Month: September 2026

What, one might ask, is valiant about losing at home, 20-25, 20-25, 25-23 & 25-27, to a lower ranked Oregon team? Let me explain. 

After a pair of 20-25 sets, neither of which felt that close, I was certain the Gophs would be swept – and I was planning my headline: NO WOOKER, NO CHANCE. Wooker, who hit an amazing 5.21 kills-per-set during the non-conference season, had one kill in each of the first two sets, and 3 service-errors – clearly not the same Wooker we had been watching.

Then the Gophs won a tough Set 3, helped by 4 kills by Wooker. And then appeared to take a 26-25 lead in Set 4, led by 9 kills by Wooker. I was thinking REVERSE SWEEP. But I say “appeared to take a 26-25 lead” because when Hoecke hit a ball that seemed to go out off of an Oregon touch, at 25-25, every Gopher on the floor immediately signaled touch. The ref didn’t call the touch, but Coach Cook quickly challenged the call. After a lengthy study, the call stood. I won’t blame the loss on bad officiating – because slight touches are hard to see and probably the toughest video-replay in all of sports.

Let’s go back to Wooker. How could she have been so dominant in previous matches, so bad in tonight’s first 2 sets, and then again super-effective in Set 4? My theory: I think she injured her back during Thursday’s match vs Illinois. I haven’t seen this reported anywhere, and certainly not on the official Gopher Website – it never would be. But I’m pretty sure.

The first clue was the play vs Illinois, when Wooker collided with another player and went down. It was barely visible on TV, but Wooker stayed down for a while. I immediately worried that it was her back. The BTN+ announcer explained that Wooker had injured her leg – but remember, it was BTN+. Wooker eventually got up — but didn’t play well after that.

Tonight’s first clue was when the Gophers began the match with Wooker in the front-right position – requiring her to rotate to the back-row on the first side-out. Instead of starting left-front as she usually does – the logical position for any team’s star hitter.

Additional clues were when Wooker rotated back to the front-row, Stella set everyone but Wooker. When Stella finally set Wooker, Wooker kept dinking. When Wooker finally attacked the ball, she looked okay but kept hitting it way long – likely caused by having slightly less vertical than she is used to.

And each time she went down, diving for a dig, or after a collision, she got up – slowly. Volleyball players are trained to pop up quickly, and generally do. But not Wooker tonight.

So how did she improve so dramatically in Sets 3 & 4? This I am less sure of, but I have some ideas. There is a brief intermission between Set 2 and Set 3, and this was when Wooker’s play changed. She began getting kills by cutting the ball very sharply, sometimes referred to as a 4 to 4 hit, as opposed to blasting away and daring the over the blockers to stop her. Then a combination of confidence and adrenaline overpowered her pain. Or maybe the Trainer gave her an injection – perfectly legal and ethical.

The Wooker we saw during the non-conference season was the best Wooker we’ve ever seen. The Wooker we saw during tonight’s Sets 1 & 2 was the worst Wooker we’ve ever seen. And the Wooker we saw during tonight’s Sets 3 & 4 reminded me of Wooker early in the 2024 season – when she was pushing through the pain.

So how did the rest of the team play tonight? Somebody must have been playing well for the Gophs to have even been in Sets 1 & 2 without their best player. For the match:

• Freshman Middle Hoecke had 9 kills (7 slides and 2 over-passes) with one error on 19 swings (.421), 3 blocks, and 2 aces – 1 for the winning point in a close set 3.
• Sophomore Middle Taylor had probably her best match as a Gopher, 6 kills (5 quicks, 1 slide) with zero errors on 11 swings (.545), and 9 blocks. That’s a combined 15 kills with one error on 30 swings (.467), and 12 blocks – certainly the best performance by a pair of Gopher Middles since the Tapp sisters graduated.
• Sophomore Leftside Kinney had 15 kills, including 4 dinks, with 3 errors on 36 swings (.333) and 1 block. 
• Freshman Crossen subbed in for Gilk at Opposite, not Crossen’s natural position, early in Set 2. She initially looked tentative at the net, and then made two bad serve-receive errors. But then she caught her breath and went on to get 8 kills with 3 errors on 23 swings (.217). 
• Pre-season All-Big Ten Opposite Gilk got the hook early, 2 kills with 3 errors on 7 swings (minus .143) and 1 service error. I wonder if she’s hurt?
• I didn’t think that Stella was setting very well in Set 1. Causing our hitters, even our Middles, to dink too much. It seemed obvious to me that she was avoiding Wooker, probably because Stella knew Wooker was hurt, and maybe that threw Stella’s game off.  Her setting got better as the match wore on.

The match included several looong volleys, with both teams keeping the volley going when it appeared to be over. Good volleyball.  

NEXT UP: 

Unranked Northwestern, Thursday, 7:00, at the PAV, on BTN+ 

And

#6 Ranked Wisconsin, Sunday, 5:00, at the PAV, on BTN.  

READER ADDRESSES QUESTION:

GopherVBRocks reader and frequent contributor R.A. attends “VB Insider meetings” hosted by Coach Cook, and reports that “Coach is holding out injured players,” meaning Acevedo and Minatee, “until Oct. 15 to give them time to fully heal.” And R.A. suspects that Coach thinks he also doesn’t need them until then.”

JOHN: Thanks for this RA, it answers some of the questions I’ve been posing. And obviously the health and safety of these young women is a high priority. But a specific date on the calendar (I think Oct. 15 is when my property taxes are due) seems a bit arbitrary, and not tied to their rehab progress. It seems surprising that Acevedo and Minatee would both be “fully healed” simultaneously. I have no inside info regarding their health, but I’m thinking, given our 0 & 2 start, that IF either is “fully healed,” we might need them sooner than later.

I said at the end of my write-up of the SDSU match, and again in my Big Ten Preview, that tonight’s Big Ten Opener was a must-win match. My logic was that with 10 of our Big Ten opponents nationally ranked, we need to sweep the 7 who aren’t ranked – Illinois being one of them.

But we lost in four, 22-25, 25-14, 18-25 & 22-25. As the scores suggest, Sets 2 and 3 were sort of lop-sided (the Gophs led 5-2 in Set 3, but fell behind 9-12 and never threatened after that). Sets 1 and 4 were full of drama.

Set 1: Illinois started the match with a pair of  aces. Then, with the score about 5-5, Wooker went down. They didn’t show her going down, and my first thought was that her back went out. The BTN+ announcer said it was her knee, but who trusts a BTN+ announcer? After a delay, Wooker got up, and had two quick kills. We outhit the Illini decisively in Set 1, something like 15 to 8 – difficult to lose a set like that. But we gave away the set, and ultimately the match, with horrendous serving: zero aces vs 6 errors in Set 1.

Set 4: With the set tied at 5-5, we got caught in our weakest rotation – the receive where Kinney is hitting right-side (she’s stronger left-side), Taylor Middle, and Gilk is hitting left-side, where she is less effective – and Stella reluctant to feed her. I’ve been bragging about Wooker’s back-row hitting, and she should be an option from back-row in this rotation,. But I think she was 0 for 2 from back-row tonight. We fell behind 7-10 before, ironically, Gilk nailed a left-side kill to escape the rotation. From there, we basically traded side-outs until falling behind 16-20. Facing defeat, we rallied to take a 22-21 lead, mostly with Garr serving behind a front-row of Wooker, Taylor and Gilk. I felt we were headed for a Set 5 – until we weren’t.

For the match, we outhit Illinois 57 to 48. With decent balance: Wooker, another strong match, had 18, Kinney 15, Gilk 11, Taylor 8 and Hoecke 5. This was a 2026 offensive breakout for Taylor (who started, I wasn’t even sure she would) – 8 kills at a .400 clip in 4 sets, vs 15 kills at a .156 clip in 16 non-conference sets. But on defense, a step backward for Taylor – she had 23 blocks in her 16 non-conference sets, but only 1 block in 4 sets tonight.

Collectively, our 5 primary hitters hit .483. But it’s silly to say we out-played Illinois except for serving, because serving is part of volleyball. 

I think it is fair to say that the Gopher coaching staff hasn’t yet figured out who our best servers are. Garr, our best server during the non-conference had 3 aces vs 2 errors. (Garr almost had a 4th ace but for a 3rd-touch, out-of-bounds-kick-save by Illinois.) Wooker, Palabiyik and Stella, all of whom are guaranteed to be among our 6 servers in every match, had a combined 2 aces vs 4 errors. The rest of the team, including Gilk, Thibault and Lee – none of whom have to serve, combined for zero aces and 5 errors.  Acevedo looks healthy enough to serve, not sure why she isn’t.

Twice, in Set 1 and again in Set 2, we had 3 consecutive service-errors (Gilk-Wooker-Lee, and later Wooker-Lee-Stella, I think). When I coached club volleyball, I preached to my team that their most important serves of the season were those following two service errors by their teammates. You cannot, under any circumstances, miss a third consecutive serve!

I thought that Palabiyik had a very good match digging – and a poor night on serve-receive.

NEXT UP: #20-ranked Oregon, Saturday, 6:00, at the PAV, on BTN+

If you haven’t already seen them, scroll down and check out my

NON-CONFERENCE WRAP-UP  and BIG TEN PREVIEW

I wrote them Tuesday but couldn’t post them until midday today because I was out of town.

BIG TEN PREVIEW

The Non-Conference Season has multiple purposes.

1. Given the world we live in, revenue generation is #1, both ticket revenue and, I presume more importantly, TV revenue. So be it. (I assume the Gophers generated some revenue.)
2. Evaluating / finding your team. Our Gophers have 16 athletes on the roster, of which 9 will typically play in a given set. So which 9? And who are the next athletes off the bench in each position? The coaching staff probably has a pretty good idea heading into the non-conference season, but maybe not certain how the freshmen, the incoming transfers, and those returning from injuries, will hold up against live competition.
3. Scoring “points” with the Committee who will determine seeding for the NCAA Tournament following the Conference Season. Performance within the Conference Season should be and will be the primary factors in the seeding, but non-conference performance can become a tie-breaker in this critical seeding. Especially a prized “signature win” or a dreaded “signature loss.” (We did not score a “signature win,” unless Creighton wins the Big East, and we avoided a “signature loss.” )

So that leaves finding and preparing the team, and determining the depth chart. To me, and perhaps most GopherVBRocks readers, there were some significant surprises:

• THE WOOKER IS BACK, IN SPADES! From the middle of last season, our roster included 4 significantly injured players. I was hoping that all 4 would be healthy and ready to contribute when the ‘26 season began. But none as important as Wooker.

> Others on the ‘26 roster were highly recruited coming out of high school, but none as highly as Wooker.

> In her freshman season, in ‘22, Wooker was the team’s second-ranked hitter with 2.73 kills per set, and was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.

> In her sophomore season, in ‘23, Wooker was the team’s best hitter with 3.24 kills per set, including 14 kills vs Texas, 16 kills vs Nebraska, and 21 kills in a win vs # 6-ranked Oregon.

> And Wooker is a Leftside Hitter – exactly what we need to replace the graduated Julia Hanson – and the most likely candidate to do so.

But after hurting her back very early in the ‘24 season, playing hurt for the rest of ‘24, then reportedly ready for the ‘25 season but then not able to play at all, and still appearing injured this past Spring, it was hard to believe that Wooker was going to replace Hanson. I was not at all certain that she would ever play again. And I continue to worry about her back. 

Yet she is back, playing the role of last year’s Hanson, and shining like a star! In 8 non-conference matches, Wooker has 146 kills, basically twice 2nd-best Kelly Kinney, an amazing 5.21 kills-per-set, again way ahead of 2nd best Kinney. With almost twenty of her 146 kills coming from the back-row! I remember Wooker getting set back-row a couple of times in ‘23, but I don’t think she ever had a kill.

And even that’s not all. During Wooker’s healthy and productive seasons, she served poorly. In ‘22, she served 15 aces vs 35 errors, and in ‘23, she served 9 aces vs 51 errors. But in this season’s non-conference matches, she has served 21 aces vs 19 errors – a very encouraging improvement, especially since her role as a back-row hitter makes her to be one of our 6 servers. 

• The second encouraging surprise has been our freshman Middle Elena Hoecke. Hoecke, out of Lino Lakes, was one of the best High School players in Minnesota the past two years, and was rated the #1 MN recruit in the Class of ‘26 (#14 nationally). And she looked good during the Spring Exhibition Season.

But the leap from High School & Club Ball, to D1 top-twenty, is a big one. Steph Samedy and Stella’s older sister Samantha starred as freshmen, but other highly-rated recruits, such as Julia Hanson, Taylor Landfair and Carter Booth, struggled as freshmen. That’s why I rated Hoecke our #3 Middle – not even a starter, in my pre-season depth chart posted last month.

But Hoecke’s non-conference performance has proved me wrong.  Hoecke enters the Big Ten Season as our #1 Middle, and the only clear starter. Playing in 27 of the Gophers’ 28 sets, Hoecke racked up 53 kills (.339), mostly on slides, and 24 blocks.

Hoecke’s serving hasn’t been great, 2 aces vs 11 errors. We don’t necessarily need Hoecke to serve, but the fact that Coach Cook has had her serving suggests that she serves well in practice.

• It is also encouraging to see Palabiyik back – playing like Palabiyik. Palabiyik’s serve-receiving could be better, but I love the way she takes charge in our live-action defense.

• The most disappointing surprise has been the performance of Taylor. In my pre-season depth chart, I had rated Taylor as our #1 Middle – but right now I’m not certain she ranks ahead of Blazkova as our #2 starter at Middle. And it’s not obvious that Taylor will even be our #3 when Minatee is fully healthy.

Height is important at Middle, critical on defense, and Taylor is the tallest player on our roster. And one of the most athletic. And during the non-conference season, she led the Gophers with a good-but-not-great 1.44 blocks per set. And only one behind Hoecke in total blocks, 23 to 24 – despite the fact that Hoecke has played in 27 of the Gophers 28 non-conference sets, and Taylor only 16.

I had high hopes for Taylor, and still do, because her height, her athleticism and her aggressiveness give her the potential to dominate the net when she is front-row. And we saw flashes of this potential last year, during her freshman season. Probably as much potential as we saw from Carter Booth during her freshman season – and Booth evolved into an All-Big Ten Middle (unfortunately not for the Gophers).

Taylor’s problem is her offense – 15 kills, and 8 errors, in 45 swings – a .156 percentage. 156 is terrible for a Middle – Hoecke and Blazkova hit a combined .311 during the non-conference season, and Minatee hit .427 before she was injured last year. Taylor was strong on defense and weak on offense last year too, but I was expecting improvement from her freshman to sophomore seasons. And maybe there will be, but we haven’t seen it yet.

Exactly why is not clear. Taylor watching 12 of the Gophers 28 sets from the bench (she played 57%, watched 43%) did not seem like a vote of confidence from Coach Cook. Was he trying to motivate Taylor? Was he auditioning Blazkova for the starting role? Did he already think Blazkova gave the Gophs a better chance to win?

Maybe Taylor is not completely healthy? The fact that Taylor started the majority of the non-conference sets makes me think she is healthy, but her ineptitude makes me think she isn’t. I’m not sure.

• Which brings me to the other disappointment: the health of Minatee and Acevedo. Both experienced serious injuries. But that was last October. I wasn’t surprised that they weren’t dressed for action during last Spring’s Exhibition Season – no sense in rushing them back for that. And not shocked, when the Non-Conference Season began in August, and they fully participated in pre-match warm-ups but never played.

But both seem to be otherwise healthy young women, they look comfortable in warm-ups, especially Acevedo (Minatee looks okay), and it’s been almost 12 months. I was surprised they didn’t play a little last weekend in Sioux Falls. They’re veterans, it’s not like they haven’t experienced the intensity of a Big Ten Match, but I’d have been inclined to play them a set or two if they are healthy. And the fact that they didn’t makes me think they’re not.  

So here’s my idea of what the depth chart looks like heading into tomorrow’s Big Ten Opener:

SETTER: Stella will be on the court for every point. Stella is quick, she covers all 900 square feet of the court, and I like her decision-making regarding who to set, where & when. Her sets aren’t perfect, and maybe there is something she needs to do better to get Taylor going. But Stella is our setter, and will play if she can walk.

Georgia Lee is our back-up. No doubt Lee is a fine young woman, but the Gophers will be in trouble if Stella goes down for an extended period. 

LIBERO: I was right about our Liberos. Palabiyik is fully healthy, she’ll wear the jersey and play 11 of the 12 half-rotations. 

Garr will play 6 half-rotations including serving. Her 13 aces vs 11 errors during non-conference are good numbers. 

Thibault will play 5 half-rotations and won’t serve. Thibault has always been excellent at covering our front-row players. She has struggled with serve-receive, but so far this season her serve-receive seems much improved. 

The freshman Kraft won’t play much barring injury to one of the 3 in front of her. She could serve occasionally, but I doubt it.

OPPOSITE: Gilk is the only left-hander on the roster, so the only natural Opposite. She was an All Big Ten Freshman last year, even though her mid-season excellence faded late in the season. And she is the only Gopher named to this year’s pre-season All Big Ten team. Gilk’s non-conference performance has been mediocre – overall hitting .191 and serving 8 aces vs 13 errors. I still see Gilk as our everyday Opposite, but she needs to recapture the level of play she demonstrated during the middle of her freshman season.

Kinney, though right-handed, is comfortable at Opposite. She is currently one of our starting Leftsides, but could slide over to Opposite if necessary.

And the freshman Crossen has played Opposite in relief of Gilk. I don’t like her passing. 

LEFTSIDE: My pre-season prediction for our depth chart at Leftside was Wooker, Kinney, Acevedo, and Crossen. My Wooker as #1 prediction was more wishful thinking than prediction, but so far my wish is coming true. As mentioned earlier, Wooker has been spectacular.

Kinney has been good, 3.0 kills-per-set (78 total) at a respectable .270. She will start the Big Ten Season as our #2 Leftside.

As mentioned, Acevedo looks good warming up, but is yet to set foot on the court. It’s been a year since Acevedo played. What I remember was a good-but-not-great hitter (.281), an excellent server (15 aces vs 8 errors), and a poor serve-receive (her official stats from last season say her was average, but the official stats on serve-receive can be very misleading).

If Kinney, Gilk, and the Gophers generally continue to play well, I think Acevedo might have trouble finding playing time even once she’s completely healthy. Maybe she’ll serve for Hoecke and get an occasional opportunity for a back-row kill? But if Kinney falters, or if Gilk falters and Kinney slides to Opposite, Acevedo could easily get the chance to become a starting Leftside.

The freshman Crossen’s numbers are unimpressive, 1.0 kills per-set, at .250. But much of her playing time has come at Opposite, which wouldn’t seem to be her natural position. When she’s playing Leftside, gets a good set, and doesn’t get blocked, Crossen crushes the ball as hard as any Gopher in recent memory. I wouldn’t feel bad to see Crossen as our #2 Leftside. 

MIDDLES: My predicted depth chart, Taylor, Minatee, Hoecke, and Blazkova, was way off. Minatee’s absence during the non-conference season created an opportunity for Hoecke, and as described earlier, Hoecke has taken full advantage. I have no doubt that Hoecke enters the Big Ten Season as our #1 Middle. 

And the only clear starter. The other starting Middle position remains, in my mind, very much up for grabs. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Taylor. I projected her as our #1, she was in the line-up for the season opener vs Arizona State, she led the team during non-conference play with a good-but-not-great 1.44 blocks per set, and I hope she will be playing like the starting Middle we need. But as described earlier, Taylor has not performed like a #1 on offense – not even like a #2. Maybe she’s not been 100% healthy, but when the whistle blows for the first serve of the Big Ten Season, it doesn’t matter why.

Blazkova, on the other hand, has so far lived up to the modest expectations I had for her. She seems unlikely to make First Team All Big Ten, but she has been playing better than Taylor. I was thinking of Blazkova as bench strength, in case of injuries. But we already have an injured player, and another who might be injured, and/or isn’t playing very well. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Blazkova was our other starting Middle to open the Big Ten Season.

Minatee, like Acevedo, hasn’t played at all so far. But she’s been dressed and warming-up for the past month, it seems like she should be ready to play eventually. Minatee was a starter when she got hurt last year, and though she seems too short to produce many blocks, she hits effectively. Minatee has proven especially effective on “quicks,” a type of attack that requires a near-perfect first-pass to Stella, and this year’s improved team serve-receive gives hope for more frequent near-perfect first-passes. Making it reasonable to imagine Minatee having her best year ever.

I would be a little surprised if Minatee was one of our starting Middles to open the Big Ten Season, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Minatee ends up playing before the season is over.

BIG TEN PREVIEW

Last season, the Gophers finished tied for 6th place in the Big Ten. Then advanced to the Sweet 16, but failed to advance to the Elite 8, leaving them one of the 9 to 16 best teams in the country.  In January, I predicted that the ‘26 Gophs would be better, hopefully top-4 in the Big Ten and Elite 8.

They opened this season ranked #14, and start the Big Ten ranked 15 – so not as good as hoped. But rankings are just rankings, Texas A & M was essentially the #8 seed entering last season’s NCAAs, and won it all. A top-4 finish by the Gophers in the Big Ten is not out of the question.

But Big Ten Conference play will be a grueling test – with 11 teams ranked in the top 31, and we play them all:

# 1 Nebraska 

6 Wisconsin 

10. Purdue 

14. Penn St 

15 MN

18. Indiana 

20. Oregon 

23. So Cal 

27. UCLA 

29 Mich St 

31. Wash 

Nebraska dominated the Big Ten last year and I thought they were a lock to win it all – before getting beat, in Lincoln, by A & M.

Wisconsin didn’t look good in their first couple of games. But in one of their last non-conference matches, their freshman Opposite from Puerto Rico played for the first time – and dominated the match. So they’re probably stronger than their record suggests.

The next 9, Purdue through Washington, are probably all about equal. We have a slight advantage on scheduling, in that we get 6 of the ranked teams, Wisconsin, Penn St, Indiana, Oregon, Mich St & Wash at the Pav; versus only 4, Nebraska, Purdue, So Cal & UCLA on the road. 

A stretch-goal would be to win 5 of these 6 home matches, 2 of these 4 road matches, and all 7 of the matches versus the unranked teams. That would be 14 & 3, probably good for 2nd place. Winning 4 of these 6 home matches, 1 of these 4 road matches, and 6 of the 7 matches versus the unranked teams would leave the Gophers 11 & 6 –  probably good for 5th place.

Just as we beat South Dakota U in 4 sets yesterday, our Gophers beat South Dakota State in 4 sets this afternoon, 25-22, 25-14, 20-25 and 25-14. There were 4 matches at the Sanford Pentagon this weekend, each matching a Big Ten Team, our #14 ranked Gophers and the unbeaten but unranked Washington Huskies, vs Summit League Teams from South Dakota.

​The Big Ten Teams won all 4 matches. But the Huskies won all 6 sets they played, and our Gophs lost 2 of the 8 sets we played. The difference was/is inconsequential in some sense, but disconcerting. Washington is unranked because they haven’t played anyone good during their non-conference season, but I was very impressed by their digging – it’s tough to get a ball down against the Huskies.

Wooker carried the Gophers all weekend, as she has throughout the non-conference season: 25 kills last night, and another 25 kills today – 50 kills in 2 days.  It’s possible someone else might have stepped up and the Gophs would have won both matches without Wooker’s amazing performance – but probably not.

Set 1: With Blazkova starting at a Middle and Kinney at a Leftside, the Gophs led most of the set, including at 17-12 and 24-19. But SDSU pulled within 24-22 – and almost closer when a Wooker blast sailed long. Wooker insisted a SDSU blocker had touched it and Coach Cook challenged. Wooker and Cook were right, and the call was overturned for set-point.

Set 2: With Blazkova again at Middle and now Crossen at Leftside, the Gophers crushed, with Wooker, Hoecke, and Crossen blasting kill after kill, and strong blocking by Blazkova.

Set 3: With Taylor at Middle and Crossen still at Leftside, the Jackrabbits led wire-to-wire. That makes it sound like Taylor and Crossen were the problem – but Taylor played her best set of the weekend, and Crossen looked good. We, including Wooker, made a lot of service-errors.

Set 4: Back to a line-up with Blazkova and Kinney, it was tied 8-8 when Wooker, Kinney, and Gilk blasted the Gophs to leads of 13-8 and 23-17. And once again, set-point came off a Wooker kill. 

SERVING: Garr had 4 Aces vs only 1 service-error, but Wooker had the reverse, 1 Ace vs 4 errors. And the rest of the team had zero aces vs 10 errors. Our serving cost us today’s Set 3, and we’re not going to win many Big Ten matches serving like that!

NEXT UP:

Big Ten opener at Illinois, Thursday, 7:00, on Big Ten +. 

It sounds crazy to say that our first conference match is a “must-win,” but Illinois looks like a bottom-half of the conference team, and we have to sweep the bottom half.

And look for my Non-Conference Wrap-Up / Big Ten Preview early next week.

SAY NO TO GO TICKETS

I did not expect this weekend’s matches in Sioux Falls to sell out – and I was correct, at no time was the Pentagon more than half full. I could easily have purchased tickets at the door. But if I was wrong, AA and I would have driven a long way for nothing. So I chose to purchase tickets a week in advance. The Gophers weren’t any help, advising me to contact the venue where the matches would be played – The Denny Sanford Pentagon.

I went to the Pentagon’s website and foolishly clicked on the “buy tickets” item at the top of the page – which took me to GO TICKETS. GO TICKETS said there were only a few tickets left, and most of the seats were surprisingly expensive – as it turned out, 5 TIMES the at-the-door price. So I bought cheap seats, merely 2 ½ times the at-the-door price – figuring maybe we could sneak into the decent seats.  

I paid for them on-line and immediately received a confirmation telling me the tickets had been transferred to my phone. But they didn’t arrive. I waited a couple of days, but they still didn’t arrive, so I tried to contact GO TICKETS. Good luck with that – no phone # and an on-line chat that just goes in circles.

Two days before the first match, I tried again to reach the Pentagon. Also not easy, but a day before the match I finally got through to a live person at the Box Office. Box Office Guy explained that GO TICKETS was a scam and expressed surprise that I had been so foolish. 

Box Office Guy explained that, once on the “buy tickets” page, I should have scrolled down to the bottom where the Pentagon’s direct line was. He went on to explain that most people purchasing tickets through GO TICKETS, for sporting events, concerts, etc., never get them. And people who do get tickets don’t get the tickets they thought they were getting. Not to mention the ridiculous price mark-ups. Plus there were plenty of good  seats left – at a reasonable price.

I am working with my credit card company to get my money back from GO TICKETS. Lesson learned.

Frequent contributor R.A. writes: “For the second time during our non-conference season, we gave a less-skilled team too much rope – this time inexplicably losing set to SDU.  We gave away too many points on service-errors and weak, easy to return, kill attempts.  I’ve begun to think that Stella is playing below her prior standard, with fewer precise, impressive sets than in the past.  I’ve excused it based on learning how to work with new players, but I’m starting to wonder.  

Taylor isn’t playing up to her size, either.  Were it not for Wooker’s massively impressive play, including better serving and back row defense than ever before, we would be in very deep doo-doo.  Her 25 kills were a career high, and as John said, it took some great saves by SD to deny her more.  I’m very pleased by Hoecke and Blazkova, but worried how we’ll do in Big 10 if lower tier teams give us this much trouble.”

And Reader G.K. writes: “John, please give us the TV station that each match is played on.”

JOHN: I’ve been trying, GK. I’m in Sioux Falls watching in person, but last night’s and this afternoon’s match were/will be broadcast on “MIDCO Sports Plus.” It looks like Reader A.A. was able to access it, but I don’t know how.

25-15, 24-26, 25-17 & 25-14. We shouldn’t complain too loud about a 4-set win, but it felt like the Gophers, who won the total match score 99 to 72, were significantly better than SDU, and shouldn’t have let Set 2 get away. We led wire-to-wire in Sets 1, 3 & 4 , but in Set 2, we let the Coyotes get ahead early, 2-6, 5-9 & 7-12. Mid Set 2, we rode Wooker and Hoecke to leads of 17-14 & 21-18, and I felt we were going to win the set. But we didn’t.

In the earlier match (which I did not see), the Washington Huskies convincingly swept the SDSU Jackrabbits. I’m hoping we can do that when we play the Jackrabbits tomorrow.

Individually, another big match for the Wooker. I had her with 25 kills, including 3 from the back-row, plus 3 service-aces (vs 1 service-error) and several nice digs. And I thought Wooker could have had 27 or 28 kills if she hadn’t been robbed repeatedly by the Coyote’s excellent Libero. A very strong match by Wooker. 

Kinney, 12 kills, Hoecke, 10 kills, and Gilk, 8 kills plus 3 service-aces, also played well. I felt our serving was sub-par, 7 aces vs 12 errors – but our serve-receive was pretty good.

Taylor continues to struggle offensively, with 2 kills and 3 errors on 11 swings – a minus .091 percentage. I had Taylor with 3 blocks (officially 4), but given that Taylor had a significant height advantage over both Coyote Middles, I expected more from her on offense. Taylor and Hoecke both dinked more than I like to see, especially since neither is good at it. (Wooker and Kinney are effective on off-speed hits.) The frequent dinking by both of our Middles suggests that their timing with Stella isn’t where it needs to be. At least not yet. 

TOMORROW: South Dakota State at 2:30, on MIDCO Sports Plus. If any readers were able to watch tonight’s or tomorrow’s matches on MIDCO Sports Plus, let me know.

READERS RESPOND

Reader C.B. points out that I wasn’t alone in being mistaken about the start-time of last Friday’s match. Wanting to make sure he could still find BTN +, he logged on at 5:42 – and was informed that, “The match will begin in 78 minutes.” So C.B. took a shower and missed the first two sets.

Got the sweep we expected and needed, 25-22, 25-20 & 25-22. Closer than Friday’s sweep of Miami, but it should have been closer — St. Thomas is a better team than Miami, and the Tommies played tough throughout. The Gophs never trailed in Sets 1 or 2, but we did trail early in Set 3, at 0-4 & 4-10. Then a 6-pt run, with Stella serving behind a front-row of Kinney, Blazkova & Gilk, put the Gophs ahead to stay.

As was true a week ago against Auburn, Blazkova played Middle in place of Taylor (for the whole match) and Crossen played Opposite in place of Gilk (for Sets 1 and 2). I feel fairly certain that Gilk will be our starting Opposite when the Gophs open the Big Ten Season at Illinois on Sept 27.

I’m less certain about Taylor. We have 4 respectable Middles; I think our starters are Hoecke and Taylor, but Blazkova looked good today, 4 kills on 7 swings (.429) and 4 blocks. And Minatee, who was a starter when she blew her knee last October, has looked good in warmups. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minatee and our Left-side Acevedo, also rehabbing from an October knee injury and also looking good in warmups, both get playing time next weekend. Most likely vs South Dakota U.

Today, vs St. Thomas, our star, senior, Left-side, McKenna Wucherer (The Wooker) was the difference separating the two teams. Wooker had 17 kills (.615), including 3 dinks, 2 from the back-row and one from the right-side – plus 2 aces, 2 blocks, and multiple digs, including two Thibault-worthy ones. Technically, the Official Gopher Scorer credited Wooker with 18 kills, but I’m not counting the dink that was respectably dug up by the Tommies setter – and then 2 Tommies stood there expecting the other to take the second touch. (The Official Gopher Scorer also credited Thibault with a kill on an overpass the Tommies misplayed– not buying that one either.)

Kinney had 10 kills – 6 hitting errors so only .174, but she got set-point kills to put away both Set 1 and Set 3 (the close ones). Our serving was awful, 13 errors vs 7 aces – we won’t beat good teams serving like that. 

NEXT UP: 

Back to Sioux Falls, the second trip in 3 weeks, this time to play a pair of South Dakota teams:

South Dakota U on Friday, Sept. 18, 7:00, and

South Dakota State on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2:30.

Both matches will be broadcast on something called “MIDCO Sports Plus.” Not sure how many GopherVBRocks readers will be able to access MIDCO-SP, but I will be there in person to cover the match — in the company of GopherVBRocks reader A.A.

Our #13 ranked Gophers looked good in their Home Opener, crushing the unranked, ACC Hurricanes, 25-15, 25-16 & 25-14. That’s 75-45 for the match, so not close at all. It was 12-12 in the middle of Set 2, but the Gophers, with Wooker serving and a front line of Kinney, Hoecke and Stella, went on an 8 point run to eliminate doubt.

I messed up and missed the first set. Originally, the “Historic” Dial Classic was supposed to be a 4-team event, with the Gophers playing the 2nd of two Friday Matches at 7:00. Then one team dropped out, with our Gophs playing Friday’s only match at 6:00, and I missed the schedule change. A similar thing happened two weeks ago in Sioux Falls, which was supposed to be a 6-team tournament before one team dropped out. That deal did not impact the Gophers, but it caused Creighton to play 3 matches in 3 days, and Purdue to only get one match in. Non-conference scheduling must be done by teenagers on cell-phones. 

But enough about my screw-up, the Gophs were dominant, hitting .373 for the match vs Miami’s .047. As usual, most of our offense came from our pins; Kinney with 9 kills, Wooker and Gilk with 8 each. And Hoecke added 5 (mostly on slides, I think).

You may recall that Wilk was benched against Auburn, following a poor performance against Florida. Crossen played instead of Gilk and looked pretty good against Auburn, so I wasn’t sure who would get the start tonight vs Miami. And I guess I’m not certain who will start on Sunday vs St. Thomas. But I’ve been projecting Gilk as our starting Opposite, and I continue to think so. She certainly had her groove back tonight, with 8 kills on 15 swings (.467). At least her hitting groove, –she had 3 service errors. Wooker hit a modest .318,  but found her serving groove with 6 aces vs 2 errors – excellent serving.

The other presumed starter benched for the previous match vs Auburn was Taylor. Taylor was also back in tonight’s lineup, and as usual she led the Gophers with 4 blocks. But her offense remains a work-in-progress, 3 kills and .268. .268 is respectable for a pin, where anything over .300 is good. But Setters and Liberos feed pins off of bad first passes, when the defense is expecting a set to the pin. Liberos never set Middles, and Setters only feed Middles off of excellent first passes – when the defense can’t key solely on the Middle. We want our Middles to hit .400 or better – Hoecke hit .455 tonight.

And at least two of Taylor’s attempts tonight didn’t even get over the net. She and Stella just aren’t connecting. At least not yet. This could be Stella’s fault, but when the freshman Hoecke hits .455 and the sophomore Taylor hits .268, I think the problem lies with Taylor. Hoecke’s offense looks very polished, especially for a freshman, Taylor’s much less so. 

Minatee, who I expect to be physically ready for the Big Ten Opener, isn’t much of a blocker – but when healthy she’s been an offensive threat. And Blazkova can play too. 3 matches left in the non-conference schedule, and I don’t think the question of who our “regular” Middles will be has been resolved.

St. Thomas on Sunday, 1:00, at the PAV (BTN+) 

WE NEED THE SWEEP!

Next weekend, the Gophers will finish their non-conference schedule back in Sioux Falls, against South Dakota on Friday and South Dakota State on Saturday. I think SDState is the stronger opponent. Both matches will be broadcast on something called “MIDCO Sports Plus.” Not sure how many GopherVBRocks readers will be able to access MIDCO Sports Plus, but I, and reader A.A., will be there in person to report on it.

In 4, confusing sets, our Gophers beat Auburn 25-12, 21-25, 25-16 & 26-24 – to even our record in matches at 2 & 2, and in sets at 7 & 7.

I have to say I was confused watching tonight’s match. The first surprise was a new line-up: Blazkova replacing Taylor at Middle, and Crossen replacing Gilk at Opposite. And Kraft as designated server. My first thought was that Coach Cook was sending a message to Taylor and Gilk that their performance in our first three matches hasn’t been good enough.

Then, trailing 2-5 after a slow start, the Gophers went on a 23-7 to run away with Set-1 – and I thought, “Oh, I get it. Auburn isn’t any good, and Coach wants to give the bench some playing-time.” (Auburn came in 3 & 0, but hadn’t played anyone decent.)

Then in Set-2, the same Gopher lineup played worse than Auburn. We trailed 6-12 & 9-15, and even after a run to get within 20-22, we lost Set-2. And I thought, “Okay Coach, point made, let’s put the first-string back in before we lose the match.” But Coach stayed with the same lineup, we jumped out to a 10-2 lead in Set-3 – and coasted to the 25-16 win.

Then, same lineup for Set-4. We were tied 4-4 & 8-8, slipped behind 11-13 & 14-17, and were tied again at 20-20 and 23-23. And I didn’t know what to think. Losing to Arizona State and Florida hurt our record, but both were close losses to respectable teams. Losing to Auburn would be a BAD loss! A loss that could hurt us for NCAA seeding at the end of the season. Plus we’ve been losing close sets, and who knows how we would play in our first Set-5. Fortunately, we didn’t need to find out.

You can’t say watching the ‘26 Gophers isn’t exciting. We’ve played 14 sets, and 7 of them have been decided by the minimum 2 points. (We’re 3 & 4 in those nail-biters.)

The Wooker did it again, 21 kills tonight, running her total to an even 70 in 4 matches – STAR numbers. Wooker was back-row for those final 2 points of the match, adding to my apprehension, even though she had 2 more back-row kills tonight. She also had 4 aces tonight. And Hoecke had another good night, 8 kills (5 slides, 2 quicks and 1 overpass), 4 blocks and 2 aces. 

The big question is how did our new starters perform?

• Blazkova, replacing Taylor at Middle, had 4 kills and 4 blocks. Slightly more kills than Taylor typically gets. And almost as many blocks as Taylor typically gets. But I didn’t feel that Blazkova had as many partial-blocks or that she changed as many hitting angles as Taylor does.
• Crossen, replacing Gilk at Opposite, had 7 kills and 3 blocks. The 7 kills matches Gilk’s best match (vs Arizona State, a better team than Auburn), but not the production we expect from Gilk.

I was expecting there would be some lineup experimentation during our non-conference schedule. And the second half of this schedule will feature solid but unranked teams (Miami of Florida, St. Thomas, South Dakota and South Dakota State), so I expect we’ll see some more. Plus Acevedo and Minatee have been dressing and warming up. I expect them to be available to play soon – and get at least some playing time before the Big 10 starts. So that will be interesting.

NEXT UP: 

Miami, Friday, Sept 11, 6:00, at the PAV, on BTN+, and 

St. Thomas, Sunday, Sept 13, 1:00, at the PAV, on BTN+

Our now #11 Gophers lose to #17 Florida in 4 sets, 25-27, 26-24, 23-25 & 21-25. 

Set 1: Thanks to the Mich-So.Car match going 5 sets, BTN didn’t begin coverage of the Gopher match until late in Set 1. We were down 20-24, went ahead 25-24, then lost 25-27.

Set 2: It was tied at 5-5, 9-9, 12-12, 19-19, and 24-24 before the Gophs pulled it out 26-24.

Set 3: It was tied at 4-4, 9-9, 13-13, 20-20 and 23-23 before it got away.

Set 4: In a set we needed to win, we started slow and trailed most of the way, 2-5, 4-8 and 7-11. But behind a red-hot Wooker, we rallied to a 21-18 lead. Then when Wooker, by then our only reliable hitter, rotated to back-row, we were unable to produce any offense, allowing the Gators to run 7 points, and take the match.

The good news was Wooker, with 21 kills, 5 from the back-row! With Julie Hanson graduated, I didn’t think we had anyone who could produce from the back-row, but Wooker proved me wrong. Wooker looks primed for a great season!

The other good news was our freshman Middle, Hoecke, who produced 10 kills (1 overpass, 2 quicks & 7 slides), and at least 2 blocks. It doesn’t look like Hoecke has any intention of going to the bench when Minatee is healthy. Taylor had 2 kills (both quicks) and 7 blocks.

Gilk was awful, and Coach Cook benched her late in Set 3 – sliding Kinney over to Opposite and bringing the freshman Crossen in at leftside. Kinney had been playing okay at leftside, and has played Opposite most of her career. But she wasn’t particulary effective at Opposite tonight, especially not during Florida’s 7 point run at the end of the match. 

I don’t know what’s wrong with Gilk. She was an All-Big-10 Freshman last year, and is the only Gopher on this year’s All-Big-10 Team. Whatever it is, I hope that Gilk and/or the coaching staff can fix it quickly. I don’t know the timetable for Acevedo’s return from last October’s knee injury, but if Gilk doesn’t turn it around soon, Kinney’s move to Opposite could become permanent — and Acevedo will be our other starting leftside.

Thanks to Wooker, we outhit Florida .274 to .245, but we had 11 serve-receiving errors, 4 by Palabiyik and 3 by Gilk, to Florida’s 4 – enough to make the difference in a close match. I think Palabiyik is probably the best serve-receiver on the team, but she has to be more assertive than she was tonight, especially on balls between her and other Gophers. She was assertive in 2024 and before she got injured last season – we need that from her.

The other discouraging development is that we are now 3 & 5 in sets decided by 2 points. Plus the embarrassing loss by 4 when we were up 3 late in tonight’s 4th set. Last year, once our freshmen bench got their confidence up, the Gophers were winning the close ones. There are going to be a lot of close sets and close matches ahead – we need to get that confidence back.

NEXT UP: Unranked Auburn, 5:00 this afternoon (Wednesday) on FS1. The Gophers cannot afford to lose another one.

READERS RESPOND

Since I was unable to attend the Gopher’s Aug 22 exhibition match at #33-ranked Iowa State, I asked readers for help. And frequent GopherVBRocks contributor R.A., also unable to make it to Ames, forwarded comments (below) that he had seen elsewhere. These are not my thoughts nor those of R.A., and I am somewhat reluctant to post material from unknown and therefore untrusted sources. But since I asked, here they are:

ANONYMOUS: “Garr: bad, constantly out of position. Most of ISUs point to zone 5.

Wucherer: bad, lots of errors. Not in our receive, but played all around.

Crosson: glimmer of hope. Needs to work on her swing mechanics, but decent backrow play.

Taylor: looking lost. Needs Pedro’s mentorship more than anyone.

Hoecke and Blazkova: good. Should be starters

Z: noticeable improvement by the team when she was the L, but she’s moving a lot slower (understandably so). Still likely not ready to play L full time

Gilk: by far our best pin and it’s not close. Did not play 6 rotations at all.

Stella: bad. Location off and erratic decision making. Hitters constantly having to make adjustments leading to points for ISU.

Kinney’s stats were rough.

Acevedo and Minatee dressed but did not play.

Serving as a team completely regressed since Crissy departed, no service pressure.” 

R.A.’s thoughts re the loss to ASU: “We were simply outplayed. Wooker was stellar in every way,  a great sign when her serving had previously been a liability. And I forgot that Stella and Wooker had never played together before – one more learning challenge as the season unfolds. Gilk and Kinney also looked solid. Our Middles didn’t do much. I suspect Stella played better than the commentators acknowledged.” 

G.O.’s thoughts re the loss to ASU: “Like last year, Taylor had a lot of net violations. That alone was the difference in the two close sets. Also, even when we get a free ball, we don’t return it with any authority. Season is early. Hopefully all this talent can gel.”