The No. 12-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers (20-8, 15-5 Big Ten) are set to participate in their 26th NCAA Tournament in school history this weekend. The Gophers will host South Dakota (20-9, 15-3 Big Ten) on Friday night at 7 p.m. Central time. Minnesota will play the winner of Iowa State and Stanford on Saturday night at 7 p.m. if they defeat USD.
LAST TIME OUT
• The Gophers ended their 2021 regular season with road victories over then No. 15 Penn State and Maryland in four sets last weekend.
• Friday, Minnesota was led by redshirt senior opposite Stephanie Samedy, who had 26 kills and 13 digs. Airi Miyabe had 12 kills while Jenna Wenaas posted another double double with 12 kills and 13 digs.
• On Saturday, Minnesota was led by sophomore outside Jenna Wenaas, who had 17 kills and a career-high 21 digs. Airi Miyabe had 16 kills and four digs while Stephanie Samedy tallied 15 kills, 15 digs and five blocks. In her return to College Park, Katie Myers posted four kills and a team-high eight blocks. With the win, Minnesota is now 17-0 all-time against Maryland, including 14-0 under Hugh McCutcheon.
SAMEDY WINS SECOND STRAIGHT BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
• Minnesota redshirt senior opposite Stephanie Samedy has been named the Big Ten Player of the Year for the second straight season, the conference office announced today. Samedy is the first Gopher and fourth Big Ten player ever to win the award in consecutive years. She led the league in points (5.39) and kills (4.84) per set while tallying 11 20+ kill matches and three 30+ kill matches.
SAMEDY, McGRAW AND WENAAS EARN ALL-BIG TEN AWARDS
• Samedy, along with senior libero CC McGraw, earned First Team All-Big Ten honors. Sophomore outside Jenna Wenaas earned her first All-Big Ten honor, making the second team. Redshirt senior outside Airi Miyabe garnered Minnesota’s Sportsmanship Award.
• McGraw ranked second in the Big Ten with 4.72 digs per set and had three 30+ dig matches. Wenaas tallied double digit kills 21 times this year and averaged 3.29 kills per set, which ranked second on the team behind Samedy.
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA
• The South Dakota Coyotes (20-9, 15-3 Summit) are having an excellent season that just culminated in a Summit League championship. The Coyotes are led by eighth-year head coach Leanne Williamson, who previously spent five years on the USD coaching staff under current Gophers associate head coach Matt Houk.
• Four Coyotes made the All-Summit League teams this season, including Elizabeth Juhnke and Madison Harms making the first team. Juhnke ranked second in league play in kills per set (4.08).
• The only common opponent between USD and Minnesota this season is St. Thomas. Minnesota swept UST in September while USD beat the Tommies in three and four sets, respectively.
SCOUTING IOWA STATE
Iowa State (16-11, 8-8 Big 12) is lead by head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, who is in year 17 as ISU’s head coach. She’s won over 320 career matches and has taken the Cyclones to the NCAA tournament in 14 of her 17 seasons, including five trips to the second weekend.
• 2020-21 First Team All-Big 12 selection Eleanor Holthaus leads the Cyclones with 3.21 kills per set.
• ISU’s Marija Popovic was named Big 12 Libero of the Year, leading the Big 12 with 4.65 digs per set. She was joined on the All-Big 12 First Team by middle blocker Candelaria Herrera and right side Eleanor Holthaus.
SCOUTING STANFORD
• The Stanford Cardinal (18-10, 13-7 Pac-12) are led by fifth-year head coach Kevin Hambly, who was won two national titles and led his program to three straight national semifinals from 2017-19. Stanford went 2-8 in last year’s COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
• The Cardinal are coming in having won five straight matches and six of their last seven since starting conference play 7-6. Minnesota and Stanford played on Sept. 10 in Eugene, Ore., with Minnesota winning 3-1.
• Stanford is led by Catie Baird and Kendall Kipp, who lead the team with 4.20 and 3.77 kills per set, respectively. Libero Elena Oglivie leads the team defensively with 4.35 digs per set.
GOPHERS HISTORY AGAINST SOUTH DAKOTA, IOWA STATE AND STANFORD
• Minnesota has never played South Dakota before.
• In their last NCAA matchup, ISU defeated the Gophers in four sets in the 2011 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. The Gophers and Cylcones have met just four times since the turn of the century, splitting those matches, 2-2. Minnesota defeated ISU in the 2009 and 2014 Diet Coke Classic matches.
• Minnesota is 2-10 all-time against Stanford, with their two wins coming in 2019 and 2021. The 2019 win over Stanford was at PSU, while the 2021 match was in Eugene, Ore., both at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.
• Since McCutcheon took over in 2012, Minnesota and Stanford have met eight times, with Stanford taking six of them. Minnesota is 0-3 at Stanford and 2-3 at neutral sites. Two of the matchups came in the 2016 and 2019 Final Fours, where the Cardinal took each in three sets.
• All-time, Minnesota is 25-7 against Iowa State. They last played on Sept. 18 with the Gophers winning in a sweep in the Diet Coke Classic. Jenna Wenaas had 14 kills while Stephanie Samedy had 12. Prior to that, their last meeting with ISU was in 2014, a 3-1 victory at Maturi Pavilion.
• In their last NCAA matchup, ISU defeated the Gophers in four sets in the 2011 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. The Gophers and Cyclones have met just four times since the turn of the century, splitting those matches, 2-2. Minnesota defeated ISU in the 2009 and 2014 Diet Coke Classic matches.
• Minnesota is 2-10 all-time against Stanford, with their two wins coming in 2019 and 2021. The 2019 win over Stanford was at PSU, while the 2021 match was in Eugene, Ore., both at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.
• Since McCutcheon took over in 2012, Minnesota and Stanford have met eight times, with Stanford taking six of them. Minnesota is 0-3 at Stanford and 2-3 at neutral sites. Two of the matchups came in the 2016 and 2019 Final Fours, where the Cardinal took each in three sets.
DIFFICULT SCHEDULE PREPARES MINNESOTA FOR POSTSEASON
• The No. 12-ranked Gophers went through 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 took on seven teams ranked in the AVCA preseason top-10 (second most top-10 games in the country). The Gophers had 14 ranked opponents out of 28 games on their schedule.
• Minnesota went 7-7 in AVCA top-25 ranked matches during the regular season.
MINNESOTA’S NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Minnesota will be making its 26th appearance in the NCAA Tournament this weekend. The Gophers have made the tournament in nine of 10 seasons under Hugh McCutcheon and 22 of the last 23 seasons overall.
• The Gophers all-time record in NCAA Tournaments is 56-25. Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 22-8 in the tournament, including a perfect 14-0 record in first and second round matches. All of those have come at Maturi Pavilion.
• All-time, Minnesota has made the Final Four five times (2003, 2004, 2015, 2016, 2019), including three times under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers made the national title match in 2004, losing in three sets to Stanford.
• As a program, the Gophers have made the Sweet 16 on 17 occasions and the Elite Eight on eight occasions. Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota has made the Elite Eight five times, posting a 3-2 record.
• Playing at home in the NCAA Tournament, Minnesota is 14-1 under Hugh McCutcheon. The only loss came in the 2018 Sweet 16 to Oregon. Minnesota came into the 2018 NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, hosting the first and second rounds in additon to regionals.
• The Gophers have never played South Dakota in the regular season or the postseason before. However, they have played Iowa State two (0-2) times and Stanford four (0-4) times in the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers lost to ISU at home in the 2008 Second Round (3-1) the 2011 Regional Semifinal (3-1). Minnesota lost to Stanford in the 2004 National Championship (3-0), 2013 Regional Final (3-0), and 2016 (3-1) and 2019 (3-0) Final Fours.
• 2008 was the last time that Minnesota made the NCAA Tournament but didn’t at least make the Sweet 16.
TIME TO DIG IT OUT
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank No. 14 nationally in digs per set (17.22). CC McGraw leads the team (4.72) while Samedy (3.75) and Melani Shaffmaster (2.85) are right around four and three per set.
• CC McGraw ranks sixth in the conference in digs (486) and second in digs per set (4.72).
• 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.
WHAT’S NEXT
• If the Gophers advance out of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, they will play in the Madison Regional Dec. 9-11.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)