Charming Santana easy to root for

There will be an intriguing national anthem for early-arriving volleyball fans at the Sports Pavilion at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Gophers will be facing the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Diet Coke Classic, the second of their three matches in a tournament that also features Tulsa and Iowa State.

The anthem will be played on a trumpet by Elias Santana, the father of Daly Santana, the Gophers' 6-1 junior outside hitter. Elias has been a well-known musician in the Caribbean, first in his native Dominican Republic and then in Puerto Rico.

This will be Elias' first visit to Minnesota to watch his daughter play collegiate volleyball. Daly was asked if she expects an anthem with a salsa twist from her father.

"Not salsa, merengue,'' she said. "My dad played trumpet with a famous merengue orchestra in the Dominican … El Conjunto Quisquella.''

The reporter from Minnesota's Murray County gave Daly a blank stare. "I'll spell it for you,'' Daly said, and then she did so, with a laugh.

Paula Gentil from Brazil was a great player and a charming character for the Gophers a decade ago. The volleyball team has another player from a different land with the same trait in Santana:

Spend 15 minutes in a conversation with this athlete from Puerto Rico and she has you cheering for her.

"I can't say I'm a fan of freezing weather, but I've done OK with it,'' she said. "How much am I really outside? We're either practicing, or I'm in class or studying.''

Volleyball has been the No. 1 program in university athletics for almost two decades, when you factor in the number of Division I programs and the high-test competition these Gophers face on a weekly basis in the Big Ten.

Coach Mike Hebert made volleyball that way at Minnesota, and Hugh McCutcheon, in his third season, is trying to maintain that tradition. Santana was in his first group of freshmen in 2012, and moved into the lineup early that season.

Santana was a unanimous selection on the Big Ten All-Freshmen team in a season that ended with a loss to mighty Penn State in a regional final. As a sophomore, Santana increased her production in a season that ended with a loss to Stanford in the NCAA's round of 16.

This is an autumn of turnover for McCutcheon. Five players who were in the rotation in 2013 are gone, including stars Tori Dixon and Ashley Wittman. Santana now has a large responsibility to help lead a team heavy with freshmen and sophomores.

"We've known each other since we were young kids, getting started in volleyball,'' Santana said. "My teammates are like family to me, but with Dalianliz, it's like having family from home.''

Daly says the most difficult part of being 2,400 miles from home is the limited time she gets to spend with her robust family. Her father has seven children, ranging from 34 to Dariana, a 7-year-old sister described by a member of the Gophers' traveling party as "hilarious.''

The Gophers were playing at Yale's tournament in New Haven, Conn., last weekend, and Daly's mother, Magdaly Morales, was in attendance, along with Dariana, kid brother Elier, two older sisters, and family friends.

Now, she's getting the first visit from Dad.

You can find performances from Elias Santana and his Y Su Orquesta on YouTube. Elias doesn't work the music club circuit as in former days, Daly said, but he does start hopping before Christmas.

Is the musical talent a family trait?

"I play the piano and my teammates think I can sing,'' she said. "I'm not sure about that, but salsa dancing … I can do that.''

Final question: What is the No. 1 misperception we sheltered northerners have about people from Puerto Rico?

Daly Santana thought, then said: "I got one. 'Puerto Ricans like spicy food.' We don't. Not all of us. There. That's the idea that bothers me.''

Hey, we Minnesota rubes must rate OK with Daly Santana. A mistaken idea on food preference is a minor complaint, when you consider she has been transplanted from a home with an average winter high of 80 degrees to this Frozen Wasteland.