No. 5 Gophers Hit the Road to Take on No. 8 Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --The No. 5 Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-1, 0-0 Big Ten) are set to hit the road for the first time as they take on the No. 8 Florida Gators (3-0, 0-0 SEC) at the Stephen O'Connell Center. First serve is set for noon ET/11 a.m. CT and ESPNU will televise.

GAME INFORMATION
No. 5 Minnesota vs. No. 8 Florida
Sunday, Sept. 3
Noon ET/11 a.m. CT
Stephen O'Connell Center
Gainesville, Fla.
TV: ESPNU - Anne Marie Anderson (Play-By-Play) and Kelly Burke (Analyst)
Live Stats

NOTES TO KNOW
200 -- Keegan Cook won his 200th career game as a head coach on Saturday night vs. Baylor.
43 -- The 'U' is 43-20 all-time against SEC opponents.
27 -- The 2022 season was the 27th year the Golden Gophers advanced to the NCAA tournament. The Gophers have been to eight-straight Sweet 16's of the NCAA tournament.
25 -- Minnesota ranks No. 25 in the nation in blocks per set, averaging 3.00 per set after three matches.
10 -- Minnesota's final 2022 rank in the AVCA poll. The Gophers are one of three programs to finish in the top 10 in the last eight seasons.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster ranks 8th all-time in Minnesota history with 3,122 career assists.
8 -- For the first time in program history, all eight of the Gophers non-conference opponents in 2023 made the NCAA Tournament in the year prior.
6 -- Of the past eight Big Ten Players of the Year have been Minnesota Golden Gophers. Taylor Landfair (2022) joins Stephanie Samedy (2020-21), Sam Seliger-Swenson (2018), Sarah Wilhite (2016) and Daly Santana (2015) as award winners.
6 -- Minnesota is 6-2 all-time against the Gators. Their last win in Gainesville was in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, a 3-1 win over UF.
6 -- The Gophers are in the midst of a stretch where they play ranked opponents in six of seven games to end non-conference play. They played Baylor (16) Saturday, Texas (7) Tuesday and now Florida (8) Sunday. Next weekend they'll play Oregon (6) and Stanford (2) in Palo Alto, Calif. After playing High Point (UR) on Sept. 14, the 'U' closes out the preseason against Creighton (20) on Sept. 16.
3 -- Sophomore outside Mckenna Wucherer ranks tied for third in the Big Ten in kills per set at 4.00 through three matches. She won the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge MVP award this past weekend.
1 -- The 2023 season is Keegan Cook's first in charge at Minnesota. He was named as the eighth full-time head coach of the Minnesota volleyball program in Dec. 2022. He replaced Hugh McCutcheon, who went 277-74 as head coach, making three Final Fours, five Elite Eights and 10 Sweet 16s.
1 -- Taylor Landfair was the first sophomore to be named Big Ten Player of the Year since Wisconsin's Lauren Carlini in 2014.
1 -- Middle Phoebe Awoleye ranked No. 1 in the nation in blocks per set after the first weekend (2.29). She ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 8 nationally with 1.91 per set after three games.

LAST TIME OUT
• The 'U' fell to No. 7 Texas in four sets on Tuesday, 14-25, 25-23, 17-25, 23-25. Mckenna Wucherer led the team with 14 kills while Taylor Landfair had 11. Melani Shaffmaster posted her third straight double double with 31 assists and 12 digs. Kylie Murr led the backcourt with 13 digs.

SCOUTING FLORIDA
• The Gators are led by 33rd year head coach Mary Wise. In her tenure, the Gators have won 25 SEC championships, have been to eight Final Fours and she's won SEC Coach of the Year 13 times. She's won AVCA Coach of the Year three times, and most recently as 2017.
• After kicking the 2023 season off with a 3-0 record, the Gators moved up to No. 8 in this week's AVCA Top-25 poll. The Gators took down No. 2 Stanford (3-0) on the road on Tuesday night. They took down Penn State and USF last weekend in Tampa to open the year.
• Florida, who earned a share of the 2022 SEC Championship, garnered two first place votes and was tabbed to finish second in the 2023 SEC Preseason poll. 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year Alexis Stucky made the preseason all-conference team. Stucky is averaging 11.25 assists per set while Kennedy Martin leads the team with 5.08 kills per set.

MINNESOTA'S HISTORY VS. FLORIDA
• Minnesota is 6-2 all-time against Florida. Last Meeting: 2022; First Meeting: 1984
• The 'U' beat Florida 3-1 in Minneapolis last season. Landfair had 14 kills, Shaffmaster had 35 assists and 12 digs.
• Minnesota fell in four sets to Florida in 2021 in Gainesville. Stephanie Samedy led the 'U' with 31 kills.
• The Gophers' last win in Gainesville was in 2006, a 3-2 win. They are 2-2 all-time in Gainesville, with the other win coming in 1984, their first ever meeting.
• They last played in the NCAA Tournament was in 2019 in the Sweet 16 in Austin, Texas. The Gophers won in five sets despite trailing 2-1 after three.
• Minnesota also beat UF in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The Gators only win over the Gophers was in 2003, a home game in which Florida won in three sets.

MINNESOTA AGAINST THE SEC
• The Gophers 43-20 all-time against schools from the Southeastern Conference.

GOPHERS RANKED FIFTH IN LATEST AVCA POLL
• The Gophers entered the 2023 season with a No. 7 overall ranking in the Preseason AVCA poll. They come in at No. 5 this week. The 'U' finished 10th last year in the final poll, their eighth consecutive top-10 finish nationally. 14 of Minnesota's 28 games are versus opponents ranked in the AVCA Preseason top-25.

NEW COACHING STAFF READY TO ROLL IN 2023
• First year head coach Keegan Cook comes to Dinkytown after a tremendously successful eight-year run at Washington.
• His staff consists of associate head coach Kristen Kelsay and assistant coaches Eric Barber and Kylin Muñoz. Kelsay coached at both Michigan State and Northwestern while Barber comes to Minnesota from UCLA. Muñoz last coached at Loyola Marymount and played for Cook when he was an assistant at Washington.

BIG TEN BESTS
• Phoebe Awoleye is one of three Big Ten players to post 10 blocks in a match (Aug. 26 vs. Baylor). She's the only one to produce 10 blocks in a three set match, however. She leads the B1G in total blocks with 21.
• Kylie Murr's 27 digs Friday vs. TCU are tied for the second most digs in a match by a Big Ten player on opening weekend. Amanda Darling (Iowa) had 28 Saturday.
• Minnesota's 12 team blocks vs. Baylor were the most by any Big Ten team in a three set match last weekend.
• The Gophers rank fourth in the Big Ten in digs per set with 15.64.

DOUBLE DOUBLE QUEEN
• Melani Shaffmaster tied for the Big Ten lead in double doubles (10+ assists and digs) with 14 in 2022. Illinois' Diana Brown also had 14. Ohio State's Mac Podraza (12) ranked third while Indiana's Camryn Haworth ranked fourth (11). For her career, Shaffmaster has tallied 44 double doubles.
• Mel started this season with three straight, including 36 assists/13 digs Friday, 21/13 Saturday, 31/12 Tuesday.

RANKED OPPONENTS ON TAP
• Starting with the Gophers game against then No. 15 Baylor last Saturday, the Gophers are set to take on ranked opponents in four of their five remaining non-conference matchups.
• Texas came in at No. 7 in the latest AVCA poll while Florida (8), Oregon (6), Stanford (2) and Creighton (20) are all ranked in the top 20.

WUCHERER TAKING THE NEXT STEP
• A 2021 AVCA and Under Armour First Team All-American and the Wis. Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Brookfield, Wis., came to Minnesota as one of the most decorated players in Wisconsin prep history. She was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2022.
• In 2022, she missed the first six games with an injury before returning to hit double figures in kills in 11 matches in 2022.
• She ended the year averaging 2.79 kills per set, which ranked second on the team. Wucherer made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2022.
• The start of 2023 has been all she can ask for, as Wucherer posted 30 kills on .464 hitting on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge MVP honors. Her 4.00 kills per set ranks third in the Big Ten after she posted 14 kills Tuesday night vs. No. 7 Texas.

WE WANT MURR
• 2022 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Kylie Murr comes to Dinkytown for her fifth year of college volleyball after spending the first four at Ohio State. She was named First Team All-Big Ten and earned AVCA All-America honorable mention in 2022.
• She led the Big Ten in both total digs (530) and digs per set (4.69) last year and is set to step into the Gophers libero position that two-time All-American CC McGraw departed from due to graduation.
• She totaled two 30+ dig matches last year, which tied a Big Ten-best. Her 35 digs against Maryland on Nov. 18, 2022 was a conference single game high for the season.
• Murr started 2023 off with a bang, winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after posting 40 digs (5.71 dps) and 15 assists on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament honors. Murr holds 1,988 career digs, which ranks No. 6 of all active collegiate players in the nation.

AWOLEYE BUILDS A WALL
• A senior LMU transfer originally hailing from Marietta, Ga., Phoebe Awoleye started her Gophers career with a 'bang this past weekend. She posted 16 blocks (2.29 bps) and five kills on her way to Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge All-Tournament honors. Awoleye had a career-high 10 blocks in Saturday's win over No. 15 Baylor as the Gophers silenced the Bears attack, holding them to .000 hitting. She leads the B1G in total blocks with 21.

POOL PHOTOS
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UP NEXT
Minnesota travels to Palo Alto, Calif., for the final Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge next Friday and Saturday. They'll take on No. 6 Oregon on Friday and No. 2 Stanford on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Phoebe Awoleye

Taylor Landfair

CC McGraw

Kylie Murr

Melani Shaffmaster

Mckenna Wucherer