Gophers exhibition v alumni on August 16 2025

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Nipomo 56 said:
Did anyone see the exhibition match? Any takeaways?
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Julia Hanson
Nipomo 56 said:
Did anyone see the exhibition match? Any takeaways?
Click to expand...
Julia Hanson played only two sets, but she is as good as last year. She appears to be our terminator. Zeynep Palabiyik, at libero, really seems to have improved. There were times when all three defensive specialist payed in the back row, so the serve received seems to me to be greatly improved. The freshman OH, Kelly Kinney, looked very good in the back row. I thought all the freshman played well. We will be going up against a very good veteran Texas A&M team on the 25th, but I think we should really improve as the season goes along. The alumni hadn't practice together much, so they weren't much of a test. The Gophers won the first two sets easily, but with Julia Hanson playing, they won last to sets by two points as I recall. Wucherer played a little and looked good. The freshman middler blocker, Jordan Taylor, should be great by the end of the season. Stella Swenson played great as setter.
 

Someone commented (in VolleyTalk) about Jen Bowman being in her mid-40s. No chance. Early 40s OK.

Just saying.

An interesting career path for Jen. Northern Illinois to LBSU to Minnesota. IIRC she had to sit a year after the LBSU transfer. I still think it would have been so cool if the Gophers had rallied to beat Stanford in g3 when she replaced Gentil at libero. Alas ...
 



I don't need to. She just turned 43. That's not middle 40s.

I did watch this match. It was not very interesting (read competitive) imo. Too bad Santana and Samedy were no-shows, but I'm not sure that would have affected the passing issues the alumni had. To me, Zeynip (and Hanson) were the two most impressive Gophers, but it's hard to draw any conclusions about the season from this match. I don't see how they can compete at a top 10 level. It doesn't help when other programs just keep picking up the best players developed elsewhere -- and now Nebraska is bringing in Italian pros.

This sport is in serious trouble. Major and minor leagues vibes. But I'm repeating myself.
 

(R)uffda! said:
I don't need to. She just turned 43. That's not middle 40s.

I did watch this match. It was not very interesting (read competitive) imo. Too bad Santana and Samedy were no-shows, but I'm not sure that would have affected the passing issues the alumni had. To me, Zeynip (and Hanson) were the two most impressive Gophers, but it's hard to draw any conclusions about the season from this match. I don't see how they can compete at a top 10 level. It doesn't help when other programs just keep picking up the best players developed elsewhere -- and now Nebraska is bringing in Italian pros.

This sport is in serious trouble. Major and minor leagues vibes. But I'm repeating myself.
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Were Kilkelly and Rosado the only two Alumni playing backcourt for most of the sets?

Several other posts here and on VT Proboards have expressed that Z and Hanson were the most impressive and/or played the best. IMO our BEST liberos ever were back in Hebert's Days - Gentil, Peniata, Tan, and Granquist.

Out of curiosity, is Stella not on your impressive list for a reason, while so many other Gopher fans are totally impressed with her? I have yet to see any Gopher matches.
 

Stella just didn't stand out for me, but that is probably a very good thing. I'm much more likely to notice bad setting than I am consistent setting. Let's just say I don't recall seeing many missed connections.

It didn't seem like Kilkelly played all that much after g1. Their OHs were playing through the back row for the most part. Hayden may have subbed in a few times. Not sure. There really wasn't anyone else they could use.

I'd add Reinhart to a list of Hebert's good backcourt players, granted she wasn't a libero.
 

This is a story I've told before, but I'd never presume anyone was paying attention so I'll tell it again. The Gopher's ball control was horrid for Berg's entire 4 seasons at Minnesota. There will never be a Gopher setter who did more with less. But I witnessed the beginning of the change in the spring of 2002 out at Pepperdine in some spring matches. Yvonne Wichert and Lindsey Vander Well were part of that, but no player did more to turn the program around (that spring) than Reinhart. It was a different team than the one that had lost to UNI the previous fall (by being outdug).

Gentil came in that summer and Peniata a year later. By the time Kelly Bowman came along defense was probably THE thing that defined the program, culminating in the near NC of 2004. I don't think we've ever seen defense at that level here since 2004. Heck, Gentil's last year, 2005, saw a steep fall off. Fatigue may have been a huge part of it. Only people inside the program know the full story of that season.

All that to say, it would be great if Zeynep, Garr and Thibault could bring back some of that magic. It's why Wisconsin and Nebraska were able to dominate for several seasons. Offense will only take you so far. Ask Texas.
 



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