Gophers volleyball wins dramatic five-set victory over Wisconsin in Big Ten opener

After playing seven of their first 10 games on the road, the No. 16 Gophers were looking forward to a Big Ten opener Wednesday night against No. 7 Wisconsin in front of a sold-out crowd at Maturi Pavilion.

It lived up to the hype. The atmosphere was electric. The volleyball game was played at championship level. The Gophers got their first win in the series since 2022, also at home.

Students lined up around the block in gold robes to fill the arena as soon as the doors opened. Athletes from other teams came to show their support. The Gophers used the crowd's energy to take the match to a fifth set before pulling off the upset, 19-25, 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, 18-16. They have now won seven matches in a row.

Senior Lydia Grote had a season-high 17 kills, leading four players with double figures. Junior Julia Hanson continued her best season with 15 kills. Redshirt freshman Alex Acevedo had a career-high 12 kills, filling in for the team's second-leading hitter, Mckenna Wucherer, who was recovering from an injury.

Despite a significant height disadvantage against Wisconsin's front line, which played 6-9, 6-7 and 6-4, the Gophers still finished the game with nine blocks and a .250 batting average.

After a 21-kill performance in last year's three-set win over the Gophers in Madison, NCAA Player of the Year Sarah Franklin matched that total to lead the Badgers, but they were unable to counter the Gophers offensively for most of the night.

The Gophers produced arguably their two most dominant sets against higher-ranked opponents since defeating No. 1 Texas, outscoring the Badgers by 10 points in the second and fourth sets. They scored two consecutive five-point runs in the second set. In the third set, junior Lauren Crowl served an ace to secure the win with Minnesota's sixth straight point. Five different players scored during that stretch, including Hanson and Calissa Minatee, who also had 11 kills in the match.

Gophers coach Keegan Cook intentionally challenged the Gophers with a grueling non-conference schedule to prepare them for the Big Ten, with four teams from the Pac-12 joining. After the upset of No. 1 Texas, Cook's team lost two straight games but rebounded to win six straight, including the final home game against Auburn. Facing top-10 teams Wisconsin and Purdue at home to begin conference play was no more difficult than playing non-league matches against nationally ranked Stanford, Texas, Baylor and TCU. The Gophers had a 2-11 record against ranked opponents in 2023. They already improved to 2-2 this year after Wednesday's win over Wisconsin.