Gopher Schedule, More Braegelman

#1 posting 6.13.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

FALL SCHEDULE
The Gophers have released their fall schedule. Minnesota will host two tournaments this year with the Diet Coke Classic on September 12-14. The next weekend they will host the Gopher Invitational. Their first home Big 10 game is against Northwestern on September 26.

AWARDS
Here is the Duluth News Tribune article on Vicky Braegelman and her upcoming NCAA D2 Female Athlete of the year award. Here is the UMD Press Release.

ARENA UPDATE
Iowa's Hawkeye Carver Arena will undergo renovations.

COLLEGE DECISIONS
Brittany Schreader of JWP will play volleyball for Bethany Lutheran College.

POLICE BLOTTER
Jane Passa, the NDSCS Athletic Director and volleyball coach, has been sentenced for drunken driving. From the Grand Forks Herald.

BOOK SALE
If you haven't noticed, you can order the Breakdown's volleyball book now. See the link (with photo) on the right.

next up: tomorrow.

Gopher Spring Results

#1 posting 4.23.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SPRING EVENTS
Minnesota finished 2-0-1 on Sunday. I had the report on the Marquette match. The Gophers site has more on the win against North Dakota State, and the tie with Iowa State.

Iowa State also finished 2-0-1 in the Sunday event.

NORTHERN LIGHTS QUALIFIER PART 2
The Northern Lights Qualifier continues this weekend at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The 14s and 15s take over this time. Here are the schedules.

I hope to add the photos soon.

Out & About: Minnesota/Marquette

#2 posting 4.20.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHERS SPRING TOURNAMENT
Today the Minnesota Gophers hosted a four team event with Marquette, Iowa State, and North Dakota State. Action started bright and early at 8:30 am with the Gophers taking on Marquette. I was there for that contest and the following match with Iowa State and North Dakota. Here is the report

MINNESOTA gophers 3, MARQUETTE warriors 0

The Gophers swept Marquette in a the new 25 point format. The depleted teams experimented and adjusted to new realities. The bench was nonexistent. As it was in game one Marquette led early 2-0. Brooke Dieter had two kills to tie it up. The first 3 point run for the Gophers, who led with 10 on the day, pushed them out to a 5-3 lead and they never trailed after that. They soon added another three point run to make it 8-4 after Dieter's serve. The Gopher side out game had five straight side outs to close the game. Rachel Hartmann serve out the last three points, the last two coming on Marquette hitting errors.

The Gophers opened game two with two kills by Kelly Schmidt and they soon had a 7-3 lead. The five straight side outs carried over into game two with seven of the first eight Marquette serves done in one. Combined with the end of the first game that was 12/13. It was 15-8 at that point. Lauren Gibbemeyer delivered points 16-18 via kills. Then the side out machine started to sputter. Marquette was able to squeeze on point off the next three serves and closed the margin to 21-18. The Gophers had a run of three with a kill by Dieter, Vatterodt and an ace by Christine Tan to put them on the verge 24-18. The Warriors answered with their own run of three thanks in part to two Gopher hitting errors. Gibbemeyer finished the second game with a kill, her 6th of that frame.

Two Marquette hitting errors put the Gophers in front 2-0. Marquette got hot in the side out game stopping the Gophers serve four straight times. That helped put them up 7-6. After a ball handling error, Hartmann served up four straight. There was a disputed call with what looked to be a kill by Cowles ruled a replay in that sequence. After Hartman's run was done it was 11-7. Tan delivered four straight service points to make it 17-10. Marquette had a run of three to respond with a kill by Rabbecka Gonyo followed by two hitting errors. Hartmann, as she did in game one, served out with three straight. Cowles delivered two kills with Schmidt and Cowles combining for a block on the match point.

photos: #1 Gibbemeyer ready to attack. #2 Hartmann in a joust at the net. photos by kja

Minnesota 25 25 25 (75)
Marquette 14 21 16 (51)

MINNESOTA
Rotation; player, position, aces-blocks-kills-total
1. Hailey Cowles, OH 0-1-13---14
2. Christine Tan, L 1-0-0---1
2fr Kelly Schmidt, MH 0-4.5-5---9.5
3. Katie Vatterodt, RH 0-2.5-6---8.5
4. Brooke Dieter, OH 0-0-3----3
5. Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH 0-5.5-9---14.5
6. Rachel Hartmann, S 0-1.5-3---4.5
totals: 1-15-49---65

Point Errors for Marquette:
Gibbemeyer 6
Dieter 4
Cowles 3
Hartmann 2
Vatterodt 2
Tan 1
Schmidt 1

MARQUETTE
The fact is Marquette had permanent players in the front row and permanent players in the back row. All teams were short on numbers due to graduation and some nagging injuries (Kyla Roehrig was out for the Gophers for example). At this point I will summarize their point totals, and disregard their service order since it was creative to say the least.
Rabbecka Gonyo 0-4-11---15
Hailey Viola 0-0.5-8---8.5
Laira Akin, 0-1.5-4---5
Jessica Kieser 0-0-2---2
Caryn Mastandrea 0-0-1---1
totals: 0-6-26---32

TRENCH PLAYER
Hailey Cowles

BY THE NUMBERS
team, fbso/att; fbso%; points, %earned, %allowed
Minnesota 24/38; .632; 75; .733; .373
Marquette 19/37; .514; 51; .627; .267
3+runs: MN 10, Marquette 2
missed serves: MN 6, Marquette 5

ROTATIONS
1. Cowles 13-10 .565
2. Tan 17-12 .586
3. Vatterodt 10-6 .625
4. Dieter 11-9 .550
5. Gibbemeyer 8-8 .500
6. Hartmann 16-6 .727
totals: 75-51 .595

I also stayed for the Iowa State vs North Dakota State battle won by ISU 25-23, 25-15, and 19-15. There was automatically three games. There were a few Minnesotans playing for both squads. For ISU, Diane Kieger, a 6-4 middle from Mounds View had 1.5 blocks and 9 kills for 10.5 total points. For NDSU Mattie Johnson of Lakeville North set. Also Kristen Hille of Sauk Rapids hit on the out side. Hille had 17 kills, 1 ace and 1 block for a total of 19 points. In game three Hille had five of the first six points on kills for NDSU as they raced out to a 6-2 lead. Hille ended up with 10 points in game three.

photos: #1. Diane Kieger (#11) for Iowa State. #2. Kristen Hille of NDSU (#12). #3 Mattie Johnson (#8) for NDSU. photos by kja

next up: tomorrow

Gopher Spring Event, Northern Lights Qualifier

#1 posting 4.20.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SPRING TOURNAMENTS
The Sports Performance College Invitational at the Great Lakes Center was the big event on the Saturday calendar. Ohio was one of the 24 teams in action and the Bobcats finished 0-5. Ohio lost to Indiana State and Northwestern in the morning and to North Carolina, Illinois State and DePaul in afternoon bracket play.

GOPHER ACTION
Minnesota Spring Tourney Schedule
Marquette vs Minnesota 8:30 a.m.
Iowa State vs. North Dakota State, 10 a.m.
Iowa State vs. Marquette, 11:30 a.m.
North Dakota State vs Minnesota
Marquette vs North Dakota State 3:10 p.m.
Iowa State vs. Minnesota, 4:40 p.m.
All matches held at the Sports Pavillion. Admission is free.

NORTHERN LIGHTS QUALIFIER
The NLQ is going on this weekend at Minneapolis Convention Center. Here is the schedule.

Here is the list of North Country Regional Qualifiers in PDF format.

Next up: Later today with a report on the Gopher action.

Big South Qualifier, Late Gopher Diary Entries

#1 posting 3.23.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

BIG SOUTH JO QUALIFIER
The Big South JO Qualifier going on this Easter weekend down in Atlanta. Last weekend there was a tornado that caused havoc in the area and the tournament is feeling the effects. Players and fans are adusting. From teh Atlanta Journal Constitution.

GOPHER DIARIES
These might be a bit old, but Kelly Schmidt, Brook Dieter, and Hailey Cowles all have diary entries.

Next up: Tomorrow

Gophers Split

#1 posting 3.21.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHERS SPLIT IN PUERTO RICO
The Minnesota Gophers split with Caguas Criollas in Puerto Rico 2-2 yesterday. Minnesota is 2-0-1 on their trip.

ACADEMICS
Gustavus had two volleyball players that made the MIAC Academic list in the fall.

Next up: Tomorrow

Gophers win in Puerto Rico, Badgers Enjoy San Diego

#1 posting 3.20.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

SPRING TRIPS
PUERTO RICO
The Gophers beat Guay Navo Volleyball Club 3-2.

SAN DIEGO
Wisconsin's Audra Jeffers and Kim Kuzma blog on their San Diego trip.

Next up: Tomorrow

Gophers Win in Puerto Rico

#1 posting 3.19.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHERS IN PUERTO RICO
Minnesota opened their PR trip with a sweep over Puerto Rico-Cayey.

It is Kyla Roehrig's turn at the diary blog.

Next up: tomorrow

2 Signings, Puerto Rico Blog

#1 posting 3.16.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SIGNINGS
Sartell seniors Mallory Johannes and Ashley Smoley have signed letters of intent to play volleyball at Jamestown College. From the St. Cloud Times.
This makes 39 known Minnesota 2008 players that will go on and play college volleyball, and the 5th and 6th to go to an NAIA school.

DEAR DIARY
Gopher setter Rachel Hartmann has a blog entry on the first two days of their Puerto Rico trip.

next up: tomorrow

Mattai Verbals, Gophers to Puerto Rico

#1 posting 3.14.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

VERBAL
Kelsey Mattai, a 6-3 middle from White Bear Lake and also the Northern Lights 17-1s, last week verbally committed to Marquette University.
She is the third Minnesota player from the 2009 class to verbal.

PUERTO RICO BOUND
The Gophers are off to Puerto Rico for a week of action.

Next up: Tomorrow

Six Gone, More Champs

#1 posting 2.26.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SIX GONE
The Minnesota Daily looks at the six Gophers leaving the volleyball program and the reasons they left.

CHAMPS
Granite City 17s won the President's day tournament in Eden Prairie last week. One of the members of that squad is St. Cloud Cathedral's Anna Zyvoloski. From the St. Cloud Times.

Next up: Tomorrow

Ex Gopher Plans, Awards, & Confidence

#1 posting 2.11.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

EX GOPHER PLANS
Krista Chin and Kelly Fallon left to concentrate on school.
Caitlin Schneider was on a one year scholarship to back up Hartmann.
All three will stay at MN for school. Although, Schneider may still consider playing elsewhere. Chin is taking something like 19 credits this semester so she can graduate this year.

Charde Phillips is looking to transfer and MN will help find a school for her.

Rachelle Hagerty had shoulder surgery last week, her second surgery in 10 months. She is considering retirement. If she does play again it will be closer to home.

Michelle Wilber could be retiring too.

AWARDS & HONORS
Sharon Euerle, the Athletic Director at Mankato West, picked up the Marie Berg Award for Excellence in Education. Euerle started the volleyball program at St. James. From the Mankato Free Press.

CONFIDENCE, SUCCESS & SALIMA (DAVIDSON) ROCKWELL
Former Penn State player and current assistant Salima (Davidson) Rockwell has a feature on the PSU site.

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: tomorrow

Gopher Banquet

#1 posting 2.10.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHER BANQUET

The Golddigger booster club hosted the annual Gopher volleyball banquet yesterday. Here are the award winners:

Maurice Batie Award (most inspirational player) - Kelly Roysland
MVP (selected by the coaches) - Christine Tan
Golddigger Award (selected by the booster club) - Christine Tan
Gold Country Award (presented by Gold Country, Inc. - highest GPA in the fall semester) - Katie Vatterodt
All Academic Big Ten (must be a letter winner, in second academic year, 3.0 career GPA) - Krista Chin, Kelly Fallon, Kyla Roehrig, Kelly Schmidt, Christine Tan, Katie Vatterodt
All Big Ten - Jessy Jones
All Big Ten Freshman Team - Brook Dieter, Lauren Gibbemeyer

Highlights included video from 1968 of Coach Hebert playing for Indiana and video of Nao Ikeda, director of volleyball operations, playing in 1984 for a professional team in Japan. 89 people attended the banquet which was held at the Radisson University.

Other news - Krista Chin, Kelly Fallon, Rachelle Hagerty, Charde Phillips, Caitlin Schneider, and Michelle Wilber are leaving the program

MC ALLISTER
In the Carrington column in the Bemidji Pioneer this tidbit: Monica McAllister of Walker-H-A had a good year at Rainy River CC. Scroll down. It is like finding a needle in the haystack.

Next up: Tomorrow

$$$$, Banquets, Police Blotter

#1 posting 1/28/2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

$$$$$$$
According to Sid Hartman's column on Sunday, the Gopher volleyball team was $799,986 in the red this past year.

BANQUETS
Illinois held their end of the year banquet and four players received special awards.

The Gopher end of the year banquet will take place on Saturday, Feb. 9th from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. The Golddiggers will be hosting the event.

POLICE BLOTTER
This is from Michigan, but I found it interesting. Apparently a father was convicted of attacking a volleyball coach and spectators. Now he is appealing. From WHMI FM.

thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: tomorrow

Gopher Schedule 2008

#1 posting 1.22.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHER SCHEDULE
Mark your calendars--here is a preliminary look at the Minnesota Gopher schedule. Always a big game, the Wisconsin Badgers are in town on September, 27. Penn State, the national champs, are at the Pavilion on October, 11.
The two tournaments for the Gophers are on back to back weekends in mid September.

Date(s), Event, Location
Aug 23 Alumni Match, MN Sports Pavilion
TOURNAMENT SEASON
Aug 29-31 Creighton Invite (Creighton, MN, TAMU, LSU) Omaha, NE
Sep 4-6 Hawaii Invite (HI, MN, WY, Cinncinnati) Honolulu, HI
Sep 12-14 Diet Coke Classic (MN, California, Notre Dame, Cal Poly) MN Sports Pavilion
Sep 19,20 Gopher Invite (MN, UNC, Winthrop, TCU) MN Sports Pavilion
BIG 10 SEASON
Sep 26 Northwestern MN Sports Pavilion
Sep 27 Wisconsin MN Sports Pavilion
Oct 3 @ Illinois Champaign, IL
Oct 4 @ Purdue W.Lafayette, IN
Oct 10 Indiana MN Sports Pavilion
Oct 11 Penn State MN Sports Pavilion
Oct 15 Iowa MN Sports Pavilion
Oct 17 Mich State MN Sports Pavilion
Oct 24 @ Ohio State Columbus, OH
Oct 25 @ Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
Oct 31 @ Penn State State College, PA
Nov 1 @ Indiana Bloomington, IN
Nov 7 Purdue MN Sports Pavilion
Nov 8 Illinois MN Sports Pavilion
Nov 14 @ Wisconsin Madison, WI
Nov 15 @ Northwestern Evanston, IL
Nov 21 Michigan MN Sports Pavilion
Nov 22 Ohio State MN Sports Pavilion
Nov 26 @ Iowa Iowa City, IA
Nov 29 @ Mich State E.Lansing, MI

next up: tomorrow morning

Gopher Luncheon, Hoosier Schedule

#1 posting 1.17.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHER AWARD LUNCHEON
The Golddiggers are sponsoring the Gopher Award Luncheon on February 9th.

INDIANA SCHEDULE
The Indiana Hoosiers have released their 2008 schedule. The travel to Long Beach State for a tournament to open the season. They host two tournaments of their own and also travel to Kentucky.
Indiana will be at Minnesota on Oct. 10. Minnesota heads to Bloomington, IN on Nov. 1.

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: tomorrow

Bush Hired at Minnesota

#2 posting 1.10.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

BUSH HIRED BY GOPHERS
Laura Bush (not the first lady) has been hired as an assistant volleyball coach at Minnesota. She replaces Dave Manka. Bush was the head coach at Auburn from 2002-2007. She also played for coach Hebert at Illinois.

next up: tomorrow unless news breaks

St. Thomas, St. Benedict Move On

#4 posting 11.2.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

COLLEGE REPORTS
GOPHERS
Minnesota is headed to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Saturday. Here is the 10 page Gopher press release on the upcoming action. The Minnesota Daily talks about the post season chances.

San Diego swept St. Mary's of California. Laurel Abrahamson (Bloomington Jefferson) had 7 kills for San Diego.

MIAC SEMIFINALS
St. Benedict rallied to beat Concordia Moorhead again. This time it was a fiver. CM led 2-0. Also from the St. Cloud Times.

St. Thomas edged Bethel also in five.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
TOTAL POINTS
Laurel Heggernes, St. Benedict 22 vs Concordia Moorhead 3-2
Emma Jaynes, St. Benedict 20.5 vs Concordia Moorhead 3-2

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: more results from last night.

#12 vs #11; 999 & Counting; On the Road

#3 posting 9.28.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

college reports

MICHIGAN TEST
The #12 Minnesota Gophers face #11 Michigan on Sunday. Last year Minnesota stubbed their toe in Ann Arbor. Revenge is in the air. From the Minnesota Daily.

MILESTONE WATCH
St. Cloud State libero Andreana Pieper (Lake of the Woods) is one dig away from 1000. From the St. Cloud State University Chronicle.

ROAD WARRIORS
Macalester does not have a home gym this season, so practice is off campus (at Cretin-Derham Hall), not to mention all the road games. From the Mac Weekly.

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: later this afternoon with more HS reports

Gophers California Bound

#2 posting 9.7.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

D1 PREVIEWS
The Gophers are off to California for the Golden Bear Classic in Berkeley. The face Eastern Kentucky, Utah State and host Cal.

Kristen Hille worked on her swing this spring and has helped North Dakota State to a 6-1 record. Hille played high school ball at Sauk Rapids. From the Fargo Forum.
The campus paper The Spectrum takes a closer look at the Bison.

D2 ACTION
#4 UM Duluth powered past Michigan Tech in three at the Duluth Classic. The Bulldogs hit .421 on the match.

Also in the Classic MN State Mankato swept Lake Superior State.

LATE WEDNESDAY
Hamline swept Martin Luther on Wednesday.

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: later today with more Thursday HS action.