Gophers junior outside hitter Mckenna Wucherer approaches each match with the poise and confidence that makes her one of the Big Ten's most feared outside hitters.

Not much surprises her on the volleyball court. One thing she didn't see coming was a return home to Milwaukee for a college match.

The 6-1 Brookfield, Wis., native was ecstatic last year, when the Gophers scheduled their 2024 season opener in the Volleyball Showcase at Fiserv Forum, only 15 minutes from where she grew up.

"I was literally blown away," Wucherer said.

A diehard fan of Milwaukee pro sports, Wucherer never dreamed of taking the floor for volleyball in the same venue where the Milwaukee Bucks play in front of 15,000 fans. The Gophers and rival Wisconsin are both facing No. 5 Stanford and No. 1 Texas, the defending NCAA champion, in their games on Sunday and Monday.

"Never in my four years would I have thought I'd get to go home," Wucherer said. "To just have that experience and memory throughout my four years is something I'll remember forever."

The No. 18-ranked Gophers are projected to finish fifth in the expanded 18-team Big Ten. A bigger role for Wucherer this season could help them make a jump from a 17-13 season that ended with a NCAA tournament second round loss to Creighton in Keegan Cook's first season as Minnesota's coach.

Cook's challenging the Gophers early with four matches on the road to open the season, including three in a row against ranked opponents. Seven of their first 10 matches are away from home.

Wucherer and the Gophers will see quickly where they stack up among the nation's best.

"She had a great spring and summer," Cook said. "This is a big moment for her. I think she's ready for it."

New-and-improved game

It's rare to find players as accomplished as Wucherer drastically changing their techniques after years of training, but she knew her service game desperately needed work this offseason.

In 2023, Wucherer had only nine aces in 51 attempts. Her ace to error ratio (0.18) ranked at the bottom of the Big Ten for players with at least 30 games played.

"Last year was kind of a mental block for me," Wucherer said. "I had way too many service errors and I understood that."

Wucherer was one of 19 players selected to the U.S. women's college national team, which trained alongside the Olympic team earlier this summer in Colorado Springs. Team USA coaches recommended making tweaks to her serve, and that made a huge difference.

"The biggest thing at the USA gym is they told me to start with my arm down instead of high," Wucherer said. "I wanted to change so bad to get a new view of the game."

After returning from Colorado, Wucherer implemented that new serving style with the Gophers and felt "more of in an attacking rhythm," she said. Watch out, Big Ten.

In her first two seasons, Wucherer was at her best when attacking the net. She ranked second on the team with 2.73 kills per set while earning All-Big Ten freshman honors in 2022, former coach Hugh McCutcheon's final season. She led the U with 3.23 kills last year despite often being the No. 2 option behind former Big Ten player of the year Taylor Landfair, who transferred to Nebraska.

With Landfair gone, this is Wucherer's chance to lead and emerge into an all-conference performer.

"The three things I talk to her about is we need her to be composed, connected to her teammates and be courageous and take big swings," Cook said. "She's done the work."

Sticking with Gophers

The hard-hitting Wucherer committed to the Gophers in the eighth grade in 2018. She remained loyal to that decision after bigger offers came during her All-America prep career at Brookfield Central.

Even after McCutcheon's abrupt move to an administrative role last year, Wucherer never considered entering the transfer portal. She was encouraged by Cook's prior success at Washington, including multiple Pac-12 titles and a Final Four appearance in 2021.

"Hugh left a very big impact on me, but I knew Keegan had a very good resume at Washington and was legit," Wucherer said. "I decided to stay because he was a very highly touted coach, so that was not a question."

Last season, Wucherer started strong early under Cook. She won MVP of the Big Ten/Big 12 challenge, which included the Gophers beating TCU and No. 15-ranked Baylor at Maturi Pavilion. She also had a career-high 21 kills in an upset against No. 6 Oregon.

Miranda Wucherer, a former Gophers player and graduate assistant last year, said her sister wanted to take the next step in her development and take on more of a leadership role on the team.

"She's been overly committed to the program, the people and just the state and the university," said Miranda who is now coaching at Northern Kentucky. "There was a tough moment and an opportunity to jump ship to play somewhere else, but she's had too much love and investment in them."

While attending a Bucks game with her sister last December, Mckenna Wucherer showed love for her hometown NBA team wearing a Damian Lillard jersey that she got as a Christmas gift.

As cool as that moment was for her, Wucherer was even more excited seeing promotions about the Volleyball Showcase featuring the Gophers and others coming at Fiserv this week.

There's no better stage for the Gophers to begin the year than for Wucherer to be back in Milwaukee at one of the marquee events to kickoff the women's NCAA volleyball season.

"I'm so excited for myself and the sport as well," Wucherer said. "A lot of young girls who hope to be in our shoes one day are going to want to come and watch."