Volleyball Enters Big Ten at 10-1

The #5 Minnesota volleyball team rolled through the competition in Forth Worth, TX, this weekend as they took the tournament championship. The Gophers swept Campbell and Maine before defeating the host Horn Frogs 3-1. Meredith Nelson was named the tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Paula Gentil and Kelly Bowman.

Minnesota opened up the tournament with a 30-10 30-18 30-18 blasting over the Campbell Camels. Meredith Nelson led the team with 9 kills, hitting .900, while Kyla Roehrig and Jessy Jones added 8. As a team, Minnesota hit .527. Paula Gentil served a school record eight aces in the match.

The Gophers second match-up in the tournament was equally overmatched Maine. Minnesota romped 30-19 30-15 30-19 behind a blistering offensive effort. As a team, the Gophers hit .434 led by Kelly Bowman’s 11 kills at a .786 clip. Meredith Nelson led the team with 13 kills; Jessy Jones added 9. Paula Gentil had another 6 aces to run her tournament total to 14.

After running through their first two opponents with absolute ease, Minnesota struggled in the opening game against TCU. The Gophers struggled with hitting errors all afternoon before posting a come from behind 20-30 30-26 30-17 30-17 victory. Sarah Florian had her most significant match as a Gopher thus far, posting 12 kills in the winning effort to lead the team in that category along with Jessica Byrnes. Jessy Jones added 10 kills, while Paula Gentil contributed 21 digs.

After strolling through a rather pedestrian line-up (aside from Nebraska) during the non-conference season, Minnesota enters the Big Ten season this weekend with a huge match-up with archrival Wisconsin on Friday in Madison. The Badgers are ranked #10 in the latest AVCA poll and are coming off of a 3-0 sweep of #11 UCLA.

Wisconsin is led on offense by a surprising freshman, right side hitter Audra Jeffers. Jeffers redshirted last season but has come out on fire to start her college career. The Badgers are also very strong in the middle with senior All Big-Tenner Shelia Shaw and sophomore Taylor Reineke both having very strong seasons. Wisconsin has a very strong all around team that hits well, blocks well and plays great floor defense. This will be one of the biggest tests of the Big Ten season.

The Gophers wrap up the weekend by facing a strong Northwestern team in Evanston. The Wildcats have blazed through this season to a 9-1 record. Sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Anderson and junior middle blocker Julie Purcell lead NU. While the Wildcats have a strong record, they shouldn’t cause too much trouble for the Gophers.

We will see this weekend how the Gophers fare with their first significant road tests of the season. Coach Hebert has been tinkering with the starting lineup all season, it will be very interesting to see whom he settles with this weekend. Sarah Florian made her first significant contributions of the season last weekend and will probably be a staple on the leftside for the rest of the season. We will know a lot more about the Gophers on Sunday.