The Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team went on the road to Nashville last weekend and picked up a pair of 3-0 sweeps of Vanderbilt and Lipscomb on the road to push their record to 5-1 o the season. Minnesota is using their weaker than normal non-conference schedule to their aid this fall as the Gophers are adapting their lineup to playing down not one, but two starters. Minnesota will miss both senior outside hitter McKenna Wucherer and junior libero Zeynep Palabiyik for the remainder of the season after
it was announced both have season ending injuries.
Wucherer has been dealing with a back injury for most of the last year. It limited her play in the 2024 season significantly, but both she and the Gophers had hoped that she had overcome that injury. Unfortunately that was not the case, and the Gophers announced prior to their home opener that Wucherer will miss the entire 2025 season trying to fully recover from that injury. She hopes to return for her final season of eligibility in 2026 as one of the best outside hitters in the conference which we saw in her sophomore season.
Palabiyik started at libero for the Gophers first four matches of the season but suffered a knee injury in their match against St. Thomas when she reportedly tripped on a portion of the base of the net and went down. She had an MRI last week and was diagnosed with a torn ACL. She is eligible for a medical redshirt and will look to return to action as a redshirt junior in 2026.
With the injuries the Gophers have had to move some pieces around in their lineup. Senior outside hitter Julia Hansen was already expected to continue to have an even bigger role after her breakout season in 2024 and she has done that leading the Gophers in kills with 96 through six matches, good for a 4.56 kill per set average. Freshman Carly Gilk has moved into the starting lineup as the opposite hitter and has impressed early and currently ranks second on the team with 2.36 kills per set. Also seeing more playing time has been another freshman in Kelly Kinney. Gophers coach Keegan Cook will have a bit more time to decide who he wants to take the lead once the Big Ten season starts.
Minnesota moved true freshman McKenna Garr into the starting libero spot last weekend for their matches in Tennessee and she looked comfortable at the position. By moving Garr to libero, it has opened up more defensive specialist back row playing time, and junior Kate Thibault has mainly played that role with a bit from Rutgers transfer and backup setter Georgia Lee as well.
Minnesota currently is on that five match winning streak. After Minnesota dropped their season opener to #9 Texas A&M in Sioux Falls, they returned home to host the Golden Gopher Invitational the following weekend. Minnesota cruised to a 3-1 win over Cal Poly a 3-0 sweep of Ball State and then picked up a 3-1 win over St. Thomas. After that tournament, Hansen was named the Tournament MVP and was awarded Big Ten PLayer of the Week. She averaged 4.64 kills, 1.73 digs, 0.36 blocks and 0.09 aces per set in the three matches. She hit .370 for the weekend with 51 kills. Additionally Gopher freshman setter Stella Swenson was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week. She averaged 11.27 assists, 2.91 digs, 0.91 kills and 0.45 blocks per set in three wins. She posted a career-high 48 assists to go with seven kills and 14 digs Friday vs. Cal Poly. Swenson followed it up with 39 assists, two kills and seven digs in a sweep over Ball State. She then ended her weekend with 37 assists, 11 digs, three blocks, a kill and an ace in a win over St. Thomas.
Last weekend Minnesota flew to Tennessee for a pair of games in Nashville. Minnesota took on Vanderbilt in the weekend opener on Friday. The commodores just began their Division I program this season. It looked like it as the Gophers easily swept them 3-0. Hansen led Minnesota with 13 kills while Garr added a career-high 16 digs in her first start at libero. Swenson paced the offense with 30 assists while Lourdes Myers had a team-best seven blocks.
Saturday they headed across town to Lipscomb for another 3-0 sweep. The same leaders led the way for Minnesota as Hansen led Minnesota with 16 kills while Garr added another 14 digs. This time it was Calissa Minatee leading Minnesota up the middle with six blocks and Swenson added another 27 assists.
After the sweep the Gophers moved from #14 up to #13 in the newest AVCA Coaches Poll. The Gophers return back home to Maturi Pavillion for the annual Diet Coke Classic this weekend. Minnesota will see it’s second toughest foe of the non-conference schedule this far when on Saturday night they will face previously ranked Dayton, who fell out of the Top 25 to 28th this week. That match is scheduled for a 5 PM start. Friday the Gophers will face South Florida at 6 PM, and Sunday it’s South Dakota State at 3 PM. All the matches will also stream via B1G+.
