Month: August 2025

The Gophers sweep of Ball State, 25-16, 25-18, 25-15, was just as dominant as the previous evening’s 3-set sweep of Cal Poly – except that the Gophers didn’t give Set 1 to the Cardinals , like they did with the Mustangs. Through the past 6 sets, the Gophers have looked like a top 16 team taking care of business against mediocre teams. And I expect this to continue tomorrow vs the Tommies. Which raises the question, what the heck happened during that bad Set 1 vs Cal Poly? The obvious answer, which we know isn’t always right, is that we played our true-freshman Opposite Gilk the entire match. 

As I mentioned in my summary of the Cal Poly match, Crowl was replaced, late in that dismal first set. I assumed, at the time, that Crowl had been benched because of her complete ineffectiveness. I saw Crowl’s dejected body language on the bench as Gilk played great, but the idea that Crowl had been injured had not occurred to me. Today however, Crowl was in sweats, presumably injured late in yesterday’s Set 1. I don’t know anything about Crowl’s injury, or how serious it is, but Gilk’s answer was clear, “It doesn’t matter much because I’m the starting Opposite.” Figuratively of course, I don’t imagine she said that to Crowl. But I think it’s true. I feel bad for Crowl, second string for 4 years, and maybe now a fifth.

Back to today’s match, the big story was the balance of Stella’s highly efficient (.523 as a team) attack:

• Hanson recorded 12 kills on 19 swings and zero errors (.632);
• Acevedo recorded 11 kills on 18 swings and 1 error (.556); 
• Gilk recorded 9 kills on 18 swings and 2 errors (.389);
• Minatee recorded 7 kills on 11 swings and 2 errors (.455);
• Myers recorded 5 kills on 9 swings and zero errors (.556); and even
• Taylor recorded 4 kills on 7 swings and zero errors (.571)

Victories are more important than stats, but in an early match against a lesser team, we couldn’t ask Stella to do anything better than to get 6 of her 7 hitters (Kinney barely played) contributing. And we have every reason to believe that this sort of balance will not be a fluke, but rather a signature of our ‘25 Gophers. Okay, I’ll ask one more thing of Stella: Get your serve in (she had 3 of the Gophers’ 4 service errors).

The freshmen also led the squad in blocks, with 6 of the Gophs 8-block match. Gilk had 3, Taylor had 2 and Stella 1. I still think Taylor will break into the starting line-up eventually , but Minatee and Myers are holding the door for her.

And I would be remiss not to mention the Gophs outstanding “floor game” (i.e., the serve-receive and overall digging). Hanson recorded the only serve-receiving error of the match. (Could you imagine such a thing these last few seasons.) I thought Palabyiyk had 1 poor receive and Acevedo a couple), but our passing was terrific. Even much better teams than Ball State are going to be frustrated with this Gopher team’s ability to over and over again dig-up what looked like strong kill attempts.

Reader NP became a GopherVBRock reader last season, and was recently inspired to attend the first volleyball match of his life.

I (John, here) find  it interesting that this VB-novice immediately picked up on the “team aspect.” The first bar-league VB team I organized was a bunch of guys I played bar-league softball with. Softball is a summer sport, outdoor broomball is a short season, and they weren’t interested in basketball, so I was able to talk them into VBall. Though some thought they had, I was the only one who had played real VBall, and though several were excellent athletes, we were a terrible team those first couple of years. Halfway through the season, desperate to be slightly more competitive, I brought in a “ringer” from another team I was on. At the bar after his first match (we were slaughtered as usual) he politely asked if any of them had ever played team sports. The immediate response was, “Of course, we’re an excellent softball team.” The Ringer’s response was, “So that’s a no?”

NP’s report: I attended the Gopher Volleyball game for their home opener Friday against Cal Poly. This was not only the first Gopher Volleyball game I ever attended, but probably the first volleyball game I ever attended, period. The first I can recall anyway. 

Volleyball is not completely foreign to me. I have seen Olympic sand volleyball, and more recently, even caught snippets of collegiate games on TV, but not enough to have anything sink in. 

So, my first takeaway from being there in person watching every serve, bump, set, and spike, is just how much of team game six verses six really is. That probably seems like an obvious point for those familiar with the nuances, but my main exposure to volleyball up to this point had been being forced to play the game as part of middle school gym. I enjoyed playing volleyball, but the inability of those I have ever had the pleasure of playing with to bump, set, spike as intended meant it was not much of a team game. 

Being nine rows up from the action also made me appreciate the speed in which the game plays out, and the reactions times needed to get things flowing. This is something a bit lost on TV. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why the first set went so badly for the gophers compared to the last three, but given how fast-paced the action is, I couldn’t help think there wasn’t much room for error– as would be true of any sport played at a really high level. Just the timing of a jump and a set seemed to require the utmost precision, and that precision being key to trajectory, which to this layman seemed to result in how returnable or not a hit would be. And that the deciding factor of a set comes down to momentum, which team was maintaining it and which team was killing it. 

Lastly, I enjoyed the atmosphere in the arena. It’s not the biggest arena, there weren’t tens of thousands packed  in screaming their heads off, but the energy was palpable throughout. Even following set one. It was especially palpable once the Gophers started rolling.  

I, and presumably many GopherVBRocks readers entered the Pav for the Home Opener vs Cal Poly with high expectations of our ‘25 Gophs – only to see them get drubbed 17-25 in Set 1. A set in which our defense looked decent, especially Myers blocking, wall-like at times, and the great digging of our triple-Libero defense. But our pin-offense (Hanson, Acevedo & Crowl) was barely visible. Acevedo recorded  zero kills on 5 swings, Crowl recorded 1 kill and 1 error on 11 swings, half of them dinks ( a combined .000 for the pair of them). And even Hanson with 3 kills got one of the from the back row and one on a dink (easier for Hanson to score on a dink than Crowl because the opponent fears her power), so almost nothing from our pins.

As expected, and as he had done in the season opener vs Texas A & M, Coach Cook started the match with Acevedo at Leftside and Crowl at Opposite. But it didn’t take him long to plug the freshmen in to stop the bleeding, Gilk for Crowl and Kinney for Acevedo. WOW, what a difference! Gophs in four, 17-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-17.

The highly rated Kinney came in at the tail-end of Set 1 and went on to record 9 kills and 1 error on 20 swings, for a solid .300, but it was Gilk, starting Set 2, who stole the show with 11 kills and 3 errors on 18 swings, for a very impressive .444! Hanson picked up the pace, finishing with 21 kills and 5 errors on 47 swings, for a strong .340. Maybe Hanson wasn’t fully warm to begin the match, or maybe she had some tough luck in Set 1. But the obvious explanation for her turn-around was Hanson feeding off the freshman energy, plus not needing to carry the team by herself.

We shall see how this plays out in non-conference matches to come, freshmen are freshmen, and Cal-Poly’s isn’t ranked (be interesting to see how they do vs St. Thomas & Ball State these next 2 days). But it seems like the question of which of our pins can produce has been answered: Hanson, Kinney and Gilk The thought goes through my mind, did Cook wait too long? Should he have pulled the trigger early in the Texas A & M match? But then I remember Hanson not getting the opportunity to play front row during her entire freshman and sophomore years, National Player of the Year Sara Wilhite riding the bench her entire freshman year, and #1 recruit in the country Landfair struggling and benched repeatedly during her freshman year – all under Coach McCutcheon. Cook displayed a much quicker trigger than I can imagine from McCutcheon.   

Remember that Stella is also a freshman, as is Garr, playing the role of second-DS, so our 9-woman lineup that dominated Cal Poly in Set 2 through 4 included 4 freshmen and only 2 seniors (Hanson & Myers). And that doesn’t included Jordan Taylor, who impressed the heck out of me during the recent 19-U World Games. Could this be a freshman-dominated squad that gets better and better as the season progresses?

Okay, take a breath John, it will be a season of ups and downs. But I left the Pav flying high. 

Speaking of Middles, I expected, and clearly implied in previous postings, that Taylor would, of our 4 true freshmen, be the first to crack the line-up. But she didn’t step on the court during tonight’s match. Neither Minatee, with 10 kills, zero errors on 15 swings (.667) plus 1 block, and Myers, with 9 kills, 2 errors on 23 swings  (.304) and 2 blocks, opened the door for the freshman Taylor. I still expect, before the season ends, that Taylor will have her own burst into the starting lineup moment (likely for Minatee), because of Taylor’s blocking prowess. But Taylor may have to work harder at it than Gilk & KInney did tonight. 

And one more thing about Myers’ performance. Myers recorded 2 official “blocks” over 4 sets, which probably doesn’t sound amazing. But remember that an official “block” in V-Ball is only awarded when it results directly in a kill. It doesn’t count the times (I’d swear it was twenty) that Myers negated Cal Poly’s kill attempts. There was a volley in Set 1, where Myers stuffed the ball back in a Cal Poly hitter’s face on 3 consecutive swings. Cal Poly was able to keep the play alive each time, but take it from me, 3 consecutive stuffs can get in a hitter’s head. I think Myers is a keeper, productive on offense and defense. That’s why I see Taylor replacing the undersized and less productive-on-defense, Minatee.

And last but not least, let’s talk about Stella. I had suggested, in my pre-season postings, that we would miss Shaffmaster’s offense, her blocking,and her leadership, but Stella recorded 7 kills & zero errors on 17 attempts (along with 48 assists). 7 kills would have been a better than average match for Shaffmaster, and I strongly doubt that Shaffmaster ever finished a match with 17 attempts. Stella, in the second D1 match of her career, was very attack-minded. And I think the leadership will come.

Stella also played a huge role in the production of our Middles; 19 kills on 38 swings in 4 sets might be more than any match in Shaffmaster’s 5 seasons as our Setter. In fairness to Shaffmaster, the first passes Stella was getting from our 3-Libero receive was much better than what Shaffmaster was working with, but either way, I think it is safe to say that Stella is going to engage our Middles much more frequently than what we’ve seen in recent years.

THE UGLY: It was far from a perfect night, even Sets 2 through 4:

• Our serving was terrible, 12 errors vs 2 kills, Hanson and Myers were particularly bad. If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know that I favor aggressive serving, but a 2 to 11 ace-to-error ratio will kill us against good teams. The bright spots tonight were Thibault, with 1 of the 2 aces and a long serving-run in Set 4, and Garr with the other ace and multiple serves that kept Cal Poly “out of system.” 
• We continue to be inept on putting away opponent’s “over-passes” (the play where the opponent accidentally plays the first or second ball over the net where we can  attack it). The Gopher web-site doesn’t track this sort of detail, nor can I while watching live, but our effectiveness on over-passes is pitiful.
• Although Stella is off to a great start setting quicks and slides to our Middles, her connection with Hanson on back row sets continues to need work. 

All in all, an exciting and encouraging Home Opener.

NEXT UP : Tomorrow (Sat) we host

• Ball State at 5:00, and  
• St. Thomas on Sunday at 3:00 

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REVERSAL OF FORTUNES

I, and presumably many GopherVBRocks readers entered the Pav for the Home Opener vs Cal Poly with high expectations of our ‘25 Gophs – only to see them get drubbed 17-25 in Set 1. A set in which our defense looked decent, especially Myers blocking, wall-like at times, and the great digging of our triple-Libero defense. But our pin-offense (Hanson, Acevedo & Crowl) was barely visible. Acevedo recorded  zero kills on 5 swings, Crowl recorded 1 kill and 1 error on11 swings, half of them dinks ( a combined .000 for the pair of them), and even Hanson with 3 kills got one of the from the back row and one on a dink (easier for Hanson to score on a dink than Crowl because the opponent fears her power).

As expected, and as he had done in the season opener vs Texas A & M, Coach Cook started the match with Acevedo at Leftside and Crowl at Opposite. But it didn’t take him long to plug the freshmen in to stop the bleeding, Gilk for Crowl and Kinney for Acevedo. WOW, what a difference! Gophs in four, 17-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-17.

The highly rated Kinney came in at the tail-end of Set 1 and went on to record 9 kills and 1 error on 20 swings, for a solid .300, but it was Gilk, starting Set 2, who stole the show with 11 kills and 3 errors on 18 swings, for a very impressive .444! Hanson picked up the pace, finishing with 21 kills and 5 errors on 47 swings, for a strong .340. Maybe Hanson wasn’t fully warm to begin the match, or maybe she had some tough luck in Set 1. But the obvious explanation for her turn-around was Hanson feeding off the freshman energy, plus not needing to carry the team by herself.

We shall see how this plays out in non-conference matches to come, freshmen are freshmen, and Cal-Poly’s isn’t ranked (be interesting to see how they do vs St. Thomas & Ball State these next 2 days). But it seems like the question of which of our pins can produce has been answered: Hanson, Kinney and Gilk The thought goes through my mind, did Cook wait too long? Should he have pulled the trigger early in the Texas A & M match? But then I remember Hanson not getting the opportunity to play front row during her entire freshman and sophomore years, National Player of the Year Sara Wilhite riding the bench her entire freshman year, and #1 recruit in the country Landfair struggling and benched repeatedly during her freshman year – all under Coach McCutcheon. Cook displayed a much quicker trigger than I can imagine from McCutcheon.   

Remember that Stella is also a freshman, as is Garr, playing the role of second-DS, so our 9-woman lineup that dominated Cal Poly in Set 2 through 4 included 4 freshmen and only 2 seniors (Hanson & Myers). And that doesn’t included Jordan Taylor, who impressed the heck out of me during the recent 19-U World Games. Could this be a freshman-dominated squad that gets better and better as the season progresses?

Okay, take a breath John, it will be a season of ups and downs. But I left the Pav flying high. 

Speaking of Middles, I expected, and clearly implied in previous postings, that Taylor would, of our 4 true freshmen, be the first to crack the line-up. But she didn’t step on the court during tonight’s match. Neither Minatee, with 10 kills, zero errors on 15 swings (.667) plus 1 block, and Myers, with 9 kills, 2 errors on 23 swings  (.304) and 2 blocks, opened the door for the freshman Taylor. I still expect, before the season ends, that Taylor having her own burst into the starting lineup moment (likely for Minatee), because of Taylor’s blocking prowess. But Taylor may have to work harder at it than Gilk & KInney did tonight. 

And one more thing about Myers’ performance. Myers recorded 2 official “blocks” over 4 sets, which probably doesn’t sound amazing. But remember that an official “block” in V-Ball is only awarded when it results directly in a kill. It doesn’t count the times (I’d swear it was twenty) that Myers negated Cal Poly’s kill attempts. There was a volley in Set 1, where Myers stuffed the ball back in a Cal Poly hitter’s face on 3 consecutive swings. Cal Poly was able to keep the play alive each time, but take it from me, 3 consecutive stuffs can get in a hitter’s head. I think Myers is a keeper, productive on offense and defense. That’s why I see Taylor replacing the undersized and less productive-on-defense, Minatee.

And last but not least, let’s talk about Stella. I had suggested, in my pre-season postings, that we would miss Shaffmaster’s offense, her blocking,and her leadership, but Stella recorded 7 kills & zero errors on 17 attempts (along with 48 assists). 7 kills would have been a better than average match for Shaffmaster, and I strongly doubt that Shaffmaster ever finished a match with 17 attempts. Stella, in the second D1 match of her career, was very attack-minded. And I think the leadership will come.

Stella also played a huge role in the production of our Middles; 19 kills on 38 swings in 4 sets might be more than any match in Shaffmaster’s 5 seasons as our Setter. In fairness to Shaffmaster, the first passes Stella was getting from our 3-Libero receive was much better than what Shaffmaster was working with, but either way, I think it is safe to say that Stella is going to engage our Middles much more frequently than what we’ve seen in recent years.

THE UGLY: It was far from a perfect night, even Sets 2 through 4:

• Our serving was terrible, 12 errors vs 2 kills, Hanson and Myers were particularly bad. If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know that I favor aggressive serving, but a 2 to 11 ace-to-error ratio will kill us against good teams. The bright spots tonight were Thibault, with 1 of the 2 aces and a long serving-run in Set 4, and Garr with the other ace and multiple serves that kept Cal Poly “out of system.” 
• We continue to be inept on putting away opponent’s “over-passes” (the play where the opponent accidentally plays the first or second ball over the net where we can  attack it). The Gopher web-site doesn’t track this sort of detail, nor can I while watching live, but our effectiveness on over-passes is pitiful.
• Although Stella is off to a great start setting quicks and slides to our Middles, her connection with Hanson on back row sets continues to need work. 

All in all, an exciting and encouraging Home Opener.

NEXT UP : Tomorrow (Sat) we host

• Ball State at 5:00, and  
• St. Thomas on Sunday at 3:00 

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Not a total surprise as I had suggested this in a recent post, but The Wooker, whose back has not healed, will not play this season, delaying her final year of eligibility to next year. Wooker was a higly rated recruit in ’21, an All Big Ten Freshman in ’22, first string All Big Ten in ’23, and started off great in “24. But then, in September of last year, she injured her back, and has never been the same. Now she once again has almost a year of recovery ahead of her. The ’25 Gophers have depth at Leftside, but it is not clear that we have anyone that can perform at the level that Wooker did when she was completely healthy. We hope this works.

In 4, hard-fought, never a big lead for either team, sets, 23-25, 25-21, 21-25 & 21-25. We don’t think of Texas A & M as a marquee team in volleyball, but they opened the season ranked #9, they are a senior-dominated team led by a pair of legitimate stars, and were the better team tonight in Sioux Falls. I think the Gophers can play better, and I believe the Gophers will play better.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES: Coach Cook has some challenging decisions to make, here’s what I saw.       

• Stella looked good. No obvious signs of first-match jitters. She wasn’t really setting Hanson that well for back-row attacks (resulting in too many free-balls), but we saw better Middle-Offense than we have seen in recent years, 15 kills in 4 sets by my count. And Stella’s blocking was better than I expected
• Minatee certainly appreciated Stella’s setting with 10 kills, 7 of those on “quicks.”
• Myers added 5, 4 on “slides,” plus 1 quick and 1 on an overpass.
• Star Freshman Taylor did not play (she might have served once). Hard to criticize our Middle-offense, especially Minatee’s, but I had Minatee and Myers with 1 block each. I think we need the taller Taylor in the lineup for her defense.
• Our serve receive and overall passing was definitely better than last year, with Thibault (getting the nod at D.S.) having several great digs.
• Hanson was great, as expected. I had her with 15 kills, 13 from the leftside and 2 backrow. (No tips.) But I don’t think her hitting % was great; I think we need to see more than just power from Hanson. (Maybe Stella can help by mixing up her sets.)
• Acevedo played well, and likely cemented her role as one of our two starting Leftsides, I had her with 10 kills, including one from Rightside.
• Wooker did not dress. Reader R.A. reports (below) that Wooker is healing but not quite ready. If she was recovering from an injury in July or even June, I would find this encouraging. But it’s been almost a year since she hurt her back – sort of hard to believe that another couple of weeks will make a difference. A red-shirt-year, maybe?
• Crowl was, unfortunately, Crowl. She played 3 sets and had one kill. And more than one hitting error, so a negative hitting percentage for the match, And her one kill came directly after one of her hitting errors – I don’t think the Aggies believed that Stella would set her again. nd she tips too often. To start Set 4, Cook benched Crowl for Kinney.
• Kinney had 2 kills in limited action. If tonight is an indication, Kinney could become our starting Opposite.

Our serving was poor. I counted 11 service errors vs 3 Aces, As I’ve said before, I’d be happy with an 1 to 1 ratio, maybe even 7 to 6 or something similar. An 11 to 3 ratio can make a difference in close matches, and it did tonight.

NEXT UP: Three home matches against unranked teams:

• Friday, 6:00 vs Cal Poly
• Thursday, 5:00 vs Ball State
• Sunday, 3:00 vs St. Thomas

PRIVATE PRACTICE INSIGHTS

Last week GopherVBallRocks Reader and frequent contributor R.A. had the opportunity to attend a “Private Practice.” (I didn’t know this was a thing.) This is his report:

Stella and Julia were top notch.  Alex started shaky, but was stronger as day progressed.  Defense and S-R were still good, but maybe not as stellar as against alums.  Zeynep and Katie were good at saving balls away from and in front of them, but I felt that they both struggled with balls straight at them.  Coach spent 10+ minutes hitting hard balls straight at Katie in succession, an indication that he agrees.

Coach also worked with Stella and opposites AFTER practice to get her to set balls closer to the net.  Good stuff.  We stayed a half-hour longer than anyone before we were asked to move along.

My friend confirmed with a coach at the scorer table that Wooker is still recovering from a back injury, thus they are moving her into play gradually, expecting her to be fine for matches. I think Wooker is the Wild Card on this team.  If she can return to earlier form, this will be a much better team.

Based on how Coach used people today: Stella, Zeynep and Julia for sure.  Other probable starters: Wooker (I hope!!!), two of three from Taylor, Lourdes and Calissa (I can’t decide), and Katie (maybe Garr).

Crowl, Gilk and Kinney were all solid off the bench.  Acevedo looked good vs alums, but not right away. This is a very solid team.  Another chance to hear Coach speak to a small group on Sept 14.

The waiting is over. This Monday, at 7:30 on BTN,  our 2025, # 11 ranked Gophers will open the season with a neutral-site AVCA First Serve match in Sioux Falls, South Dakota versus the # 9 ranked Texas A & M Aggies. This is a road-trip I would love to make, but due to a medical appointment the next morning, it won’t be possible. I will be watching it on BTN and reporting, of course. (If any GopherVBallRocks reader is planning to attend, please let me know.)

The Aggies are led by senior standouts Opposite Logan Lednicky and Middle  Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, both named to the 2025 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Player of the Year Watch List, 

DEPTH CHART HEADING INTO SEASON OPENER

SETTERS: (play one)

#1 6-1 red-shirt Freshman from Wayzata, Stella Swenson . Stella is THE Gopher setter. Period. She might sit a point here or there in matches where the Gophers win the first two sets and establish a commanding lead in set 3, but barring injury (and Stella will play at 90%), it is conceivable that she will play every point in every set this season. Despite her freshman status, THIS IS STELLA’S TEAM, and in one sense, the 2025 Gophers will be as good, or great, as Stella.

 #10, 6-1 Jr Transfer (Rutgers) from Phoenix, Georgia Lee. Lee was recruited (and presumably given a full ride) to be available off the bench if, heaven forbid, Stella is injured.

 #11, 5-9 red-shirt-Jr from Vancouver, B.C. Chloe Ng. The scenario in which Ng would be on the floor for a meaningful point would be if Stella is unavailable and the Gophers shift to a 6-2 rather than putting it all on Lee. 

LIBEROS: (play three?) Note that “Defensive Specialists” are second string Liberos; the difference being court-time. Our Libero will play 11 of the 12 half-rotations, our starting DS will play 5 or 6 of the 12 half-rotations, and (new this year) our #3 Libero will play 1 or 2 of the 12 half-rotations.

#12, 5-4 Jr from Istanbul, Zeynep Palabiyik. Palabiyik improved significantly from her freshman to sophomore season to earn the Libero role, and will likely retain this lead role throughout the season. She is also the emotional leader of the team.

#6, 5-4 Jr, from Watertown, Kate Thibault. Following an up & down ‘24 season, Thibault will begin the ‘25 season as DS

#5, 5-7 Fr from Rush City, McKenna Garr. I haven’t seen enough of Garr to be certain, but it would not surprise me if she pushes Thibault for the #2 role.

LEFTSIDE HITTERS: (play two)

#22, 6-1 Sr from Savage/Prior Lake, Julia Hanson. After watching from the bench during her Fr & Soph seasons, Hanson exploded into stardom and First-Team All Big Ten Honors last season. She could be even better during her Senior season. Hanson is also the team’s only proven back-row hitter.

 #3, 6-1 Sr from Wisconsin, McKenna Wuchere, AKA, “The Wooker.”  Wooker was brilliant during her Sophomore season and began her Jr season at the same level – and then injured her back, and was never the same. If fully recovered, Wooker is capable of playing as well as Hanson. But it does not appear that she is fully recovered, and it is questionable if she can contribute.

#33, 6-2, Fr from Florida, Kelly Kinney. A true freshman, Kinney may struggle to adjust to the level of Big Ten play, and she could begin the season as the Gophers’ fourth option at Leftside. But she is an excellent server and THE BEST SERVE-RECEIVER ON THE TEAM, which could elevate Kinney to a starting 6-rotation role by mid-season. (If not at Leftside, maybe at Opposite?) 

#24, 6-2 red-shirt-Soph from Idaho, Alex Acevedo. Acevedo finished the ‘24 season as a starting Leftside, and she might start the opener vs Taxes A & M in this role, but I rate her as our fourth option, in part because her serve-receive is so weak, not as good as Hanson’s or Wooker’s, and not even close to Kinney. If Wooker is 100% healthy, Acevedo will play little. If not, Acevedo will, in a sense, compete for playing time with the Gopher Opposites, meaning that if she can out-perform Crowl and Gilk, Kinney could slide to Opposite, leaving Acevedo as a starting Leftside.

#13, 6-3 red-shirt Fr from Wayzata, Olivia Swenson. Olivia was a good H.S. player, and I have no doubt that she is a wonderful young woman. But from what I have seen, she does not appear to be a D-1 quality player. I presume that she was offered a full or partial scholarship as an enticement for Stella to sign with the Gophers. (If Stella is as good as I think she is, this was a wise decision by the Gophs.)

OPPOSITES: (play one)

#4, 6-4 red-shirt-Sr from Eagan, Lauren Crowl. Crowl is big, strong, and multi-talented in that she is a capable hitter, capable blocker, capable server, capable digger – and not the worst serve-receive on the team. The cautionary note on Crowl, which leaves her role on the ‘25 Gophs in question, is that she has not, during her first four years in Maroon & Gold, consistently excelled at any of these skills. She looks good hitting from the right side, but her hitting percentage has been underwhelming. In Crowl’s defense, she played two seasons behind the amazing Steph Samedy (see Samedy news, below), and two seasons behind the excellent Lydia Grote and has never had the opportunity to show what she can do as our everyday Opposite. Crowl will get that chance during the upcoming eleven-match non-conference schedule; let’s hope she rises to the opportunity.

 #7, 6-2 Freshman, from Brooklyn Park, Carly Gilk. If Crowl does not take control of the Opposite position, the freshman Gilk will be next up. Like Crowl, Gilk is left-handed, making Opposite her natural position. She is also an excellent passer/serve-receiver. She was a dominant player in last fall’s State H.S. Tournament

Kelly Kinney . I see Kinney at Leftside and Gilk at Opposite as a strong combination for the Gophers in ‘26 and beyond. But Kinney, though right-handed, has played more Opposite than Leftside during her high school and club career. If Wooker and Hanson are both healthy, this will leave scarce playing time for other Leftsides. In this scenario, the talented Kinney could easily become another option at Opposite.

MIDDLES: (play two)

#15, 6-5 Freshman from Houston, Jordan Taylor. Taylor has the length and the aggressiveness to dominate the net, and I will be disappointed if she does not achieve All Big Ten status at some point during her Gopher career. This honor may not come this year, as the transition from high school and club to the Big Ten can be tough. We’ve seen talented players struggle as freshmen. But I think Coach Cook will give Taylor the chance to play through a few mistakes.

#20, 6-3 Grad-Transfer (Purdue) originally from Ohio, Lourdes Myers. Myers has probably played more sets in Big Ten competition than anyone on the Gophers’ ‘25 roster, and this type of experience can be very valuable. I think this gives Myers the edge over Minatee

 #8, 6-1 Jr from Kansas City, Calissa Minatee. Minatee is under-sized, and she was inconsistent last year. But inconsistent means flashes of brilliance, and finished the season strong. Minatee is the Gopher’s lone incumbent at this position, and she could rank higher on Coach Cook’s depth chart than she does on mine.

THINGS TO WATCH FOR ON MONDAY

• How much will Wooker play during the non-conference schedule? And how much will she resemble the 2023 Wooker?
• There is a strong likelihood that the addition of the freshmen Garr, Gilk and Kinney will give the Gophers a far better serve-receive and better overall  passing than we’ve seen in recent seasons. Will this show up immediately or will we need to be patient? And watch for that 3-Libero rotation – likely when Garr comes in to serve for Wooker.
• I also expect to see more offensive production from our Middles, not just because of different personnel at Middle, but because Stella is quicker and smoother than Shaffmaster, creating more opportunity for our Middles.
• It would be a lot to expect a freshman, even a red-shirt freshman, to demonstrate the leadership we saw from Shaffmaster these past two seasons. But this is Stella’s Team now. How long will it take before she demonstrates the leadership we’ll need?
• Keep your eye on the explosive freshman Taylor Jordan.

SAMEDY BUSY

Why was Steph Samedy a no-show for last Saturday’s Gopher Alumni Match? Maybe because she has made the U.S. Women’s National Team for the 2025 FIVB World Championships starting tomorrow in Thailand. Samedy is one of two Opposites on a 14 woman team including 3 members of last year’s U.S. Olympic Team. Which I interpret this as a hint that Samedy will be a member of the ‘28 Olympic Team.

To be clear, our #11 Ranked 2025 Gophers swept our Gopher Alumni squad in 4 straight sets. I was expecting it to be closer, but I was also expecting current U.S. National Team member Steph Sammedy and current Puerto Rican National Team member Dali Santana to play. Which they did not. Hannah Tapp was dressed for the Alumni, and looked as fit as ever, but played sparingly. Samantha Seliger-Swenson-??? was on the Alumni bench, in sweats, apparently about 8 months pregnant.

In fairness to the Alumni, they came back from losing Set 1 and getting crushed in Set 2 to play the ‘25ers close in Sets 3 & 4. Looking good for the Alumni squad were Leftsides Sara Wilhite and Alexi Hart, Middle Tori Dixon (a bit heavier than I recall), Libero Dalialisa ?? and Setter Kelly Bowman. Other Gopher Alumni played with spirit and the squad was augmented with two “ringers” from the Puerto Rican National Team. 

QUESTIONS AND MORE QUESTIONS

But only 9 days from the opening match of the ‘25 season, vs #9 Ranked Texas A & M, winning this historic exhibition was less important than gaining insight into the lineup choices Coach Cook has made – and still needs to ponder.

MIDDLE: 

• Incoming True Freshman Jordan Taylor is the Real Deal! Fresh off leading the U.S. U-19 team to a Silver Medal at the World Games, she was absolutely the dominate player in today’s match. Consistently aggressive when on the court, Taylor will definitely be one of our 2 starters.
• Transfer (from Purdue) Lourdes Myers started the match and played well. Watching this, I was thinking that Myers would be our other Middle, but then
• Calissa Minatee, the lone “returner” of the trio, also played well.
• This could be the first season since the Tapp Sisters that we feel good about two Middles.

SETTERS: 

• Red-shirt Freshman Stella Swenson is also the Real Deal! It’s too early to say if she will be as good as Samantha, but I think there’s a chance.
• Transfer back-up Georgia Lee played half of one set and looked better than she did during the Spring Exhibitions. Tough to recruit a strong player to sit on the bench and wait for Stella to get hurt, Lee is probably as good as we could expect.
• If it were me creating a Plan B, I’d think about a 6-2 using Lee and one of our 3 Liberos.

LIBEROS:

• No question that Zeyneb Palabyik will at least start the season as the starter, with
• The Junior Kate Thibault and true Freshman Mckenna Garr as D.S.s. (We may have reached our legal limit on McKennas on one team.)
• Also no question that we will sometimes see all three on the court at the same time. 

OPPOSITE:

• Fifth year senior Lauren Crowl rode the bench for two years behind Steph Samedy, and two more years behind Lydia Grote. Crowl is a good volleyball player, capable of hitting, blocking, serving, and even the occasional dig, but she’s no Samedy and no Grote. Will this be her year? She played the first three sets this afternoon and looked good. Not Samedy/Grote GREAT, but Good. I feel certain that Crowl will be our starting Opposite in 9 days vs Texas A & M, and if she plays consistently as well as she did today, she will remain our Opposite through the season. There are options if Crowl does not deliver, and one of them is 
• True Freshman Carly Gilk. What I saw today was what I saw during this past Springs exhibition season: Gilk seems less effective than Crowl at blocking, about equal to Crowl at hitting, and better than Crowl at passing.

LEFT-SIDES:

• Senior Julia Hanson was All Big Ten last year, and was named Pre-Season All Big Ten going into this season. There is no question that Hanson, our only legitimate back-row attacker, will be one of our two starting left-sides again this year. 
• After that, I have no clue who will get the most playing time at left-side this season.
• Red-shirt Sophomore Alex Acevedo finished last season as a starting Left-Side, and she started and played the first two sets today, suggesting, perhaps, that Coach Cook sees her as our other starter. But she was inconsistent last year, and did not impress me today. She serves well, but she is a mediocre hitter (reader R.A. disagrees) and was less than mediocre at serve-receive. Even if she hits well enough to play a lot of front row, I cannot see her being a regular part of our serve-receive this year.
• The Wooker is back! Well, sorta. Two years ago, she was outstanding. Last year she was injured most of the season. She was great early last season – before the back injury. She didn’t help us sitting on the bench in sweats, and when she played, she wasn’t full-throttle. Today, she warmed up as if to play, but sat the first two sets. She played Set 3, but then sat again in Set 4. I thought she looked great, not vintage Wooker maybe, but better than Acevedo. The brief appearance, however, tells me she isn’t quite healthy.
• And the mix also includes the highly-rated True Freshman Kelly Kinney. Kinney was also a U-19 team Silver Medalist last month, where she contributed some, but not nearly as much as Taylor did. There is also the question of her best position. Though right-handed, she has played Opposite most of her career so far, and played as much Opposite as Left-side on the U-19s. But today, she played Left-side, and looked great in both of the sets she played. Kinney hit well, she blocked well, she served great, even better than Acevedo, and she is terrific on serve receive. We can’t deploy 3 Liberos in every rotation, and I think Kinney is probably the best receiver of all the hitters on the squad. Gilk is pretty good, Hanson, Wooker and Crowl have all improved from their freshman seasons, but I could see Kinney receiving her way into a six-rotation role by season’s end. That could be as our #2 Left-side because Wooker is not 100%, or maybe she ends up at Opposite instead of Crowl? I could be wrong, but I think Coach Cook played her at Left-side today knowing that Wooker may not be ready when the season starts, and he doesn’t trust Acevedo. If Wooker is healthy, Kinney might end up taking Crowl’s job.

Reader R.A,. weighs in: Gophs were nearly perfect against skilled alumni team.

Defense may have been the finest feature keeping play alive (Z and Katie, most memorably) — remarkable saves, including many last-second pancakes on good shots by alums, plus nearly flawless serve-receive and solid back row play by all, previously a problem. Serving was a new strength, several players having improved technique to deliver balls that dropped quickly, generating more aces than I recall in any prior matches. Few serving errors. Middles wowed with powerful slides, iron-curtain blocks, and kills that mostly dropped inside 10-foot line or hit the opponent. Hanson, Acevedo and Crowl were all very strong at the posts. The Wooker also did very well in what was surprisingly limited play ???

Stella lived up to early hype, both with spot-on sets and several quick kills like Melani delivered. I was especially impressed by one set as she fell off the side at the net and delivered a ball ALL THE WAY to the opposite sideline for an easy kill just above the net! I had wondered about preseason #11 ranking. Not anymore. Every indication ours is a very solid team with many good players. I was wowed.

Reader G.H. was shocked to see the Gophers at #11 in the pre-season poll. But I’m not. We’ll miss Shaffmaster’s leadership and we’ll miss Grote’s great Opposite play. But if Hanson plays like she did last year, if  Wooker is healthy, and if our serve-recieve and setting is as good as I think it will be, this squad should definitely be better than last year’s 13 & 7 in the Big Ten. And at least a Sweet Sixteen team.

HOW ‘BOUT THOSE LYNX?

They have one legitimate superstar – who hasn’t played in several games – and they’re crushing the WNBA. I don’t want to take anything away from the outstanding play of this collection of nobody-else-wanted-ems, but coaching has got to be part of it.