 46-13 record coming off a loss. The Gophers are 5-1 coming off losses in 2022.

Follow along with the Gophers this season on Twitter (@GopherVBall), Instagram and TikTok (@gophervball).

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Players Mentioned

Arica Davis

Naya Gros

Rachel Kilkelly

Taylor Landfair

Elise McGhie

CC McGraw

Stephanie Samedy

Melani Shaffmaster

Jenna Wenaas

Miranda Wucherer