Melani Shaffmaster was reminded just how long she’s been with the program Friday, when she glanced at teammates walking by during Gophers volleyball media day.
The fifth-year senior setter is the last player left who played on the Elite Eight team in 2021.
Shaffmaster is also among a handful of players remaining who played meaningful sets on a Sweet 16 team in former Gophers coach Hugh McCutcheon’s final season in 2022.
The Gophers made a late run in coach Keegan Cook’s first season in Minnesota, with 10 wins in the last 14 matches to finish 17-13 and make the NCAA tournament second round last year. They will open a new season Sept. 1-2 at the Volleyball Showcase vs. Stanford and Texas at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
An All-Big Ten setter the past two seasons, Shaffmaster ranks No. 8 all-time in the program with 3,973 assists, but she didn’t come back an extra year for more individual accolades. Her goals are to achieve more team success after playing in two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight in her career.
“At the end of the day, we’re at a very good volleyball school,” Shaffmaster said. “It’s a shaky transition for any team that does a whole entire coaching staff switch. But I don’t think it should be different [expectations] between coaches.”
Mckenna Wucherer, the team’s returning leader in kills per set (3.24), felt more comfortable sticking with the Gophers last year after the coaching change because of Shaffmaster’s presence.
“We both stayed through the hard times,” Wucherer said. “I think that’s huge. I kind of look up to her that way. She stayed through the adversity and will turn out on the better side of it.”
