University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Yale Invite This Weekend
9/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2014
| Minnesota (1-1) at Yale Invitational | |
| Friday, Sept. 5 | at Yale, 6 p.m. CT |
| Ivy League Digital Network | Live Stats | Blog | |
| Saturday, Sept. 6 | vs. Boston College, 10 a.m. CT | Blog |
| Live Stats | |
| vs. Albany, 4 p.m. CT | Blog | |
| Live Stats | |
| Location | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Official Site | Minnesota | Yale | Boston College | Albany |
| Social Media | @GopherVball | Facebook |
MINNESOTA HITS THE ROAD FOR FIRST TIME IN 2014
The University of Minnesota volleyball team competes on the road for the first time in 2014. The Golden Gophers travel to New Haven, Conn., to compete in the Yale Invitational, Sept. 5-6. Minnesota plays host Yale as it opens the season on Friday. The Gophers then play Boston College and Albany on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 10 a.m. CT and 4 p.m. CT.
ON THE DOCKET
The Gophers return home to host the annual Diet Coke Classic, Sept. 12-13 at the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota will close out the preseason portion with a tournament at Toledo, Sept. 19-20. Minnesota then opens the Big Ten Conference season at home against Ohio State, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m.
ABOUT THE TEAMS
The Yale Invitational marks the opening weekend for the Bulldogs after making it to the NCAA Tournament in 2013. Yale is the four-time defending Ivy League champion and posted a 20-5 overall record last year, as it fell to Utah in the First Round of NCAAs. The Bulldogs, however, lost senior starter and honorable mention All-American Kendal Polan. Yale returns all-conference honorees in seniors Mollie Rogers and Maddie Rudnick junior Kelly Johnson and sophomore Brittani Steinberg.
Boston College opened the 2014 season with a 2-1 record as it hosted the BC Invitational. The Eagles earned two 3-0 wins against Holy Cross and Hartford, but fell to Marist in the championship match, 3-2. Katty Workman leads the team with 51 kills and four aces, followed by Julia Topor with 29. Setter Kellie Barnum has seven kills and 87 assists, while Anna Skold has a team-high 13 blocks. Lauren Fields leads the team in digs (48) to average 4.36 per set.
Albany opened the season at the Delaware Invited and dropped three matches. The Great Danes fell to host Delaware, 3-1, Rhode Island, 3-2, and Loyola Chicago, 3-0 to close out the weekend. Amy Hunter led the team the opening week when she had 37 kills to average 3.08 per set. Emily Lopes and Mikala McCauley have 65 and 57 assists, respectively, while Viktoriia Stroilo has a team-high 52 digs. Sofia Furlong leads the team with 13 blocks.
ALL-TIME AGAINST THE TEAMS
Minnesota has played all of these teams once in program history. The Gophers played Boston College once in 1996 and won, 3-0, at Chestnut Hill, Mass., as a part of the Boston College Eagle Classic. The Gophers faced Yale in 2004 when the Bulldogs made it to the NCAA Tournament that year. Minnesota played Yale in New Haven, Conn., and won, 3-0. The Gophers also played Albany once, as the Great Danes competed in the Diet Coke Classic, Sept. 1, 2012. Minnesota defeated Albany, 3-0.
OPENING WEEKEND
Minnesota went 1-1 in the opening weekend of play as it defeated Notre Dame, 3-0 (26-24, 27-25, 25-18) and fell to Louisville, 3-1 (25-21, 25-27, 27-25, 28-26). The win over Notre Dame marked the third-straight year the Gophers won their season-opening match. Minnesota had four freshman earn their collegiate debut over the weekend, including Dalianliz Rosado, who started as the Gophers' libero.
CAREER HIGHS
Minnesota had some standout performances last weekend as it hosted the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Sarah Wilhite produced a 25 kill, 19 dig performance against the Louisville Cardinals, both career highs. Wilhite recorded her second collegiate double double after producing one (Dartmouth Duels) her freshman year. Paige Tapp had a career-high seven kills in the match against Louisville and hit a career-best .600 against Notre Dame.
GOPHER ROSTER
The Gophers will boast a young team this season with two seniors, Adrianna Nora and Morgan Bohl, a junior Daly Santana and 11 sophomores and freshman. Laura Caluori, Erica Handley, Katie Schau, Hannah Tapp, Paige Tapp and Sarah Wilhite represent the sophomore class. From the freshman class it's Maddie Beal, Alyssa Goehner, Molly Lohman, Carly Rasmussen and Dalianliz Rosado. Minnesota lost three senior starters from last year in Tori Dixon, Alexandra Palmer and Ashley Wittman.
GOPHERS RANKED 18TH IN AVCA
The University of Minnesota volleyball program is ranked 18th in the recent American Volleyball Coaches Association, announced Monday. Defending national champions, Penn State, took the top spot and 35 first-place votes, followed by Stanford (15) and Texas (5) to round out the top three.
Like every year, Minnesota is in the stacked Big Ten Conference as seven teams are ranked in the top 25. Penn State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State and Minnesota are all ranked. Michigan and Northwestern are receiving votes, as is Iowa State, who the Gophers play in non-conference action during the Diet Coke Classic (9/13).
Players Mentioned
Middle Blocker/Opposite
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