Gophers volleyball rallies past Northwestern with recruits in attendance

While the No. 24 Gophers volleyball team was once again searching for itself in a seesawing 25-14, 16-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-12 victory over Northwestern on Sunday inside Maturi Pavilion, the future of the program was watching from the front row.

Stella and Olivia Swenson, the twins out of Wayzata, have verbally committed to the U for the Class of 2024. They sat alongside four verbal commitments for the Class of 2025: Jordan Taylor from Houston, McKenna Garr from Rush City, Carly Gilk from Champlin Park and Kelly Kinney from West Palm Beach, Fla.

Wedged among those six was a tantalizing possibility: opposite hitter Abigail Mullen of Kansas City, Mo. — considered the nation's No. 1 recruit for 2025 — who is yet uncommitted and a major target of the Gophers.

This was a recruiting weekend for first-year coach Keegan Cook and his staff, but once the match started, that all faded into the background. If the future is bright, the present remains murky.

The first set was nearly flawless. Spurred by their defense, including eight blocks and 14 digs, the Gophers held the Wildcats to a .000 hitting percentage and won with ease.

After that start, the rest of the match featured stretches of play so befuddling it seemed like the Gophers were battling themselves more than Northwestern.

Minnesota led 14-10 in the second set when the Wildcats went on a 14-0 run and the Gophers seemed unable to execute — passes never got to setter Melani Shaffmaster, aces dropped in, nothing worked.

"The 14-point run, I looked up and thought, 'Have we been stuck in this rotation the whole time?'" Shaffmaster said. "We were playing out points and we were there. It's good volleyball, we're just not finishing the point."

In the third set, the Gophers were up 17-10 and once again couldn't finish. This time you could blame Julia Sangiacomo, the senior outside for Northwestern, who posted seven kills during an 11-1 run as the Wildcats squeaked out another improbable set.

There were an announced 4,889 in attendance. The pep band was in the building. But there were stretches when all you could hear were the shouts from a minuscule section of Northwestern fans.

Then came the fourth and fifth sets. In the midst of this season, Minnesota's players continue to lunge for wayward balls, swing viciously on the attack and swarm in celebration.

Cook was asked what it feels like to have a match like this — a victory in the midst of stagnant stretches of play.

"It felt like a big moment in the fourth, there were a couple three- or four-point leads [by Northwestern] in that fourth set where it looked familiar in a bad way," he said. "The athletes made some choices, internally, tactically, that it wasn't going to go that way."

What did the rally look like? Lydia Grote's leaping celebrations after an angular attack. Wucherer's emphatic "Let's go!" when her kill landed. Landfair's thrilled expression after an Arica Davis block. Cook's raised arm when the Gophers won a point.

"It's hard to teach the intangible, it really is," Cook said. "But I don't think it's impossible. You have to model it. You have to see it. … This might be the last time in their lives that someone asks them to change some of the intangible aspects of who they are. That is the beauty of this time of life. That is the challenge of this time of life. You are deciding: Who am I going to be?"

Recruits might have been in the building, but no one on this team is looking to the future. The present is too vital. The Gophers have endured low points in their play, but after five thrilling sets, a question remains: What might they look like, if they ever reach their peak?