Gopher volleyball faces Stanford, Texas at Fiserv Forum in regular season opener
MINNEAPOLIS — The wait is over for Minnesota volleyball fans, as the 2024 season officially kicks off this weekend.
The Gophers enter the season ranked No. 18 in the AVCA preseason poll, marking a return to the top-25 after ending last year unranked.
They'll be traveling to Wisconsin to open the regular season at Fiserv Forum — home of the Milwaukee Bucks — at the inaugural Women's College Volleyball Showcase. They'll first face No. 5 Stanford on Sunday before taking on the back-to-back NCAA champion and No. 1-ranked Texas on Monday.
It'll be Head Coach Keegan Cook's sophomore season with the team as he continues to build on a 17-13 record from last season. This year, the team has what he described as a "new type of urgency" and "new type of effort" as they welcome new members and face changes in the Big Ten.
Ahead of the action-packed season for the Gophers, here are some things to look out for.
New faces add depth
The transfer portal has proven key for Cook's first two years at Minnesota. The team added three transfers this season, as well as two incoming freshmen to fill out the roster.
The first transfer was Kali Engeman, a middle hitter who started her career at Georgia Tech. This is a homecoming for her of sorts; she grew up in Minnetonka and will have two years of eligibility left. She joins two other middles: Phoebe Awoleye and Calissa Minatee.
The Gophers also signed Kate Thibault, a sophomore defensive specialist from Oregon. She played in 19 of Oregon's matches last year, and played club with the two incoming freshmen Olivia and Stella Swenson, along with sophomore outside hitter Sydney Schnichels.
Also from Oregon, the Gophers recruited Alex Acevedo, an outside hitter from Idaho who was the state's Gatorade Player of the Year during her senior season. Acevedo redshirted her first year with the Ducks, meaning she'll have four years of eligibility left at Minnesota.
The three transfers will be pushing for time on the court, but none of them bring extensive game-time experience that could have been a beneficial addition for the team.
It's unclear if Cook intends to redshirt Stella Swenson, a highly-touted setter and younger sister of former Big Ten Player of the Year Samantha Seliger-Swenson. He already has three setters on his roster, and Melani Shaffmaster will be heading into her fifth year leading the team. Giving Stella Swenson time to develop setter-hitter connections and learn from Shaffmaster's experience could give the Gophers an advantage down the road.
Diversifying the offense
In past years the pin hitters for Minnesota have taken a large load in carrying the offense, but Cook at Big Ten media days earlier this month was open about the areas that Minnesota is looking to improve this season: serve receive and middle attack. Both of those elements should help the team open up opportunities for more in-system plays and running a more effective offense.
Last year, Cook said the team had a side-out percentage of about 56%, but he's looking to get the team into the 60s.
Shaffmaster struggled to get the middles involved in the offense last year, but this year they're working on developing several different plays, including a slide. That, combined with the pin hitters Mckenna Wucherer and Lydia Grote learning different types of attacks should open up more opportunities to terminate effectively this season.
Big Ten gets bigger
The Big Ten is often described as a gauntlet, but with the addition of four new teams, winning the conference will be an even more impressive feat this season.
Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC all joined the ranks after diverging from the Pac-12, bringing the total number of teams in the conference to 18. The latter three are all ranked in the top 10 in the conference, and Oregon is ranked 10th nationally.
In past years the team has benefitted from tackling opponents twice in one season; it demonstrates how much a team has improved over the course of several weeks. But this year the Gophers will only play three teams twice, giving each match a sense of finality and urgency.
The incoming teams are tough; they have experience, they've won championships, and they're used to playing in big moments. Their inclusion into the conference will push teams and improve the quality of each match. But it also makes for a more physically and mentally demanding season.
The Gophers do have a leg up though, as Cook came to Minnesota after spending eight years as the head coach of Washington. Cook should be able to head into those matches drawing on his experience playing against those teams and players in the past.
Weekend outlook
The Gophers will play 10 matches against top-25 teams this season, two of which will be this weekend at Fiserv Forum.
As volleyball grows in popularity, top teams are getting the opportunity to play in bigger arenas and draw in fans. Last September, Wisconsin played Marquette at Fiserv, drawing a crowd of 17,000. It was the 14th highest-attended women's college volleyball match and the highest-attended women's sporting event in Wisconsin. Aside from the 92,000 fans that packed Memorial Stadium in Nebraska last year, the Wisconsin-Marquette game drew the largest number of fans ever for a non-NCAA tournament game.
This weekend against Stanford and then Texas — both teams with loud and devoted fans — could give the Gophers a taste of the crowds they could encounter if they make a run in the postseason.
Stanford, as an opponent, is a bit of a mystery this season; anchored by seniors Kami Miner and Elena Oglivie, they've lost some of their hitting power at the pins, aside from junior Elia Ruben. But the Gophers will have an edge on Stanford, as the Cardinal will have opened their season against Milwaukee on Friday, and they'll have access to film.
Texas on the other hand has the ability to serve teams off the court, and will certainly challenge Cook's goal of improving Minnesota's serve receive. They also have one of the best liberos in the country and a roster of talented pin hitters, along with one of the top recruits in the country in middle blocker Ayden Ames.
The first serve against Stanford is at 2 p.m. on Sunday.