The No. 13 Gophers get a back-to-back dose of Big Ten volleyball during homecoming this weekend at Maturi Pavilion, with Michigan at 6 p.m. Friday and Penn State at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Gophers volleyball has 'room to grow' with Michigan, Penn State visiting
The Gophers volleyball team is 5-5 on the season and coming off a three-set loss at Nebraska. Senior Kylie Murr said, "There's still so much room to get better."
Coming off a three-set loss at No. 2 Nebraska, the Gophers are 5-5 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten. This week, coaches and players said they can see the progress they want to be making as a team, but they are also angling to turn that into momentum.
"It's a good thing that we still have room to grow. We don't want to be at our peak right now," senior libero Kylie Murr said. "It's exciting, I like being on this end of it because there's still so much room to get better and for teams to worry about us."
Michigan (2-9, 0-2) has been struggling with injuries under first-year coach Erin Virtue, who is not with the Wolverines this weekend as she's coaching the U.S. Olympic team. The Nittany Lions (8-3, 2-0) are led by in-conference transfers Jess Mruzik (Michigan) and Mac Podraza (Ohio State), and their three losses this season have all come against ranked opponents.
A former Gophers player, Taylor Landfair, helped the No. 2 Huskers hand No.16 Minnesota its third consecutive loss.