The #12 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team heads eastward to Lake Michigan to complete their non-conference portion of the 2025 schedule this weekend, but will be doing in down another player. The Gophers announced on Wednesday that junior middle blocker Calissa Minatee will miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury. Minatee was hurt in the Gophers four-set win over South Dakota State last Sunday at the Pav. She becomes the third Gopher starter who will miss the rest of the 2025 season after
Minnesota already announced outside hitter McKenna Wucherer and libero Zeynep Palabiyik were done for the season previously.
Minatee was having a breakout season in 2025. Starting in every match thus far, Minatee led the team with a .427 hitting percentage. She had two 10+ kill matches and four with seven-or-more. Minatee was averaging 1.71 kills and 1.04 blocks per set. She was also named to the Golden Gopher Invitational All-Tournament Team on Aug. 31.
The loss of Minatee will mean a much larger role for true freshman middle blocker Jordan Taylor who will only have two non-conference games to get ready for the brutal ride of the Big Ten schedule, where if she is not ready, she will be exposed quickly.
Minnesota is coming off of a 3-0 weekend at the Diet Coke Classic held at The Pav last weekend. Minnesota easily swept South Florida 3-0 on Friday night playing 13 players on their roster. Julia Hansen led the way with just seven kills along with Alex Acevedo.
Saturday night the Gophers took on the Dayton Flyers who began the season ranked. It didn’t look like they were as Minnesota against picked up a 3-0 sweep. Minnesota had a three headed offensive attack with 12 kills from true freshman Kelly Kinney and 11 each from Hansen and Acevedo. Minnesota finished off the tournament win with a 3-1 win over South Dakota State on Sunday. Minnesota dropped the second set but would come back to win the next two to close out the match. Acevedo had a career high 16 kills with Hansen adding another dozen.
Minnesota heads eastward to close out the non-conference schedule this weekend. Friday night they will play Loyola-Chicago at 6 PM on ESPN +, and Sunday afternoon the Gophers play their last non-conference match of the season at Marquette live on FS1 at 5 PM. Marquette will be a good opportunity to see where the Gophers are as they head into the Big Ten season. The Golden Eagles are 5-4 this season and are playing their three toughest matches of the year in a row. Wednesday they were swept in the Fiserv Forum by #7 Wisconsin, and before they host the Gophers on Sunday they will face #15 Florida on Friday night.
The Gophers luckily ease into Big Ten conference play next week as they host Michigan State on Thursday and Rutgers on Sunday to kick off the conference schedule.
