of Minnesota Gophers Play opens Friday night at the 27th NCAA Tournament in the school’s history, with Rounds 1 and 2 held at the Maturi Pavilion. The Gophers are the 8th seed nationally and the 2nd seed in Texas. Minnesota kicks off the tournament at 7 p.m. Friday night against SE Louisiana. When you win Florida Head to Northern Iowa at 7pm Saturday night for a trip to Round 16.
The Gophers capped off the regular season with a road win over a Top 10 opponent. Ohio and Nebraska. Those victories most likely guaranteed him hosting honors for the Gophers this weekend.
Minnesota also cleaned up when the Big Ten volleyball awards were announced on Wednesday. His sophomore in redshirts, Taylor Landfare was named Big Ten Player of the Year. Having bounced back from his two seasons plagued by partial injuries, Landfair has seen explosive growth this season. She led the conference and ranked among the top 20 nationally in both points (4.99) and kills (4.43) per set. She posted her 26 of her 10+ kill matches. This includes 19 of her 15+ kill matches and her 5 of her 20+ kill matches. Gopher is winning his third consecutive Big Ten POTY after Stephanie Samedi won the last two seasons. She is her sixth Gopher to win the award in the past eight seasons.
She made the All-Big Ten First Team alongside setter Melanie Schaffmaster and freshman middle blocker Carter Booth. Schaffmaster went all out for her 2022, not only did she record 10.48 assists per set, but she ranked 2nd in the Big Ten and 36th nationally. + Assists and 10+ digs, team-high He registered 27 aces and 2.75 digs per set ranked him second in Minnesota and 0.80 blocks per set ranked him fifth on the team in the middle, where he ranked first among non-blockers. Booth led the team and ranked sixth in the conference in blocks per set (1.41). She appeared in her 26 games, tallying 2.78 points and her 2.00 kills per set, posting a .379. 379 batting average ranks her one of the top 15 all-time for her season as a Minnesota player. She has posted her 121 blocks, including her 13 solo her blocks. She is the fourth true freshman for her Gophers to record her 100 blocks in her rookie season in the last 16 years.
Libero CC McGraw was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team and Booth joined fellow freshman McKenna Wucherer on the All-Freshman Team.
The Gophers, under Hugh McCutcheon, will take these players to their 10th NCAA Tournament. Minnesota has a perfect 17-0 in first and second round matches under McCutcheon, and all of those matches will be played in pubs, except for his Spring 2021 tournament in the Omaha bubble. . The Gophers have his 16-1 record at home in the NCAA Tournament, but the downfall is a loss to Oregon in the Round of 16 in 2018. Given that the Gophers didn’t make it to the Sweet 16 last time they qualified for the 2008 NCAA Tournament, it would be historic if the Gophers didn’t make it over the weekend.
Minnesota played a very demanding schedule this season heading into the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers have won his 8-7 against ranked opponents this year, and all eight of his non-conference opponents have made a 64-man field this season. Other than he added five Big Ten schools, the Gophers have played 16 of 28 games this season against teams that made him an NCAA field.
Minnesota begins the tournament against SE Louisiana. The Lions were Southland Conference champions, finishing the season with a 25-7 record. However, the Lions did not play against a single team on the qualifying schedule for the NCAA field. It will be the first NCAA Tournament appearance for the Lions. Leading them is Kailyn his Newsom, who has had 4.17 kills per set this season. Ansley Tallis in the backcourt he recorded 3.93 digs per set and Hannah Brewer added his 0.99 blocks per set. They have never faced Gophers.
Two other teams facing off at Pav include the region’s #7 seed Seminole, Florida and the Northern Iowa Panthers. The Seminoles won the high bid after going 19-10 in the regular season and finishing fifth in the ACC. FSU has been 18-23 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, most recently making it to the second round a season ago. The Seminoles have his 3-1 record in the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis. The Seminoles defeated Kentucky in the 2009 NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis before falling to Minnesota. In 2011, the Seminoles defeated Purdue, Iowa in Suite 16 and Elite Eight to punch a ticket to the program’s first and only Final Four. The Seminoles and the Gophers’ only common opponent was Florida, who in September he beat FSU 3-0 and the Gophers lost 3-1 to his Pav. Minnesota is 11-6 overall against the Seminoles as FSU beat him 3-0 in the final meeting of 2019.
Audrey Koenig leads the Seminoles with 2.93 kills per set, but FSU has three other players, all averaging over two kills per set. Emery Dupes led her FSU with 3.02 digs per set and Emily Ryan averaged her 1.08 blocks per set.
Northern Iowa won the season 26-7 in the Missouri Valley automatic bid. They’re hot at the right time, with 20 of their last 21 wins, including his 3-2 victory over Drake in the MVC Championship Game. UNI is playing in his 24th NCAA Tournament, with a career record of 15-23. Minnesota is his 20-6 all-time record against the Panthers, and his last matchup between schools came in 2017, when Minnesota finished 3-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at The Pub. 1 won. The only common opponents between schools this season are Iowa, where the Panthers lost to his 3-0 sweep and the Gophers easily swept 3-0 twice this season. Emily Holterhouse leads the team with 3.2 kills per set, Sidney Peterson leads the Panthers with 4.28 digs per set, and Curly Spies leads the team with 1.09 blocks per set.
All three of The Pav’s games will be streamed live on ESPN+ this weekend. Florida and Northern Iowa start at 4:30 PM, while Gophers and Southeastern Louisiana start at 7:00 PM. hereThe second round match between the winners will start at 7pm on Saturday night.All Minnesota games will be played on 96.7 FM or iheart radio app likewise.
The Minneapolis Quadrant winner will head to Austin, Texas for Round 16 and Round 8 next weekend. Texas is the #1 seed overall and #1 seed in the region. They eliminated Fairleigh Dickenson in the first round on Thursday night and will host Georgia in the second round on Friday night.
