Spring Catch-up; Summer Session Schedule

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Gopher Volleyball Spring Catch-Up - University of Minnesota Athletics

News & Notes as the Gophers prepare for the summer of 2023.

gophersports.com

Fall practice begins August 7

Minnesota's 2023 team comes back to campus this weekend

MINNEAPOLIS -- It's been over a month since the Gophers volleyball team ended spring practice. Below are the latest news and notes on what the team has been up to since heading home after finals ended.

NEWCOMERS ARE SET FOR MOVE-IN
• Three transfers will join the Gophers this month with Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Kylie Murr (5th Year Libero, Ohio State), Phoebe Awoleye (Senior Middle, Loyola Marymount) and Lydia Grote (Senior Outside/Opposite, California) coming to campus. Each finished out the spring semester at their previous school and will be moving to campus in June.
• The 'U' can't have any organized team activities until August, but will be able to hold captain's practices and open gyms.

Outside/opposite Lydia Grote is one of three new Gopher transfers coming to campusGOPHERS ANNOUNCE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
• Minnesota has announced a challenging non-conference schedule for 2023. The Gophers will host Northern Iowa in a scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 18 before squaring off with TCU and Baylor at the Pav in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge on Aug. 25 and 26. The Gophers will host defending national champion Texas on Tuesday, Aug. 29 before taking on Florida in Gainsville on Sept. 3.
• The Gophers play in Palo Alto, Calif., in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge on Sept. 8 and 9 against Oregon and Stanford after that. The preseason slate will finish on Sept. 14 and 16 at Maturi Pavilion against High Point and Creighton in the Diet Coke Classic.
• The Big Ten schedule is expected to be released next week.

WUCHERER WINS GOLD WITH U21 USA PAN-AM CUP TEAM
• One of 12 players to make the U21 USA NORCECA Pan-Am Cup Team, Mckenna Wucherer helped team USA achieve a perfect 5-0 record on the way to a gold medal last month.
• The U.S. Women's U21 Team defended its title at the NORCECA Pan American Cup with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-21) win over Mexico on Sunday, May 28 in the gold medal match in Nogales, Mexico.
• Mckenna Wucherer scored five points on four kills and one block in the championship match. She also had six kills in the semifinal win over Cuba on Saturday.

Mckenna Wucherer celebrating with Team USA's U21 squad in MayGOPHERS HOLDING FACILITY TOURS ON JUNE 14
• Facility tours of Maturi Pavilion will be open to the public on Wednesday, June 14. There is no cost to attend. The tours will be approximately 15 minutes in length and will depart every 10 minutes from 1-4 p.m. Guests should enter from the main entrance on 19th Ave SE, which is the typical entrance for Gophers volleyball matches.

COACH COOK, CALISSA MINATEE WIN GOLD WITH U19 PAN AM CUP TEAM
• Gophers freshman middle blocker Calissa Minatee was one of 20 athletes selected for the 2023 Girls U19 NORCECA Pan American Cup roster. The team ended up winning gold on May 15 in Ciudad de Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico.
• Minnesota head coach Keegan Cook served as the U19 team's head coach, leading the U.S. Girls U19 National Team (5-0) to win its second consecutive Pan American Cup with a 3-0 (25-8, 25-18, 25-18) win over Mexico
• The U.S. did not lose a set in the tournament, going 5-0. Minatee scored four points on two kills and two aces in the gold medal victory.

Calissa Minatee and Coach Cook celebrate a Gold MedalGOPHER GREAT STEPHANIE SAMEDY MAKES VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE TEAM USA
• Former Gopher and five-time AVCA All-American Stephanie Samedy has been named to the 30-player USA Women's National Team roster for the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
• Volleyball Nations League is the world's premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round. Fourteen players from the roster of 30 will be selected to travel to each week's preliminary round matches.
• Competition begins May 31 in Antalya, Turkey and finishes in July in Arlington, Texas.

TAYLOR LANDFAIR ATTENDS BLACK STUDENT-ATHLETE SUMMIT
• Landfair traveled to the University of Southern California for the Black Student Athlete Summit on May 21-24, which is hosted by the university. She spent four days in Southern California connecting with professionals in the world of college sports to aid with career opportunities, meet other Black student-athletes from across the country, learn how to leverage athletic ability for success in the world of business, industry, or social impact, and more.
• Founded by Dr. Leonard Moore and powered by Playfly Sports, the summit will feature over 1,200 student-athletes, professionals and influencers with more than 170 colleges and universities represented. This year's summit included a career combine and pro day, plus sessions and forums featuring speakers such as Klutch Sports' Rich Paul, CNBC's Diana Olick, NBA Champion Matt Barnes and more.

Taylor Landfair at the Black Student-Athlete SummitBIG TEN MEDIA DAYS ROUND TWO
• Year two of Big Ten Volleyball Media Days will take place from Tuesday, Aug. 1 through Wednesday, Aug. 2 at the Big Ten Network Headquarters in Chicago, Ill. Coach Cook will be joined by junior outside Taylor Landfair and senior setter Melani Shaffmaster on the two-day trip as the Big Ten continues to show how much of a priority volleyball is in the conference.

FORMER ALL-AMERICAN LIBERO CC MCGRAW JOINS LOUISVILLE AS VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT
• The University of Louisville volleyball team announced the addition of CC McGraw to the Cardinals' coaching staff. The highly decorated libero from Minnesota joined the Cards as a volunteer coach.
• McGraw just ended her career as a Gopher with 1,924 digs, which ranks her No. 3 all-time at Minnesota. An outstanding student, she was an Academic All-Big Ten for four years, a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar in 2021-22 and a CSC Second Team Academic All-America in 2022.

LANDFAIR WINS FEMALE BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
• Taylor Landfair took home the 'Golden Goldy' last month for the Female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year award in the Minnesota Athletic Department.
• After missing most of 2021 to injury, Taylor bounced back in a big way in 2022. She was named Big Ten Player of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten and an AVCA First Team All-American,
• The VolleyballMag.com First Team All-America was also the AVCA North Region Player of the Year.

Taylor Landfair at the Golden Goldy's in May2023 TEAM NOTES
• The Gophers return seven athletes who started matches last year in the 2022 run to the NCAA Regional Semifinal. First Team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year Taylor Landfair and First Team All-Big Ten selection Melani Shaffmaster return to pace Minnesota in year one of the Keegan Cook era in Minneapolis.
• Starting middle Arica Davis (1.23 bps) and Freshman All-Big Ten selection Mckenna Wucherer (2.73 kps) will each see increased roles in their second seasons at Minnesota in 2023.
• The Gophers had two freshmen spring enrollees in outside/opposite Sydney Schnichels (Willmar, Minn.) and middle blocker Calissa Minatee (Kansas City, Mo.). Each was ranked in the top-50 nationally by multiple recruiting outlets and played in the Under Armour All-American game in early January.
• In 2022, the 'U' finished No. 10 in the final AVCA Poll, its eighth straight top-10 finish nationally.

Julia Hanson celebrates a point during the spring seasonSPRING 2023 SEASON
• Minnesota practiced from early January through April in the 2023 spring semester. Minnesota held an 11-player roster during the spring.
• The 'U' traveled to Hawai'i for a spring break trip from March 4-10. There, the Gophers played two scrimmages against the University of Hawai'i. Both were extremely competitive matches, with the Gophers taking away 3-2 victories each time.
• The Gophers defeated NDSU (3-0) in their third spring match. The 'U' mixed teams with Athletes Unlimited on April 4 at the Pav in a fun night that saw approximately 3,000 fans come out for the spring event. Highlights can be found here.
• Minnesota took on Kansas State in its final exhibition match of the spring at the end of April at Simpson College in Iowa. Scores were not released from this event.

GOPHERS COACHES WERE MIC'D UP
• Take a listen to head coach Keegan Cook, associate head coach Kristen Kelsay and assistant coach Eric Barber as they were mic'd up during the Athletes Unlimited event.

UP NEXT
Fall practice is set to begin on Monday, Aug. 7. The Gophers will host the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge starting on Friday, Aug. 25 to open the 2023 regular season

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

 

[Gophers_4life]

Not on scholarship!! Yet still featured in social media marketing. Can't make it up.

Unless the 3rd middle they signed or Grote aren't on scholarship. Assuming they are

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]