Fall Sports Roundup (minor sports)

Volleyball - What started out as a promising year for the gopher women's volleyball team hasn't lived up to the expectations. One season removed from being within 1 game of the Final Four this young team has struggled through the Big Ten season and currently sits in 4th place with an 8-8 record. The season is not yet finished. If the gophers beat those who they should beat and lost to Wisconsin they will likely finish 11-9 in conference play.

Men's Cross Country - Currently ranked #15 in the country the gopher men qualified for the NCAA meet with a 2nd place finish at the regional. They also ran well in the Big Ten meet finishing 2nd as well.

• Fr - Hassan Mead (pictured right) - 2nd place at Big Ten meet, 2nd place at NCAA Regional with 4th fastest time in school history.
  
• Chris Rombough - 4th place at Big Ten and NCAA Regional meets.

Women's Cross Country - Big Ten Champs, NCAA Regional Champs! Currently #6 in the country the gopher women will attempt to improve on their 2006 - 11th place finish at the NCAA meet.

• local FOX story on Gopher Cross Country

Women's Soccer - an average season (5-5 in Big Ten) was highlited by a 1-0 double overtime victory over 8th ranked and eventual Big Ten Champ Penn State. This was PSU's only loss in conference play. The gopher women played a roster that essentially loses 1 player to graduation. This should be a solid team in the near future.

• Jr - Kelsey Hood - 2nd Team All Big Ten
• Fr - Molly Rouse - All Freshman team
• Fr - Katie Bethke - All Freshman
  

Minnesota is better than Michigan !

Congrats to the women's volleyball team for sweeping the (formerly) 11th ranked Michigan Wolverines. #12-Minnesota is tied for first place in conference (4-0) and has a 10 game Big Ten win streak (going 30-1 in that stretch of games) dating back to last season.


You won't see very many Gopher Nation posts on women's sports but I have to find some positive news around here. So here is your in-depth volleyball coverage.

After a heartbreaking loss to #1 ranked Nebraska last season in the national semi-finals (up 2-0 only to lose 2-3) to end last season, the golden gopher women are hoping to make another run at the Final Four. This year's team appears to be very good but things look even bright for future seasons as this squad has only 2 seniors.

My expert analysis (and I am a great volleyball mind cause my old high school girlfriend played volleyball so I know) says that Jesse Jones (Sr) is a very good player who will lead this team in 2007 and will be missed next year. But the young nucleus highlighted by the combo of freshmen Dieter (Hitter) and Gibbemeyer (Blocker) will take this team a long way in the next few years!

In the immediate future the women have a challenging road trip this weekend as they head to Ohio State on Friday (which some of you can watch on Big Ten Network) then a showdown with top ten ranked Penn State on Saturday. Good luck!

Killz Leaders...

• 200 (7th in B10) - Brook Dieter - freshman
• 169 - Kyla Roehrig - junior
• 124 - Jesse Jones - senior
• 123 - Lauren Gibbemeyer - freshman

Blocks Leaders...

• 78 (#1 in B10) - Jesse Jones - senior
• 55 (9th in B10) - Kyla Roehrig - junior
• 24 - Lauren Gibbemeyer - freshman

Digs Leaders...

• 210 (5th in B10) - Christine Tan - sophomore
• 137 - Brook Dieter - freshman
• 120 - Kelly Roysland - senior
• 111 - Rachel Hartmann - junior

#1 Setter

• Rachel Hartmann (3rd in B10) - junior

Serve Aces...

• 15 - Brook Dieter - freshman
• 15 - Lauren Gibbemeyer - freshman

Gopher Nation quick hitters

There has been a minor explosion of newsworthy items in Gopher Nation.

Hockey - I don't see Gopher Puck's comments on this yet but the hockey team has lost it's 3rd underclassman defenseman to the NHL. Jim O'Brien has signed with Ottawa and will play on their minor league team in Seattle. O'Brien was a forward last year as a freshman and finished with 7 goals and 8 assists. He was scheduled to move to defense for his sophomore season. I am not familiar enough with the roster or incoming recruits to know who will see an increase in their minutes.

Men's Basketball - the Big Ten schedule has been released. As many of you know the schedule is expanding from 16 to 18 games meaning there will not be just 2 teams that you will play only one time. The Gophers will miss Purdue and Iowa a 2nd time around. Not quite as nice a missing Wis, OSU or Indiana but there isn't much you can do about it. Home games against Mich, Ind and Iowa will be on ESPN. The home Ohio State game on March 1st (or 2nd) potentially could be on CBS.

Football - we all know that fall practice has begun. Brewster and crew have returned from Collegeville and have now begun two-a-days. Recruiting has been uber-interesting this summer as TBrew is trying to drastically upgrade the overall talent on the team. By all accounts there will be a handful of true freshmen who will contribute (if not start) for your 2007 Golden Gophers. HERE is a relatively current depth chart.

Volleyball - one of the many minor sports that the Gophers have excelled at in recent years. Volleyball is a West Coast sport and Minnesota (along with Penn State and Nebraska) is one of the teams east of California who can compete with anybody. The most recent recruiting class was ranked 4th in the nation, behind Stanford, Texas and USC. This marks the third time in five seasons they have had a top 5 recruiting class. Their season open Aug. 24 vs. Notre Dame as these women try to improve on their NCAA Regional appearance from last year.

Here are some general NCAA Football newsworthy items...

ESPN "expert" Picks - ESPN weighs in on conference champ predictions as well as BCS Champs. It looks like the nation is fighting for 2nd as USC was the unanimous favorite and pretty much the entire Big Ten is fighting for 2nd behind Michigan. Also noteworthy is that Bowling Green is the most common pick as MAC East Champ with Miami(Ohio), another Gopher opponent, also getting some votes as MAC-E champ.

Sunday Morning QB - with their Big Ten preview, yet another expert picking the Golden Gophers to not even finish in the top 10 of the Big Ten!



The Hawkeye Compulsion - this is a great interview, story with Ron Zook.



Michigan Sports Center says 2007 National Championship or BUST!


Buckeye Banter's Big 10 Preview - last place for the gophers, AGAIN