University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to College of Charleston
9/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| Minnesota (5-2) at College of Charleston Classic | |
| Fri., Sept. 18 | Minnesota vs. Bryant (3:30 p.m. CT) |
| Sat., Sept 19 | Minnesota vs. Sam Houston State (9:30 a.m. CT) |
| Sat., Sept 19 | Minnesota at COC (6 p.m. CT) |
| Location | Charleston, S.C. |
| Live Video | Minnesota at Charleston - Free Video |
| Live Stats | Click Here |
| Live Updates | UM vs. Bryant | UM vs. SHS | UM vs. COC |
| Social Media | @GopherVball | Facebook |
Sept. 15, 2015
Weekly Notes
GOPHERS SET TO CLOSE OUT NON-CONFERENCE SEASON
The No. 23 University of Minnesota volleyball program closes out the non-conference portion of the 2015 schedule when it travels to Charleston, South Carolina, to compete in the College of Charleston Classic, Sept. 18-19. The Gophers will compete against Bryant on Sept. 18, and Sam Houston State and host Charleston on Sept. 19.
FOLLOWING THE GOPHERS
Live statistics for all matches this weekend can be found on CofCStats.com. Charleston will also provide a free video feed of its match vs. Minnesota, while all Minnesota matches will also have a live gameday page, found on gophersports.com.
ON THE DOCKET
The Gophers open the Big Ten Conference season against ranked opponents Ohio State and Penn State, Sept. 23 and Sept. 26 in Columbus, Ohio and University Park, Pa. Wednesday's match against the No. 13 Buckeyes and Saturday's match against No. 1 Nittany Lions will be featured on BTN Plus.
ALL TIME SERIES & LAST TIME
The Charleston Classic marks the first meeting for Minnesota against Bryant and against Charleston. The Gophers will compete against Sam Houston State for the third time in program history, but the first since 1978. Minnesota is 1-1 all time against the Bearkats, with the other meeting between the two schools in 1973.
ABOUT BRYANT
Bryant enters the Charleston Classic with a 6-5 overall record and a two-match win streak. After starting the season with four wins, the Bulldogs fell five-straight, but defeated both Bucknell and La Salle last weekend at the Marist Tournament. Kristin Kingi leads the team with 118 kills and 125 points. Vika Nesterov and Kirstyn Sperry lead the team with 264 and 189 assists, respectively, while Debora Magalhaes holds a team-best 213 digs. As a team, the Bulldogs are hitting .192 and average 12.5 kills per set.
ABOUT SAM HOUSTON STATE
Sam Houston State is 5-5 heading into the weekend's play after going 1-2 at the Rice Tournament last weekend. Brooke White and Jordyn Vaughn pace the Bearkats each with 122 kills in 10 matches. As a team, Sam Houston State is hitting .178 and has 58 aces, including team leader Claire Kilpatrick, with 14. Kilpatrick also leads the team with 172 digs.
ABOUT COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
Charleston is hosting its second-straight tournament and enters the weekend with a 6-5 overall record. After sweeping Jacksonville and Wofford at home last weekend, the Cougars fell to Tennessee in four last Saturday. Melissa Morello was named the Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week afterwards, when she posted 57 kills. On the season, she has a team-high 151 and averages 3.60 kills per set. Kennedy Madison follows with 110, followed by Devon Rachel with 86. Allison Beckman leads the team with 322 assists, while Britney Vallez holds a team-high 186 digs. Overall, the Cougars are hitting .210 entering the tourney and average 2.04 blocks per set.
LAST WEEKEND RECAP
Minnesota went 3-0 last weekend as it faced UC Irvine, North Dakota State and UCF. As a team, the Gophers hit .388 and had 135 kills to average 15.00 kills per set. Minnesota also established 21 aces and 126 digs in just nine sets. The Gophers earned a three-set win over UC Irvine (25-15, 25-15, 25-19) to open the home season. They followed with a three-set wins over NDSU (25-16, 25-15, 25-12) and UCF (25-19, 25-15, 25-14) Saturday. Minnesota won the tournament, while the NDSU Bison went 2-1 and was runner up. Gopher senior Daly Santana was named the tournament's MVP, while Dalianliz Rosado and Samantha Seliger-Swenson received all-tournament nods.
ON A ROLL
After dropping the first two matches of the season, Minnesota is riding a five-match win streak. During that span, the Gophers have only dropped two sets and are currently on a 13-0 set run. After winning a five-set match against Louisville, the Gophers have won their past four matches, 3-0. As a team, Minnesota is hitting .323, has 24 aces, 261 digs and averages 2.71 blocks per set during this win streak.
DUO EARNS WEEKLY BIG TEN HONORS
Senior outside hitter Daly Santana and freshman setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson each received Big Ten weekly awards, announced earlier this week by the conference office. Santana was named the Co-Big Ten Player of the Week, while Seliger-Swenson was named the Co-Freshman of the Week. It is the first-ever Player of the Week honor for Santana, and the second-straight award for Seliger-Swenson.
Santana hit .468 over the weekend and established 41 kills to lead the Gophers to the Diet Coke Classic tournament championship. Accomplishing 4.56 kills per set, Santana was also named the tournament's most valuable player when she had double-digit kills in all three matches. Against UC Irvine, Santana hit a season-best .538 when she had 15 kills, committed just one error in 26 attempts, while she also provided three aces. After having 14 kills against NDSU and hitting .440, she followed in the night session with 12 kills, two aces and three block assists to clinch the tournament title.
In her first weekend on her home court, Seliger-Swenson was named to the Diet Coke Classic All-Tournament Team. Helping the Gophers hit .388 on the weekend, Seliger-Swenson had 113 assists in nine sets played. Averaging 12.56 assists per set, the rookie also had five kills. She also served up five aces in nine total sets, added 10 digs and three block assists.
GOPHERS RANKED NATIONALLY
Minnesota is ranked 23rd in the recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, announced Monday by the organization. The ranking marks the first time since Oct. 27, 2014 the Golden Gophers have been ranked.
Minnesota, who received votes in the preseason poll as well as last week's poll, received 147 votes for the 23rd spot this week. After dropping the opening season contests against Texas A&M and then-No. 2 Stanford, Minnesota has won the last five straight. In fact, the Gophers have swept its last four opponents, including then-No. 18 North Carolina. The Gophers are one of eight teams ranked within the Big Ten Conference. Penn State holds the overall No. 1 spot, followed by Nebraska (4), Illinois (6), Wisconsin (11), Ohio State (13), Michigan (20) and Purdue (22).
