Gopher Volleyball 2021-Fall Season


MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota volleyball program has announced three signees to its 2022 recruiting class. The Golden Gophers welcome middle blocker Carter Booth (Denver, Colo.) and outsides Julia Hanson (Savage, Minn.) and Mckenna Wucherer (Brookfield, Wis.) to the program.

"This is an extremely talented recruiting class," said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. "These three are already great student-athletes and people. We know they will have great careers here in Minnesota."

A 6-foot-7 middle blocker out of Denver, Colo. (Cherry Creek H.S./Colorado Juniors Volleyball Club), Carter Booth comes to Minnesota as a 2020 Under Armour All-American selection and the No. 1 2022 recruit in Colorado, according to multiple recruiting outlets. An all-conference selection last season, Booth also played club for Colorado Juniors Club Volleyball and was an alternate for the United States' FIVB Women's Under-20 World Championship team. In her career at Cherry Creek, Booth has tallied 681 kills, 346 blocks (86 solo), 61 aces, 138 digs and a .390 attacking percentage.

"Carter is a great addition to our middle blocking group," McCutcheon said. "She has the ability, work ethic and experience in high school, club and internationally with USA Volleyball to have an impact right away. We are so happy she chose to become a Gopher."

Why Minnesota: "Minnesota was the only school that felt truly right for me," said Booth. "The coaching staff, the campus, the location - all of it makes Minnesota feel like home."

Personal: The daughter of Keisha and Calvin Booth, she has three younger brothers, Carey, Camble and Clark. Her father, Calvin, played college basketball at Penn State and then in the NBA for 10 seasons. Carter hopes to major in criminology and law at Minnesota.

Goals: "Ultimately, my goal is to win a championship during my time at Minnesota. As for myself, I want to become the best volleyball player that I can be."

Julia Hanson, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Savage, Minn. (Prior Lake H.S/Northern Lights Volleyball Club), is a three-time all-conference selection and a 2020 Class 3A All-State selection. She was named the 2021 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year on Nov. 8, 2021. Three times she's won both Prior Lake's Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player awards. In her decorated prep career, she's accumulated 1,490 kills, 712 digs, 98 aces and 106 blocks. As a senior, Hanson has tallied 537 kills, 290 digs, 33 aces and 38 blocks. As a member of Northern Lights Volleyball Club, Hanson was named an AAU 17's Open All-American and the MVP of her team's tournament in Europe. A two-time Star Tribune First Team All-Metro honoree, she also participated in the 2021 U19 U.S.A. Volleyball training series.

"Julia absolutely has what it takes to succeed at this level and beyond," McCutcheon said. "Her physical talents and her ability to learn and compete speak to a bright future for her here at Minnesota.

Why Minnesota: "I wanted to play in the Big Ten and for my home state," said Hanson. "The awesome coaching staff and culture are also reasons I chose Minnesota."

Personal: The daughter of Dan and Lisa Hanson, Julia has one older brother, Nick. Her father, Dan, played football and hockey at Augsburg University. Her brother, Nick, signed to play baseball at Kentucky before being drafted in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft to the Cincinnati Reds

Goals: "My goals are to become the best volleyball player I can be, both on and off the court. I also want to win a national championship."

Mckenna Wucherer, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Brookfield, Wis. (Brookfield Central/Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Club), comes to Minnesota as one of the most decorated players in Wisconsin prep history. The No. 1 ranked 2022 recruit in the state of Wisconsin, Wucherer is a four-time Greater Metro Conference Player of the Year and a four-time WVCA All-State selection. As a junior, she was named the 2020 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and USA Today Girls Volleyball Player of the Year in addition to being named a Gatorade Player of the Year finalist. Wucherer was an Under Armour First Team All-American last year as well. As it stands, she's totaled 1,970 kills, 1,039 digs, 225 aces, 132 blocks and a .394 hitting percentage with several games remaining in her senior year. This fall, she's played in 67 sets, tallying 386 kills (5.8 k/s), 173 digs, 40 aces, 24 blocks and a .444 attacking percentage.

On the club circuit, Wucherer was a 2020 Prep Volleyball First Team All-America selection. She led her 16U team to an Open USAV National Championship on her way to All-American honors. She's also a two-time Ultra Ankle JVA All-National Team selection. Internationally, she led Team U.S.A. to a gold medal at the 2019 USAV High Performance Championships while also garnering tournament MVP honors. This past summer, Wucherer was a USA U18 National Team member and led the Americans to a bronze medal at the FIVB U18 World Championships in Mexico. She was named to the 'Dream Team' as one of two best outside hitters at the FIVB U18 World Championships.

"Mckenna is a special talent," McCutcheon said. "She is physically gifted and technically skilled, but she also has had a significant amount of international success through USA Volleyball. That will help ease her transition into the collegiate game. She'll have a great career here!"

Why Minnesota: "I chose the University of Minnesota because of the outstanding mix of academics and athletics," said Wucherer. "I fell in love with the campus, coaching staff and atmosphere of the program. It felt as if I was at home and I can not wait to be a part of the legacy in Minneapolis."

Personal: The daughter of Greg and the late Wendy Wucherer, Mckenna has two older sisters, Miranda and Abby. Miranda plays collegiate volleyball at Northern Kentucky while Abby plays at Southern Utah. She has a 4.134 GPA and will graduate with honors. She's thinking about a sports management major at Minnesota.

Goals: "My goal is to help the Gophers win a national championship!"

Mckenna (first team), Julia (second team) and Carter (second team) were all named AVCA High School All-Americans this morning as well
 




It was a lethargic first set and then the Gopher got down to business sweeping Iowa 22, 14, 17.

Shaffmaster played without her knee brace and Samedy had the night's POWER HIT!

 


It was a lethargic first set and then the Gopher got down to business sweeping Iowa 22, 14, 17.

Shaffmaster played without her knee brace and Samedy had the night's POWER HIT!

I didn't see the match, but the stats are certainly impressive. The Gophers hit .404 as a team. It's been a long time since they've hit .400 for a whole match.
 

We are in control of our own destiny again. If we can win our last 5, we guarantee at least a share of the B1G title. That game against Wisconsin is huge. Hopefully Wisconsin gets an L tonight against Purdue so that when we beat them, we move ahead of them in the standings. I don't want to share our title with them.
 

We are in control of our own destiny again. If we can win our last 5, we guarantee at least a share of the B1G title. That game against Wisconsin is huge. Hopefully Wisconsin gets an L tonight against Purdue so that when we beat them, we move ahead of them in the standings. I don't want to share our title with them.
Your wish is Purdue's command: Purdue over Wisconsin, 3-1 (20, -19, 22, 21).
 




Congrats to Purdue. Much, much better team than the Gophers. Better coached. Better players.

As for Hugh's team?: More of the same, which equals little more than cannon fodder for good competition.
 

Congrats to Purdue. Much, much better team than the Gophers… better players.

This MRJ quote is certainly true. But it’s fine.

Sometimes Purdue is going to have better players and a better team than us. We could never realistically expect to be better than them every year. So we should expect to sometimes be the worse team than Purdue. But more years than not, we have been better. Lucky us.

As to coaching, I’ll take our coaches a strong majority of the week and am very thankful to have them.
 





Congrats to Purdue. Much, much better team than the Gophers. Better coached. Better players.

As for Hugh's team?: More of the same, which equals little more than cannon fodder for good competition.
We flat out didn’t show up for two of the sets.

Dominated a set, other than the usual choke at the end.
Should have won the other one, but did the usual choke at the end.

Be interesting to see if they can take one of the rematches where they got blown out at home 0-3 both times. You’d think they would have the motivation…
 

We flat out didn’t show up for two of the sets.

Dominated a set, other than the usual choke at the end.
Should have won the other one, but did the usual choke at the end.

Be interesting to see if they can take one of the rematches where they got blown out at home 0-3 both times. You’d think they would have the motivation…
This team has established a pattern of folding when things get tough. I'm not sure they have the necessary attitude to wanna get payback from really bad losses. If anything, they accept poor losses and performances on a regular basis.
 

Why isn’t Landfair playing?
Someone on Volleytalk said she has an abdominal injury. If that's true, those can be very slow to heal. She must still be injured or you would think that Hugh would have tried her today at some point given the poor hitting percentages of Miyabe and Wenaas.
 

Someone on Volleytalk said she has an abdominal injury. If that's true, those can be very slow to heal. She must still be injured or you would think that Hugh would have tried her today at some point given the poor hitting percentages of Miyabe and Wenaas.
Redshirt possibility?
 


And in the meantime (ie, this year), yesterday's match notwithstanding, it has been great that Miyabe has stepped up to fill in the gap pretty damn well.

You can blame injury, mental, or whatever, but it's not like we were setting the world on fire when Landfair was in there. Miyabe came in, and things got better.

Glad that she's gotten to have this year.
 

Why isn’t Landfair playing?
the miyabe article says "Jump ahead to this season. When sophomore outside hitter Taylor Landfair went down with an injury in early October, Miyabe got the call. Since that day — a span of 10 matches — Miyabe has posted nine matches with double-digit kills, including 10 (.280) in Thursday’s sweep of Iowa.

“When Taylor got injured, and we needed someone to fill that spot,” McCutcheon said, “Airi jumped in, and she’s done a really good job with it.”
 


NCAA RPI through 11/14/21 matches

1 Louisville
2 Pitt
3 Baylor
4 Texas
5 Wisconsin
6 Georgia Tech
7 Kentucky
8 Purdue
9 Ohio State
10 UCLA
11 Florida State
12 Creighton
13 Nebraska
14 Marquette
15 Miami
16 Minnesota

23 Penn State
28 Illinois
29 Michigan
 

When sophomore outside hitter Taylor Landfair went down with an injury in early October, Miyabe got the call.
Then why does she warm up every match, and dance around with her teammates in celebration?

Who knows.
 

I don't trust them to get it done in Madison.

Really would be good to beat Penn State.
 





Are you purposefully missing the point of "how can she perform those physical tasks, if she's injured"?
i don't think half-speed warm-ups is the same as playing in actual competition when rehabbing an injury. up until about a week or two ago she wasn't even hitting in warmups. just standing around during that part and collecting balls. if, as someone else mentioned and it's an abdominal injury, standing on the bench and dancing around with teammates probably isn't detrimental.
 

i don't think half-speed warm-ups is the same as playing in actual competition when rehabbing an injury. up until about a week or two ago she wasn't even hitting in warmups. just standing around during that part and collecting balls. if, as someone else mentioned and it's an abdominal injury, standing on the bench and dancing around with teammates probably isn't detrimental.
Good points, fair enough
 


PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Friday's volleyball contest between Rutgers and Minnesota at Maturi Pavilion has been cancelled.

The decision not to travel to Minnesota was supported by the Big Ten Conference and was made out of an abundance of caution surrounding the health and safety of the participants due to matters unrelated to COVID.

The health, safety and well-being of the student-athletes, the program's coaching and support staff and event personnel are the guiding concerns of all decision making within Rutgers Athletics.
 




Top Bottom