Lippy Invitational: Vanderbilt and Lipscomb September 5 & 6, 2025

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Ignatius L Hoops

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vucommodores.com

Volleyball’s First Road Match, First Contest in Memorial on Deck

Vanderbilt's nonconference slate continues with a trip to Lipscomb and a top-15 matchup vs. Minnesota in Memorial Gymnasium
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WEEKEND PREVIEW
• Vanderbilt volleyball will head down the road to Lipscomb for its first away match of the season on Thursday at 6 p.m.
• The Commodores host their first match of the season in Memorial Gymnasium when they welcome 14th-ranked Minnesota for a 7 p.m. first serve

THE LAST TIME OUT
• The Commodores suffered a four-set loss to Illinois Sunday in the third match of the Broadway Block Party at Bridgestone Arena
• For the second time this season, Vanderbilt saw three players reach double-digit kills
• Kamryn Chaney registered a team-high 14 kills and a kill percentage of .368
• Jackie Moore wasn’t far behind, tallying 13 kills and hitting at a .345 clip
• In the first set, Moore recorded six kills off six attempts, and the team registered a .452 kill percentage
• With 10 kills and nine digs, Reese Animashaun was just shy of her second double-double of the season

SCOUTING THE BISONS
• Thursday will be the first recorded match between Lipscomb and Vanderbilt, but the two squads met for an exhibition in April
• Brandon Rosenthal enters his 23rd season as head coach
• For the second consecutive year, the Bisons were picked first in the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason poll
• Lipscomb finished the 2024 season with a 19-11 overall record and went 14-2 in conference play
• Courtney Jones, who led the team in kills (372), kills per set (3.54), points (422.5) and points per set (4.02) in 2024, was selected to the preseason All-ASUN team and was named preseason player of the year
• The 2023 ASUN Setter of the Year, Sophia Hudepohl was named the conference preseason setter of the year after leading the league in assists (690) and assists per set (10.95) in ASUN matches in 2024

SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
• Despite starting off the season with a 3-1 loss to No. 9 Texas A&M, Minnesota has won three straight matches over Cal Poly, Ball State and St. Thomas
• The 14th-ranked Gophers lead the Big Ten in hitting percentage at .326
• Head coach Keegan Cook has led Minnesota to two NCAA Tournaments in his two years in Minneapolis
• Julia Hanson and Stella Swenson were named Big Ten Player and Setter of the Week, respectively, on Monday
• Hanson, an All-America honorable mention in 2024, currently leads the Gophers in kills (67), kills per set (4.47), points (71.5) and points per set (4.77)
• Swenson posted a career-high 48 assists vs. Cal Poly and was named to the Golden Gopher Invitational All-Tournament Team after registering 11.27 assists, 2.91 digs, .91 kills and .45 blocks per set in three wins
• From the 2023 to 2024 seasons, Minnesota improved in hitting percentage (.226 to .242), kills per set (12.4 to 13.0), assists per set (11.5 to 11.8), digs per set (14.7 to 15.3) and blocks per set (2.6 to 2.7)

TIES TO THE GOPHERS
• Vanderbilt head coach Anders Nelson’s older sister, Meredith Nelson Uram, played volleyball at Minnesota from 2002-06 where she earned second-team All-America honors
• Meredith was a part of four NCAA Tournament teams at Minnesota, including the Gophers’ 2004 NCAA runner-up squad
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A win against a decent opponent but the play was inconsistent. I thought McKenna Garr played pretty well in her first start at libero. On the flip side Kate Thibault struggled a bit. The middles were invisible until late in the first set and after that they were very good. Myers especially. Julia was Julia. Alex Acevedo was great in the first set. In sets 2 and 3 her back row play was excellent but she couldn't get anything going on the attack. Gilk didn't do much. Kinney had some nice moments. Biggest problems tonight were defense and lack of a second attacking option. It was far too easy to get the ball on the floor against us tonight. We still need to find someone to provide some consistent production as a 2nd attacking option.
 


They really need to find some offense from the right side. I thought Garr was excellent, although I was surprised she got the nod over Thibault (who has been playing really well this season).

Is Crowl injured? I don't think she should be starting but I'm really surprised she has not played at all since the TAMU loss.
 

Crowl played the first set of the Cal Poly match. She was dreadful. Appeared to be limping after that and was not in uniform against Ball State or St. Thomas. Was in uniform last night but did not play. Someone needs to explain the Crowl fascination to me. This is her 5th year in the program and she still seems to be hesitant to spike the ball. As a hitter that's job 1, 2, and 3. I know she's a solid blocker but that's an offensive position and she's never displayed that ability. I'd rather roll with some combination of Acevedo, Gilk, and Kinney.
 

Hoolio said:
Crowl played the first set of the Cal Poly match. She was dreadful. Appeared to be limping after that and was not in uniform against Ball State or St. Thomas. Was in uniform last night but did not play. Someone needs to explain the Crowl fascination to me. This is her 5th year in the program and she still seems to be hesitant to spike the ball. As a hitter that's job 1, 2, and 3. I know she's a solid blocker but that's an offensive position and she's never displayed that ability. I'd rather roll with some combination of Acevedo, Gilk, and Kinney.
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Sorry to say I agree with you. Not sure why she won't/can't swing freely and more effectively, but it just hasn't happened.

Situational blocker maybe?
 

That sounds right to me. There's a bunch of chumbalones on Volleytalk who are obsessed with Crowl. Drives me nuts. Also a bunch who are fascinated with Olivia Swenson. We've never seen her play. Given the current state of our hitters I'm sure if Cook thought she was good enough to play she'd get a fair shot. Maybe it's just Minnesota provincialism at work.
 




Well, you have to like how clean they played in the Lipscomb match, but still not seeing the rightside offense or the floor defense they are going to need to compete with top 20 teams. I'm still not convinced this is fixable. Not this season anyhow. One can hope ...
 

(R)uffda! said:
Well, you have to like how clean they played in the Lipscomb match, but still not seeing the rightside offense or the floor defense they are going to need to compete with top 20 teams. I'm still not convinced this is fixable. Not this season anyhow. One can hope ...
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I noticed Gilk didn’t play against Lipscomb and Crowl played the third set. I think Cook is holding a competition for the right side with Gilk, Kinney and Crowl. I will admit that I was a supporter of Crowl over the years but I have to agree that I don’t think she has the killer instinct needed for a right side attacker. With Olivia, I would just like to see her play since I have never seen what she could do.
 

Gilk struggled in the Vandy match. Kinney was better which might be why she got the start. I would have preferred to see Gilk get the floor time over Crowl. Gilk has a much higher upside. Crowl tops out at meh.
 



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