University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Volleyball Recruiting Class Ranked No. 12 in the Nation
7/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team’s 2008 recruiting class was ranked No. 12 in the nation according to prepvolleyball.com. It marks the fourth time in five years that the Golden Gophers have had a class ranked in the top 12 by prepvolleyball.com
This year’s class is made up of Alex Blatt (Orland Park, Minn.), Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.), Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.), Pam Luiz (Limeira, Brazil) and Ashley Suapaia (Bloomington, Minn.). During the process of coming up with the rankings, prepvolleyball.com did not consider Luiz’s impact since she is junior and not an incoming freshman.
Minnesota had the fourth-best recruiting class in the nation in 2003, 2005 and 2007. The 2003 class consisted of 2006 Second-Team All-American Meredith Nelson, 2004 First-Team All-American Kelly Bowman and 2006 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Malama Peniata.
In 2004, the Golden Gophers had the 22nd-ranked recruiting class in the nation when they signed Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) and Doneila Jackson (Plant City, Fla.). Once again, Minnesota had the fourth-ranked class in the nation when it recruited current seniors Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.), Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.), Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) and Katie Vatterrodt (Bloomington, Ill.) .
Last year’s class, which was made up of Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.), 2007 Honorable Mention honoree Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) and 2007 Big Ten All-Freshman team honoree Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) was also ranked fourth in the nation.
Blatt is a 5-11 setter out of Orland Park, Ill., who graduated from Sandburg High School. This past year, Blatt was named a prepvolleyball.com Honorable Mention High School All-American and First-Team All-State. She was also received All-Area and All-Conference honors as a junior and a senior. Blatt led her team to back-to-back conference championships in her junior and senior seasons. In 2007, she helped guide Sandburg to a 30-9 overall record. As a senior, Blatt had 339 assists, 230 kills, 45 service aces and 205 digs during the regular-season.
She was named No. 22 on the prepvolleyball.com Top 100 seniors list. Blatt also played for the U.S. Youth National Training team last summer. She has played for the First-Alliance Club program the past four years, and also played two years for the Ultimate Club program.
Filho is a 6-2 middle blocker out of Monument, Colo., who graduated from Lewis-Palmer High School. This past year, she was named All-State as a senior. Filho was also named All-Area and All-Conference as a junior and senior.
In her senior season, she helped Lewis-Palmer High School to League, Regional and District championships. Lewis-Palmer also won a District Championship in Filho’s sophomore year. Her team ended up finishing fifth in the 5A State Tournament in each of her three years with the program. This year, Filho was the 5A state leader in blocks. She was also named Academic All-State in 2006 and 2007.
Filho was named No. 24 on the prepvolleyball.com Top 100 seniors list. She also played with Blatt on the U.S. Youth National Training team last summer, and was part of the High Performance National team the previous summer. She played for the Front Range Volleyball club, and helped guide that team to a runner-up AAU Championship and a fifth-place junior Olympics finish when she was part of the 16-1’s squad.
Granquist is a 5-8 freshman libero out of Blaine, Minn., who graduated from Blaine High School. This past year, she was named a prepvolleyball.com Honorable Mention High School All-American, First-Team All-State, First-Team All-Area and All-Conference. Granquist helped lead her team to a Sectional Championship, and was named to the All-Tournament team in the state tournament. This past year, she averaged 4.40 kpg and 5.80 dpg.
She is a four-time All-Conference honoree, a two-time All-Area honoree and was named the team MVP the last four years. Granquist was an All-State performer in track as well. She is also a member of the M-1 18s club volleyball team this year. Last year, her M-1 club team finished third at Nationals. Granquist was also ranked No. 100 on among high school seniors by prepvolleyball.com.
Luiz is a 5-11 junior outside hitter from Limeira, Brazil who is coming to Minnesota after two years at Frank Phillips College. While at Frank Phillips College, Luiz helped lead the school to sixth place in the NJCAA Tournament in 2006 and fourth place in 2007. She is a two-time NJCAA All-American and was a two-time WJCAC Conference Player of the Year.
As a junior, Luiz helped lead her team to 42-3 overall record. Frank Phillips was ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA with a 40-1 record heading into the tournament. After 38 matches in the 2007 season, Luiz averaged 4.90 kpg and 3.10 dpg. She also becomes the second player to come to Minnesota from Brazil, joining three-time All-American Paula Gentil who played for the Golden Gophers from 2002-05.
Suapaia received Pioneer Press First-Team All-State honors, Star Tribune Third-Team All-Metro and was named All-Conference as a senior at Kennedy High School in Bloomington, Minn. Last year, she averaged 5.50 dpg and was seventh in the state in receptions per game. She has played high school volleyball at Kennedy since she broke in as a defensive specialist in eighth grade.
She played club volleyball for Northern Lights, where she helpd the 18-1s team finish in third place in the AAU Tournament. Suapaia was an AAU All-American during her 15-1s season at Northern Lights.
Player Pos. Ht. Hometown (High School) prepvolleyball.com rank
Alex Blatt S 5-11 Orland Park, Ill. (Sandburg) No. 22
Ariana Filho MB 6-2 Monument, Colo. (Lewis-Palmer) No. 24
Jessica Granquist LIB/DS 5-8 Blaine, Minn. (Blaine) No. 100
Pamela Luiz OH 5-11 Limeira, Brazil (Frank Phillips) 2007 NJCAA All-American
Ashley Suapaia LIB/DS 5-6 Bloomington, Minn. (Kennedy)
Minnesota Recruiting Class According to prepvolleyball.com:
“The Gophers went shopping for very specific positional needs and got exactly what they wanted. Blatt, a former USA Jr. National Team member, arrives in Minneapolis in August to challenge incumbent setter Rachel Hartmann for the starting position. She is silky smooth and plays with confidence. Filho, also a former USA Jr. National Team member, will add athleticism and depth to a solid corps of middles. The Gophers continued to emphasize their commitment to ball control by adding both Granquist and Suapaia. Both are dependable and experienced. Brazilian Pamela Ruiz, not considered in the rating of this class because she is a foreign player, may make the biggest impact for the Gophers. After earning All-America accolades in the JuCo ranks last year, Ruiz, a 5-11 OH, has skill and savvy.”
