The Gopher volleyball program is consistently a Big Ten and national powerhouse. The program has been to six NCAA Final Fours and was national runner-up in 2004. They consistently are competing for a conference title in the incredibly tough Big Ten. The squad begins their season tonight and tomorrow against #12 Arizona State and #13 Creighton, respectively.
This year’s squad is coming off a difficult 2025 season that was absolutely wrecked by injuries, with four starters being lost for the majority of the season. But the injuries created opportunities for the younger players and by the end of the season the Gophers returned to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022.
Now the squad returns 12 players and is looking to make their preseason rank of 14th in the country look foolish and return to being a team fighting for a Big Ten title and the Final Four.
Gone from last year is 1st Team All-Big Ten Julia Hanson, 6’3” middle blocker Lourdes Myers and 6’4” outside player Lauren Crowl. Hanson’s loss is a big one as she was 5th in the Big Ten and led the team in kills. Myers, similarly, was 5th in the Big Ten in blocks and led the team. All three have run out of eligibility.
As mentioned, the silver lining of last year’s injuries is that first-year players like Carly Gilk, Jordan Taylor Kelly, Kinnney and McKenna Garr were all able to gain significant experience. Now they are poised for breakout sophomore seasons and they’ll be pairing up with those who missed most or all of last season.
The Sophomores
The four who were true freshmen last season and saw significant playing time are going to be a fantastic young nucleus for this program this season and next.
They are going to be led by Carly Gilk, the Champlin native who has already been named a preseason All-Big Ten player. Gilk is a 6’2” opposite hitter who was third on the team in kills last year and was 5th in blocks. She ended up starting 23 matches, leading all of the first-year players.
Jordan Taylor was second in blocks and brings her 6’5” frame back, where she is expected to fill in for the graduated Lourdes Myers as the team’s primary middle blocker.
McKenna Garr was first on the team in digs as a libero and was second in assists. She also played in 115 of the team’s 119 total sets, leading this group of sophomores in sets played.
Lastly, Kelly Kinney is a 6’2” outside hitter who was second on the team in kills.
The Injured Returners
Alex Acevedo’s injury was a significant blow to last year’s team. She is a former top-15 recruit out of high school who went to Oregon for a redshirt year before transferring to Minnesota. As a redshirt freshman, she started 15 matches, led the team with 37 aces and was poised for a breakout sophomore season before being lost for the season after 15 matches. In her 15 matches, she was the tournament MVP for the Diet Coke Classic, a tournament hosted by Minnesota where they won all three matches over South Florida, Dayton and South Dakota State. She returns and looks to return to form, leading this team as a 6’2” outside hitter.
Zeynep Palabiyik is a senior who tore her ACL in August of last year, missing the rest of the season after just four games. She is a 5’4” libero from Turkey who led the team in digs and was second in assists in 2024. A spark-plug and emotional leader for this team, she was also a significant loss to the 2025 team.
Calissa Minatee is a 6’1” middle blocker who played in nine matches last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury. In 2024, she started 30 matches as a sophomore and finished fourth on the team in kills and was second in blocks. She should pair well with Taylor as the team’s primary blockers.
Other Key Returners
Redshirt sophomore Stella Swenson was 2nd team All-Big Ten last year as the team’s primary setter. The Wayzata native was 5th in the Big Ten in assists a season ago, led the Gophers in aces, was second in digs and started all 119 sets for the Gophers last year.
Kate Thibault is a libero who also played in all 119 sets last year, finishing third on the team in digs.
Georgia Lee is also a setter. She spent her first two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Minnesota and played in 114 sets last season.
The Newcomers
The team brings in three first-year players. Madi Kraft is a defensive specialist from Eagan. Makenna Crosson is a 6’3” outside hitter from California. And Elena Hoecke played for Centennial last year. She is a 6’3” middle blocker who was the top high school player in Minnesota and a top-15 player in the country.
The final newcomer is Lucie Blazkova. She transferred into the program from Washington State where she was a 2-year starter as a 6’3” middle blocker.
This should be a very strong team for Minnesota in coach Keegan Cook’s third season. The season starts tonight against #12 Arizona State at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. You can watch tonight’s match on Fox 9 at approximately 8:00. And then Saturday’s match against #13 Creighton will be aired on FS1 at 4:00 on Saturday.
Eventually, they will get to the Big Ten portion of the season where the conference has four teams currently ranked in the top 10, including #1 Nebraska.
