Gophers Look for Season Sweep at Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-6, 8-3 Big Ten) are getting set to take on No. 5 Wisconsin (16-3, 10-1 Big Ten) on Saturday evening at the UW Fieldhouse. The 'U' took the first match this season in three sets at Maturi Pavilion on Sept. 25. BTN will televise the match, which begins at 5:30 p.m. CT. Anne Marie Anderson (play-by-play) and Grace Loberg (analyst) will be on the call.

WISCONSIN BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 9 Minnesota at No. 5 Wisconsin | 5:30 p.m. CT | BTN
Saturday, Oct. 29
UW Fieldhouse
Madison, Wis.
Broadcasters: Anne Marie Anderson (Play-By-Play) and Grace Loberg (Analyst)

NUMBERS TO KNOW:
12 -- Of Minnesota's first 20 matches are versus ranked opponents. The Gophers are 6-5 in those contests so far.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster now ranks 8th all-time in Minnesota history with 2,606 career assists.
7 -- Of Minnesota's last eight matches have been victories.
6 -- Different Gophers have reached double figures in kills this year (Carter Booth, Naya Gros, Julia Hanson, Taylor Landfair, Jenna Wenaas, Mckenna Wucherer).
5 -- Of the past seven matches, the Gophers have hit over .300 as a team. They've done so nine times this season, posting an 9-0 record in those contests.
4 -- Graduate libero CC McGraw now ranks No. 4 all-time at Minnesota with 1,768 career digs. She passed Jessica Granquist (2008-11) for No. 4 all-time on Saturday. Dalianliz Rosado (1,870) ranks No. 3.
2 -- Hugh McCutcheon became the second winningest coach in Minnesota history with last 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
• Minnesota tallied its sixth ranked win of the year with a four set takedown of No. 12 Purdue on Saturday night at the Pav. Landfair had 21 kills while Shaffmaster went for 47 assists and 20 digs. Mckenna Wucherer tied her career-high with 16 kills.
• The Gophers continued their strong play with a sweep over Michigan State on Wednesday, Oct. 26. Landfair posted a team-best 13 kills while Carter Booth had eight and a team-high five blocks. CC McGraw had 15 digs in Minnesota's 25-20, 25-14, 25-11 victory over the Spartans. Minnesota has won seven of its last eight.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN
• The No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers are the defending national champions and they have been to three consecutive Final Fours. Led by Kelly Sheffield, UW is looking to advance to its fourth straight National Semifinal.
• After dropping non-conference matches to Baylor and Florida, the Badgers have started Big Ten play with a 10-1 record. Their only conference loss came in a sweep at Minnesota on Sept. 25.
• UW leads the Big Ten in hitting at .267 and rank second in blocks at 3.14 per set. The Badgers are paced offensively by Michigan State transfer Sarah Franklin, who ranks seventh in the B1G in kills per set (3.68).

HISTORY VS. WISCONSIN
• Minnesota is 53-36 against Wisconsin all-time, including a 12-9 record under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers won eight in-a-row against UW from 2015-18 but the Badgers won six straight in the series before Minnesota took down UW on Sept. 25 at the Pav.
• At the UW Fieldhouse, Minnesota has won four of their last seven matches. They're 5-6 under coach McCutcheon on the road at Wisconsin.

LANDFAIR NAMED BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK AGAIN
• For the first time in her career, Taylor Landfair was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Oct. 10. Landfair averaged a team-best 5.00 kills per set in sweeps over No. 24 Michigan and Michigan State last weekend. She also tallied 5.75 points, 1.17 digs and 0.67 blocks per set. Twice she won B1G Freshman of the Week.
• She earned the honor again on Oct. 24 after posting 5.79 points, 4.86 kills, 1.57 blocks and 0.86 digs per set last week in pacing Minnesota to wins over Iowa and No. 12 Purdue.

MCGRAW MOVES HER WAY UP RECORD BOOKS
• CC McGraw now ranks No. 4 in Gophers history with 1,768 digs. CC is now 232 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. So far in 2022, McGraw has tallied 213 digs.

GOPHERS IN BIG TEN PLAY
• Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 154-45 (.774) 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.
• Minnesota went 7-3 in Big Ten play in 2022 through the halfway point. In 2021 the Gophers were also 7-3 (finished 15-5). Minnesota was 9-1 in spring 2021 (15-2) and 9-1 in 2019 (17-3) through nine games.
• 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.

BLOCK PARTY IN MINNESOTA
• So far in 2022, Minnesota ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten and No. 5 nationally with 2.85 blocks per set.
• Naya Gros leads the Gophers and ranks 6th in the B1G with 1.39 blocks per set.

STANDINGS CHECK
• Minnesota has won four in-a-row and seven of its last eight matches entering Saturday's match vs. Wisconsin. In five of those matches, the Gophers swept their opponents.
• With Wisconsin's (10-1 Big Ten) victory over No. 1 Nebraska (10-1) on Wednesday, Minnesota (8-3) sits in fourth place in the conference. No. 6 Ohio State (10-1) is in a three-way tie for first.

SHAFFMASTER SETTING THE TABLE
• A 6-foot-3 setter, Melani Shaffmaster ranks second in the Big Ten this year with 10.54 assists per set.She already ranks No. 8 in program history in assists (2,606).
• Mel earned B1G Setter of the Week and the Best Setter Award at the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge after tallying 74 assists, averaging nearly 11 per set. She set a season-high with 53 assists on Oct. 2.
• Shaffmaster has tallied 30+ assists 16 times, 40+ five times and 50+ two times in 2022.
• She's been perhaps Minnesota's best all-around player, registering 10+ digs nine times this year and 3+ blocks 12 times. She's posted 3+ kills 12 times as well.

DOUBLE DOUBLE QUEEN
• Melani Shaffmaster is tied for the Big Ten lead in double doubles (10+ assists and digs) with nine on the season. Illinois' Diana Brown has nine as well while Indiana's Camryn Haworth has seven.

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 4.54 per set so far this year. She's also averaging over 1.6 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 18 of 19 games in 2022.
• Landfair ranks second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally with 4.54 kills per set. Her 5.09 p/s ranks 14th.
• Landfair is one of just two players in the nation to have 10+ kills in every match this season.

UP NEXT
• The Gophers host Michigan on Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. on B1G+. After that, they'll travel to Illinois for a road tilt on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Carter Booth

Naya Gros

Julia Hanson

Taylor Landfair

CC McGraw

Melani Shaffmaster

Jenna Wenaas

Mckenna Wucherer