The Gophers volleyball team started their 2024 season playing against two top-five teams at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The Gophers split the tournament one and one, losing their first match against Stanford and then defeating the back-to-back defending national champions, Texas, the next day.
Brookfield Wisconsin’s Mckenna Wucherer sealed the match with a kill for the Gophers on Monday.
“My family was in one section, I had friends from high school in another section,” Wucherer said. “Really just admiring where I was and who I was with.”
The Gophers outlasted Texas in a five-set match. The back-and-forth battle saw the maroon and gold drop set one 25-22 before winning sets two and three. The Longhorns won set four in a dominant 25 to 13 fashion, but the Gophers held off Texas in the final set, winning 15-7.
Wucherer tallied 12 kills while Julia Hanson led the team with 19 kills, tying her career best.
Zeynep Palabiyik dawned the white jersey for the first time in her Gopher career as the team’s starting libero. The Turkish Gopher contributed a career-high 22 digs against the Longhorns.
Gophers head coach Keegan Cook said the win over Texas instilled belief in the team.
“It’s a statement to each other, you’re trying to teach a team to believe in themselves and to believe before something happens,” Cook said. “Something happens when we win, belief comes real and you can feel it.”
Monday’s win was the first Gophers victory against a No. 1 ranked opponent in five years.
Gophers Redshirt senior Melani Shaffmaster said this game was proof they are not the same team as the previous season.
“I don’t think I really have words,” Shaffmaster said to Fox Sports1. “We finally proved ourselves that we’re not the same team we were last year. We have a lot of really great people here with us.”
The Gophers started last season ranked No. 7 in the nation, but after finishing with a 17-13 overall record, the Gophers went unranked into the NCAA tournament and lost to Creighton in the second round.
Shaffmaster credits the confidence going into the 2024 season to a tight-knit team.
“We have a lot of depth,” Shaffmaster said. “It took the whole entire team to beat Texas.”
Wucherer said Cook reminded the team how good they are.
“He said ‘I think we go into a lot of matches thinking of who’s across the net, and not really Minnesota volleyball,’” Wucherer said. “We need to remember who we are.”
The Gophers lost to No. 5 Stanford on Sunday in five sets. The Gophers led 2-1 after three sets but ultimately lost 3-2 after dropping the last two.
What ultimately ended up knocking the Gophers down was their 23 service errors. The team also had eight fewer kills than Stanford.
“Learned some lessons fast,” Cook said. “Showed some competitive character in our second match versus Texas.”
The Gophers will continue their ringer of ranked opponents when they play No. 23 Baylor on Sept. 6, followed by TCU on Sept. 7 in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge in Waco, Texas.
Volleyball fans will have to wait until Sept. 10 for the team’s home opener against St. Thomas.