Gophers drop 5-set battle against No. 5 Stanford to open season

The Minnesota Gophers volleyball team opened the season with a tough loss against fifth-ranked Stanford on Sunday at the Intersport Volleyball Showcase (28-26, 23-25, 25-16, 13-25, 13-15).

Playing in front of a reported 14,035 fans at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the Gophers struck first in a back-and-forth match that went the distance.

Despite hitting just .184 in the opening set, Minnesota held Stanford to .189 and the Gophers were up 24-19. But the Cardinal then went on a run, surging ahead 25-24 thanks to multiple aces and Gophers errors.

Fortunately, the Gophers were able to battle back and eke out a 28-26 win on a big block.

However, the errors that popped up late in that set resurfaced in Set 2. The Gophers had seven total service errors in the second set alone, and despite outhitting Stanford .267 to .129, the Gophers dropped the frame 23-25.

Whatever was said during the break seemed to work as the Gophers cleaned things up a bit and dominated Set 3, hitting .481 while holding the Cardinal to just .121 in a 25-16 win. And, unlike in the first set, the Gophers finished strong, which made it seem like they could close things out in the fourth frame.

Instead, the beatdown seemed to wake up Stanford and the script flipped. The Cardinal started to get two-time Pac-12 Setter of the Year Kami Miner more involved and took off, hitting a whopping .556 with seven aces in Set 4. And, the Gophers’ block, which had been so good early on — totaling 14 blocks over the first three sets — got nothing in the frame as Stanford forced a fifth set with a 25-13 win.

Emblematic of the match as a whole, Set 5 went back-and-forth. Stanford jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before the Gophers went on a 6-2 run over their own. Ultimately, Stanford was too much and closed out a 15-13 win.

As a whole, the Gophers hit .302 in the match with 14 blocks, which tied their season-best from 2023, two strong building blocks. Their errors just were too much on Sunday, as their 23 service errors and 12 reception errors were too costly and outweighed their 80-point advantage in hitting percentage.

"It felt like a bit of a nervous match to start, we had some service errors and some hesitation defensively," Gophers head coach Keegan Cook said. "Just to be more of ourselves is what I'm asking from them going forward."

Senior setter Melani Shaffmaster led the Gophers with 40 assists while adding eight digs and four kills on five attacks. Calissa Minatee led the Gophers with seven blocks while Phoebe Awoleye and Mckenna Wucherer each had six. Wucherer and Julia Hanson also each had 14 kills for the Gophers, pacing Minnesota in points with 19.5 and 16, respectively.

For Stanford, Miner had a match-high 47 assists and 17 digs while adding three kills. Elia Rubin led the Cardinal with 19 kills.

It won’t get any easier for the Gophers for a bit, as they finish up the event Monday evening against top-ranked Texas, which beat No. 3 Wisconsin in four sets earlier on Sunday. That match is set to start at 6:30 p.m.