The No. 9 ranked Gophers volleyball team has had quite the season this year. Some notable achievements include a September sweep against the defending NCAA champions, Wisconsin, and the now 50-game win streak against Iowa.
There is no denying the team is performing at an exceptional level this season. The Gophers are competing in a loaded conference with No. 6 Ohio State, No. 4 Nebraska and No. 3 Wisconsin. The Gophers are setting themselves up with great preparation before the postseason.
“It’s a particularly gnarly iteration, good athletes, good coaches and great crowds, so it makes it tough to be a competing team in the Big Ten,” said Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon.
The team’s efforts, however, would not be possible without the stand-out playing of individual players. Sophomore Taylor Landfair substantially leads the team with 324 kills while Jenna Wenaas’ 174 kills put her in second. Landfair is currently one of two players in the country to hit double digits in kills in every game this season.
Graduate student CC McGraw has also proven herself to be a valuable asset to the team. With 1,779 career digs, she is currently fourth for most digs in Gopher volleyball history. She is 91 short of third place, which is currently held by Dalianliz Rosado.
“The thing that is most noteworthy is the whole team’s commitment to improvement. We understand some individuals have garnered some recognition,” McCutcheon said. “But those are more ‘we’ awards than they are ‘me’ awards. It’s a reflection of our team’s performance.”
The team battled on the road against Wisconsin last week. Despite losing in four sets, teams are sometimes able to grow most from loss.
“We were able to make some changes and it paid off,” McCutcheon said. “The idea that we can play to this roster with the depth and talent that we have and put different lineups and get different outcomes is encouraging.”
The Golden Gophers will take on the Michigan Wolverines on Friday at Maturi Pavillion. The game will be broadcast on Big10+ at 6:30 p.m.
“I think we were firing on all cylinders, we had good serving, good passing, I think defensively we were doing well,” outside hitter Wennas said when talking about the Gophers’ early season matchup with Michigan. “Everything was working for us, so hopefully we can do that again on Friday.”
