Gophers volleyball coach Keegan Cook explains some of his team’s scheduling challenges

Gophers volleyball coach Keegan Cook discovered just how difficult scheduling can be with the program, but he made adjustments on the fly to put his team in the best spot to start strong this season.

A year ago, the Gophers beat nationally ranked teams Oregon and Baylor at the start of Cook’s tenure, but they weren’t hitting their stride, entering the Big Ten season with a 4-4 record.

Cook added two more nonconference matches to the U’s schedule this season to give his squad more time to grow before the grind of conference play.

After dropping two five-set matches last week away from home, the No. 19 Gophers are back to 3-3 overall following Thursday’s 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 victory over Long Island University to open the Diet Coke Classic at Maturi Pavilion on Thursday night. Minnesota’s final nonconference home match is Friday night against 6-0 Auburn.

“I’m learning a lot about scheduling,” Cook said after Tuesday’s home opening win vs. St. Thomas. “How to set my team up for success a little bit better.”

After going through a tough early stretch last year, Cook decided to play 10 matches in the nonconference in 2024, but only three of those matches are at home. Not necessarily by choice.

Five of Cook’s first eight matches were at home in 2023. But the Gophers football team has four consecutive home games to open this year, including Saturday against Nevada. The Gophers avoid scheduling other home sporting events when there’s a home football event.

That made it difficult to host quality opponents, so Cook goes back on the road with the Gophers next week against three consecutive opponents in Wisconsin. They play Green Bay, North Dakota and Chicago State in Green Bay.

“Gophers football is playing the first four weekends at home, so it puts us into a tough situation to play weekday matches,” Cook said. “It’s hard to get the opponents you want on weekdays because you’re asking them to miss class.”

The first Saturday home match for the Gophers won’t be until Sept. 28 against Purdue. The Big Ten season opens three days before against rival Wisconsin at home, which is already expected to attract a sellout crowd at the Pavilion.

Facing Auburn from the SEC on Friday is the biggest home match prior to the Big Ten season for the Gophers, who also have an opportunity to validate the upset against No. 1 Texas earlier this month in Milwaukee.

Only six points separated the Gophers from winning three five-set matches in losses to Stanford, Baylor and TCU this season. All three of those opponents are currently ranked in the Top 25.

“If we won all three of those matches, we would’ve been 4-0,” Gophers senior opposite/outside Lydia Grote said. “The outside world would be like, ‘This is such a great team.’ But we didn’t win those [matches] and now they’re discrediting us. So we have to focus on what we’re doing and not what others are saying.”

Auburn’s first six matches were at home this season, but the Tigers are coming to Minnesota hot after upsetting No. 15 Florida State in their last outing.

“They’re coming in with a ton of confidence,” Cook said. “They’re playing some good volleyball. Very defensively stout team. Well-coached. Very well-organized. They’ve got some young talent.”

One of Auburn’s veteran players has a connection to Minnesota. That helped with setting up this matchup.

Sisters will be facing off Friday back in their home state. Tigers libero/defensive specialist Paige Thibault is a former Watertown-Mayer star who transferred from Florida International last year. Kate Thibault is a sophomore for the Gophers playing the same positions after transferring from Oregon this year.

Auburn, LIU and the Gophers were supposed to be joined by another team in the Diet Coke Classic, but that program backed out at the last minute. It was going to be a four-team round robin, with three matches apiece, and now it’s two matches apiece.

Fortunately, Cook in the spring was able to scramble and schedule Tuesday’s match with crosstown foe St. Thomas to fill the hole. Scheduling headaches come with the job.

“It wasn’t by design,” he said. “It was kind of just what we could get.”