Minnesota Golden Gophers2022 Record: 22-9
Conference Record: 15-5 (T-3rd)
NCAA Tournament Placement: Regional Semifinal (L, 1-3 vs. Ohio State)
Final AVCA Ranking: 10
Head Coach: Keegan Cook (1st year at Minnesota)
Record at Minnesota: 0-0
Returning Starters | Departures * - 2022 Starter () - Transfer Destination | New Additions () - Transfer Origin |
Arica Davis - JR - 5'11 MB
Taylor Landfair - R-JR - 6'5 OH
Melani Shaffmaster - SR - 6'3 S
Mckenna Wucherer - SO - 6'1 OH | Carter Booth* - SO - 6'7 MB ()
Naya Gros - 6'3 MB
Ellie Husemann - SR+ - 6'3 MB ()
Rachel Kilkelly* - 5'9 DS/L
Jenna Wenaas* - SR - 6'1 OH/RS ()
Miranda Wucherer - 5'9 S | Phoebe Awoleye - SR - 6'2 MB ()
Lydia Grote - SR - 6'2 OH/RS ()
Calissa Minatee - FR - 6'1 MB
Kylie Murr - SR+ - 5'6 DS/L ()
Zeynep Palabiyik - FR - 5'4 DS/L
Sydney Schnichels - FR - 6'4 RS
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2022 Results:Minnesota started the 2022 season with a tour of Texas (not to be confused with a club volleyball event of the same name). A pair of impressive takedowns over Baylor and TCU on the psychedelic frog court immediately got things on the right track.
The first stumble came in Austin, however. Minnesota kept things interesting throughout but fell in four sets to the eventual national champs.
A home debut against Florida was a victorious outing for the Golden Gophers. Another resume-building win followed against Oregon. Soon after, though, an unsightly loss against Stanford halted any positive momentum from the weekend.
The home loss to Pepperdine was even worse. Though the Golden Gophers responded with a win over Washington State, the team headed into conference play seeking some consistency. These results were all over the place.
Things certainly didn't stabilize in the first weekend of conference play. Minnesota got swept in a road match against Purdue, went back home to Maturi, and swept defending national champion Wisconsin. Once again, we saw constant oscillations between spectrums of Minnesota that were incredibly good and unbelievably lackluster.
And the rollercoaster kept running. Following the triumph against Wisconsin, the Golden Gophers were stunned by Northwestern at home. Then, after compiling a three-match win streak, Minnesota produced another home dud against Ohio State.
As the season progressed, Minnesota bettered its win column by taking care of conference foes it was supposed to beat. Getting revenge on Purdue surely boosted morale. Wisconsin found vengeance of its own, though, and a Penn State road trip ended in defeat.
The national narrative around Minnesota took an interesting turn on the last weekend of the regular season. The Golden Gophers faced a daunting road trip to Ohio State and Nebraska but managed to turn that sub-par scenario into two wins. Some readily proclaimed that the Golden Gophers were the hottest team in the country.
The NCAA Tournament would be the ultimate test of course. Minnesota steamrolled through its sub-regional and now had a rubber match against Ohio State in the regional semifinals. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes managed to play Londot ball all the way to a four-set victory.
But perhaps the biggest storyline of the season came several weeks prior to postseason play. Minnesota Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon announced mid-season that he would step away from coaching at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign. McCutcheon, who piloted the Minnesota program for 11 seasons, has moved to an administrative role at the university while the Gophers tabbed Washington's Keegan Cook to lead Minnesota into the future.
2022 Lineup:There's a lot to digest if you're looking to get the full story behind Minnesota's 2022 lineup.
Let's start with the constants and devolve into chaos from there. Melani Shaffmaster was Minnesota's setter, as she had been since her debut season with the Golden Gophers. Her physicality at the setter spot is always an advantage, though opinions of her setting have been mixed.
Outside hitter Taylor Landfair casually returned from lingering injuries and produced a first-team all-American season. Her scoring numbers led the entire conference. She is indispensable and a constant force regardless of rotation.
CC McGraw embarked on her fifth year in the Minnesota libero jersey. She also had a familiar face next to her with multi-year starting DS Rachel Kilkelly back in the mix.
For most of the year, Kilkelly would sub into the back row to replace freshman left-side hitter Mckenna Wucherer. But Wucherer started the year on the bench with an injury and was brought into action until Minnesota's home match against Pepperdine.
Before Wucherer's emergence, we saw returning junior Jenna Wenaas at her familiar spot as a six-rotation left side. Julia Hanson and Lauren Crowl got chances to prove themselves on the right. Inserting Wucherer into the lineup as an outside hitter suddenly shifted Wenaas to the right for the bulk of 2022. It was as if Minnesota's best three pin hitters were all left sides and someone had to take the fall. Wenaas remained in a six-rotation role but had her share of struggles offensively. Crowl saw a few more reps here and there.
But the murkiest position of all was middle blocker. Any of the four middles listed above could be denoted as starters. They all started an appreciable number of matches. The most consistent starter was freshman Carter Booth, who played in 29 of 31 matches and started 26 in the M1 slot next to Shaffmaster. Booth's blocking numbers were the best all-time among Minnesota freshmen, and she found her stride on the offensive end in the second half of the season.
The other middle blocker spot was occupied by a triumvirate featuring returning senior Ellie Husemann and intra-conference transfers Nya Gros (Michigan State) and Arica Davis (Ohio State). Cataloging all the middle permutations would require an encyclopedia. Most of Husemann's starts came in the first half of the season. Most of Gros's on-court time was in October. Davis closed out the season as the starter, so I chose to denote her as the starter among the three. It's also conceivable that Davis could have had more starting reps if it wasn't for lingering injuries.
---2023 Projected Lineup:Cook has a solid foundation to build on this season, but the Golden Gophers will have uncertainties to address.
The positives: Shaffmaster returns to run an offense that also brings back both left sides in Landfair and Wucherer. As long as Landfair can stay close to her 2022 form, that's a trio that can win some big matches when everything is clicking.
Davis is back in the equation at middle blocker. Additional injury-free reps could help her find more consistent production.
Then, we get into the new and the unknown. Minnesota's fanbase had a persistent mantra during the offseason: where are the defensive specialists? Both McGraw and Kilkelly depart, leaving this year's Golden Gophers with no liberos who have started in a Minnesota uniform. The 2023 signing class didn't have any liberos, either. That made it doubly important for Minnesota to land Ohio State graduate transfer Kylie Murr, who will join the program for a one-off season. Her defensive skills garnered her Big Ten
Libero Defensive Player of the Year honors with the Buckeyes, but passing remains an up-and-down experience. The contrasting jersey is all hers, though.
Minnesota took some initiative from Wisconsin and signed a Turkish libero very late in the cycle. Zeynep Palabiyik will have a quick turnaround to deal with but could crack the lineup if things go well. The Golden Gophers now have three total defensive specialists with junior Skylar Gray also in the mix. How Minnesota chooses to manage its backcourt will be under a microscope this year. Landfair is a lock for six rotations, but it gets fuzzier after that.
That's because Wenaas, Minnesota's other all-around pin last year, has left for the Longhorns. A gap is now open at opposite and could be filled by Cal transfer Lydia Grote, freshman Sydney Schnichels, or the aforementioned Crowl. I'll favor Grote, who had to singlehandedly keep the ship afloat in Berkeley.
And now we've got the middle blocker vacancy. Booth has joined the other side of the Border Battle. One contender to play across from Davis is Phoebe Awoleye, a senior who is now at her third school in four years (Georgia, Loyola Marymount). KC-area freshman Calissa Minatee will also vie for a starting role. It's also worth monitoring which middle spot gets filled by whom, given that Booth was such an impactful M1. Either you move Davis to that spot or you entrust it to a transfer or a freshman.
2023 Schedule:Minnesota's newcomers will be thrown right into the pressure gauntlet.
This year's non-conference slate features some familiar foes from past seasons. Baylor and TCU are coming to the Pav, and so are the Longhorns. A massive early litmus test.
Florida awaits in Gainesville. The Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge will be hosted by Stanford as the Cardinal and Oregon are back on the schedule. Finally, Minnesota hosts its only two new opponents in the pre-conference slate as High Point and Creighton arrive for the Diet Coke Classic. These are always good teams for the RPI docket, though a win over the Bluejays is no guarantee.
Big Ten play follows:
2023 Outlook:This is a conversation of "ceiling and floors" that hinges on a variety of unknowns.
However, that core trio of Shaffmaster, Landfair, and Wucherer is, on its own, enough to keep Minnesota in the Big Ten's top tier. The challenge for first-year head coach Keegan Cook is to blend together the new pieces in a way that can hopefully match last year's level of play--at least, match the
good version of Minnesota.
Because, honestly, this ceiling-versus-floor dichotomy is nothing new for Golden Gopher fans. It's great to imagine what Minnesota could be if Murr steps in well at libero, leaders emerge at opposite and middle blocker, and ball control comes together nicely. But one of those elements could also go awry. What does Minnesota look like then?
Hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament is still a very realistic goal in 2023. How soon we forget that this hosting privilege was in jeopardy early last year. Where this team finishes in the postseason is anyone's guess, especially with how wildly inconsistent Minnesota's postseason play has been for the past several seasons. Maybe that changes under Cook.