(Sorry this took me so long to write.) Let’s start with the shaky assumption that everyone eligible to return, or scheduled to arrive, will do so, and that “Portal” related news will be strictly positive.
FIRST AN INVENTORY: We definitely lose Shaffmaster, Grote, Awoleye, McGhie and Gray – all out of eligibility. At a minimum, Shaffmaster, Grote, and Awoleye, all key contributors on the 2024 starting line-up, need to be replaced. (McGhie and Gray’s contributions were less significant, except, though seldom used in this role, McGhie was our back-up Setter, and we have to have one of those.)
Retained from 2024 (hopefully) are starters Wooker, Hanson, Minatee and Palabiyik, and reserves Acevedo, Crowl, Thibault, Schnichels, Engeman and Ng. 2025 freshmen include Stella and Olivia Swenson (“redshirted” this past season), plus incoming freshmen:
- Outside Hitter Kelly Kinney;
- Opposite Carly Gilk;
- Middle Jordan Taylor; and
- Libero McKenna Garr.
Plus two portal acquisitions:
- Grad-student Middle Lourdes Myers
- And Junior Setter Georgia Lee
We can’t be sure how much last year’s starters will improve (but it is reasonable to expect some improvement), and even less about how good, or how ready, the freshmen will be, or how helpful the transfers will be. But in theory we have every position covered. (Doesn’t mean we’d turn down more help from the portal.)
POSITION BY POSITION
Let’s start with SETTER, generally considered the most important position on a volleyball team, and clearly the biggest switch from ‘24. For multiple reasons, I have a high degree of confidence in Stella Swenson:
1. She looks to me like the second coming of sister Samantha, a 3-time All-American. I saw Samantha play a couple of times in high school, and I’ve seen Stella play a couple of times in high school, and I can’t tell them apart.
2. High school ball to college ball is a big jump (less so now that elite HS players play on elite Club Teams at National Tournaments), and I wasn’t sure if Samantha would be ready for the Big10 as a freshman – but she was. And Stella has had an entire extra season practicing with the team as a healthy red-shirt.
3. Last Spring, I saw 3 of the Gophers’ 4 “exhibition” matches. In each match, Coach Cook played only Shaffmaster in Sets 1 & 2, played Shaffmaster and McGhie in Set 3, and Stella in Set 4. I saw no drop-off in the Gopher Offense in Set Four.
4. If I was Coach Cook, and if I had any doubts about Stella being ready to be our Setter next season, I would have used her as Shaffmaster’s back-up (Stella is clearly better than McGhie) this past season. The fact that Cook chose to redshirt Stella tells me that Cook wanted to preserve Stella’s 4 years of eligibility because expects her to become a star.
Stella brings a different skill-set than Shaffmaster, but not a lesser one. She may struggle a bit next year, and be better in ‘26. But with all due respect for Shaffmaster, I think that Stella, assuming that she stays healthy and sticks with the program, will eventually run a stronger Gopher offense than Shaffmaster did. I expect her too be ready.
Georgia Lee, who appeared in 29 matches for Rutgers these past two seasons, will compete with Ng, who appeared sparingly for the Gophers, for the critical when-you-need-one role of back-up in case of injury or illness to Stella. Lee, who started for Rutgers against USC, UCLA, Michigan State and Purdue in 2024, looks to be a good replacement for McGhie.
SERVE-RECEIVE is next on my mind (given our struggles in recent years). Most teams employ a 3-player receive, and the weakest of the 3 gets targeted most frequently by opponents, making a teams’ serve-receive only as strong as the weakest of their 3 receivers. During the ‘21 and ‘22 Seasons, for example, the Gopher receive included Wenaas, who was so good that she rarely saw a receive, McGraw who was pretty good, and Landfair, who was picked on without mercy. We lost Wenaas to the Portal between ‘22 and ‘23, and it hurt us more than losing Booth or Landfair. Then we lost Landfair to the Portal for ‘24, and while we missed herpower hitting, I hoped it would cancel out the loss of Wenaas. But it didn’t; receiving remained the weakest part of our game.
We started ‘24 using Wooker, Palabiyik, and Hanson, later mixing in Thibault and Acevedo, these 5 taking 91% of the seasons receives. Palabiyik handled the most, which might make her seem like the weak-link, targeted by opponents. But not really; Palabiyik was on the floor for every receive all season (no one else was), and Palabiyik typically covered the gaps between herself and teammates. Palabiyik is not yet the receiver that Wenaas or Murr was, but she was not the weak-link. Hanson was mediocre, Wooker (playing hurt) was bad, and Acevedo worse. Washington U wasn’t a great team, at 9 & 11, finishing well behind our Gophers in the Big 10, but they embarrassed us in 4 sets on our home court because we couldn’t receive a serve. Painful to watch.
I expect our ‘25 receive to be much better. Libero Palabiyik, whose receive was decent, and D.S. Thibault, whose receive got better as the season went on, will be challenged by McKenna Garr, a three-time All-Stater and finalist for Miss Minnesota Volleyball, who led her Rush City High team to three straight state tournament appearances, and was named an AAU Nationals All-American. If Garr plays herself into our starting receive, as Libero or D.S. that should make our receive better. And if not, it should mean that Palabiyik and Thibault have improved enough to out-perform this talented newcomer.
But our receive will also include an outside hitter. I assume that Hanson, a terrific back-row hitter will be a 6-rotation player for the ‘25 Gophs, but that doesn’t mean she will necessarily be a standard part of our receive, and if she is it will because her receiving has improved. The lineup will include two other Outside Hitters who could challenge for a receiving role.
- Freshman Outside Hitter Kelly Kinney is the highest nationally-rated among our Class of ‘25, and is well regarded for her passing as well as her hitting. I haven’t seen her play, but passing is considered one of her strengths. (And her passing “highlights” are good.) So she seems a strong candidate – if she wins a starting role as a hitter..
- Opposite Carly Gilk was a Miss Minnesota Volleyball finalist, the No. 1 ranked player in Minnesota in the 2025 class, the 2024 Star Tribune Player of the Year, and, as I saw with my own eyes at the State HS tournament, a terrific passer. So she also seems a strong candidate – if she wins a starting role as a hitter.
- Crowl and Schnichels, the other candidates for starting Opposite, could also compete for a role on serve-receive. Crowl is decent but not great. I haven’t seen enough of Schnichels to have an opinion.
- Wooker was good enough to be part of our (poor) serve-receive during the ‘23 season, and she’ll be a senior next fall. If she’s healthy, who knows what she could do?
- Acevedo’s serve-receive did not impress this past season, but she was a red-shirt freshman, first year with the team. Maybe she’ll improve dramatically.
If I had to guess right now, I’d guess that our 2025 receiving corps will include Palabiyik, Garr, Hanson, and either Kinney or Gilk – and be significantly improved from these past two seasons.
LEFTSIDE HITTERS: We should be returning all 3 of our Leftsides from ‘24, and adding a highly rated freshman. I expect spirited competition for the two starting positions.
- Hanson, a senior coming off a First Team All Big 10 season, is the obvious favorite as one of the starters. She’s “only” 6-1, but her terrific vertical creates the potential for “shock & awe” hits. She also hits effectively from the back-row, making her a likely 6-rotation player, regardless of whether she continues as part of our serve-receive. Her blocking and digging were both mediocre, but she’s really only played one season of college volleyball (it is hard to explain why she didn’t get more opportunity during her freshman and sophomore seasons), so she ought to be better in ‘25.
- Wooker is the other incumbent. She had a disappointing season in ‘24, because she was injured all season. She did the best she could. She is a very good volleyball player; if she is 100% healthy this fall, I expect her to be the other starting Leftside.
- Acevedo showed flashes of excellence as a Leftside , this past season, and was the Gophers most consistent strong server. But she also looked overwhelmed at times, especially as a serve-receiver. But she was a red-shirt in her first season of college ball; she could show enough improvement to earn a starting role.
- And then there’s Kelly Kinney, a “wild-card.” The #11 rated recruit in the country, the 6-2 Kinney led her club team to a National Championship this summer, played on the U19 National Team in 2023 and 2024, and participated on the 2023 U21 National Team at the FIVB World Championships. And as mentioned above, she is supposed to be a strong passer as well as a Hitter.
I say wild-card” for a couple of reasons. 1) Unlike Gilk, Taylor & Garr, Kinney is not yet enrolled at Minnesota, and given that she is the most highly-rated of our incoming freshmen, I worry that she might still be looking at other offers. (Let’s hope not.) And 2) Kinney is listed as “Outside Hitter” because she has played both Leftside and Opposite, so what position will Kinney play as a Gopher (assuming she’s really a Gopher)? If she turns out to be our strongest Opposite in ‘25, might she play there her freshman year, and move to Leftside in ‘26 when Hanson & Wooker have both graduated? If I was Coach Cook, I’d be disappointed that Kinney isn’t on campus for Spring Practice.
OPPOSITE will be interesting, and not just because of Kinney. We have enjoyed terrific Opposites for 7 of the past 8 seasons. From 2017 through 2021, we had six-rotation, five-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, Steph Samedy (right-handed), who has since won championships in the world’s premier pro-volleyball league (the Italian Serie A1) and Club World Championships. In 2022. Then we had Jenna Wenaas, playing out of position. And these past two seasons, we had Lydia Grote. Grote wasn’t as good as Samedy, but she was First Team All Big Ten this past season (second team in 2023). So this has been a position of strength. The competition to replace Grote should be spirited.
- Lauren Crowl, a 6-4, left-handed, fifth-year senior, is the most experienced. Height is more important for an Opposite than a Leftside (more blocking opportunities), and left-handed is a huge advantage when hitting from the rightside. And yet, Crowl has ridden the bench for 4 years behind Samedy, Wenaas and Grote. Hanson rode the bench for 2 years behind Landfair and Wooker, then blossomed into a star when given the opportunity to play regularly; could Crowl be another Hanson?
- Sydney Schnichels, a right-handed, red-shirt sophomore, is, like Crowl, 6-4, and like Hanson and Kinney, was very highly-rated coming out of high school. I feel like Schnichels has a better chance to blossom into a star than Crowl – but I’ve only seen Schnichels play a partial set here and there, and don’t really have any sense of what she can do,
- I did have the chance to watch Carly Gilk play in this past November’s State HS Tournament (Class AAAA), and was very impressed. The left-handed (Opposite is definitely her D1 position) Gilk hit effectively from Opposite, Middle, Leftside and Backrow. Gilk is 6-2 (as was Grote) and was the strongest serve-receiver I saw in the Tournament (I did not see Garr), so she has 6-rotation potential.
- And there’s Kinney. (see above)
MIDDLES: Our Gophers have not had even one (we’d like two) consistently strong Middles since Regan Pittman graduated. (Pittman never used her covid-bonuus year of eligibility, and 24 yr-old Gable Steveson is wearing Maroon and Gold again, so… Unfortunately, Pittman is playing pro ball.) Taylor Morgan had an explosive vertical, Katie Myers was a strong server, Phoebe Awoleye was a strong blocker, and Carter Booth looked like a future super-star (but seems a disappointment for the Badgers). But none produced consistent Middle offense. To be fair, consistent Middle offense requires a strong serve-receive (which the Gophers haven’t had of late) and a top-notch setter (which the Badgers don’t have). Could Gilk and Garr and Stella bring back our Middle Offense?
- Calissa Minatee, a 6-1 (too short?) Junior, was one of our two ‘24 starters (due to limited competition), and likely to start again in ‘25. Minatee showed flashes of brilliance early in the ‘24 season, including 7 blocks in the season-opener against Stanford, 9 kills and 6 blocks in the upset of Texas, 11 kills and 4 blocks at Baylor, and 11 kills in our first match with Wisconsin (vs the 6 inches taller Booth) – and then largely disappeared. I do my own scorekeeping, and there were nights when Minatee played the whole match (i.e. half of it, a 3-rotation player) and barely showed up on the scoresheet. She also got benched on occasion.
There was no indication of an injury. Did Minatee lose self-confidence? Did Shaffmaster lose confidence in Minatee? Did opponent scouting reports negate her limited repertoire (mostly slides)? I don’t know. But given that she will likely play a lot for the ‘25 Gophers, we need to see significant improvement. (Not impossible from sophomore to junior year.)
- Portal-transfer Lourdes Myers seems the best guess to replace Awoleye as the other starting Middle for the ‘25 Gophers, coming off a strong ‘24 season with Purdue. (Not sure the reason, but the Boilermakers, a better team than the Gophs in ‘24, lost 4 players to the portal – the other 3 going to 2024 Final Four Teams.) Though she may not have been the Boilermaker’s best, the 6-3 Myers hit .356 for the season and posted 4-or-more blocks 16 times, and 6-or-more blocks 4 times, and finished 25th in the Big Ten in blocks per set.
- Incoming freshman Jordan Taylor might be the one with the most potential upside. Taylor did not come out of H.S. as highly rated as some of her Gopher teammates, but she was three-time All Conference, three time Conference Blocker of the Year, and 2023 All-Greater Houston First Team. She’s 6-5 (you can’t coach that) and described as “physical.”
- Kali Engeman, last year’s portal acquisition, from Georgia Tech (where she didn’t start either), was last year’s “Third Middle.” I wasn’t expecting Engeman to be much of a solution when Awoleye or Minatee were stinking it up so bad they got benched; and she wasn’t – but she wasn’t any worse, and maybe Awoleye or Minatee needed the benching. [As always, I should note that Engeman is a Dean’s List student and no doubt a fine young woman – and a pretty good volleyball player – you’d be glad to have her on your team at the Y. But picking up bench-jockeys from Georgia Tech is not a path to a Big 10 Championship.]
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP (This will make me look stupid, but here goes):
The ‘25 Gophers will certainly play a 5-1, plus Libero & D.S.
- SETTER – Stella Swenson
- LIBERO – Palabiyik
- DEF. SPECIALIST – Garr
- OPPOSITE – Kinney
- LEFTSIDES – Hanson and Wooker
- MIDDLES – Minatee & Myers
OVERALL FORECAST:
Hanson, Schnickles, Stella and Gilk were all the #1 rated Minnesota prospects in their graduating classes. Some readers may not be impressed, as the State of Minnesota does not have the population of California, Texas, etc. But MN has long been a girl’s volleyball hot-bed. (Our youth “select” teams are consistently competitive in National Tournaments.) And unlike football and basketball, the ‘25 Gopher volleyball squad will include the very best our state has produced. This alone is a reason for optimism.
Assuming they stay relatively healthy, the 2025 Gophers will be better than the 2024 Gophers. We’ll miss Shaffmaster’s kills and leadership, but Stella’s quickness should compensate. Our Rightside Hitting may not be as consistent as what Grote provided, but I expect our Leftside Hitting to be better. I expect our Middles to be about the same. The big improvement should be in our floor game, especially our serve receive. Some combination of Palabiyik, Thibault, Garr, plus Kinney, Gilk and maybe a healthy Wooker has got to give us a better serve receive than what we had in ‘24. Given that serve receive was the weakest part of our game in ‘24, and given that serve receive is critical to an effective offense, even improvement from below average to above average should have a big impact on our win-loss record. We also will have respectable depth.
MISCELLANEOUS: The Gophers recently announced the addition of Nellie Coleman (Spicer) as the volleyball team’s General Manager. This may raise questions like “Huh?” “Who was it before?” and “What does a GM do?” Answers: We never had one or needed one before, and her job will be deciding who gets how much NIL money.