Former Gophers volleyball star Paula Gentil made sure Mike Hebert's hunch was right

Paula Gentil was back on the University of Minnesota campus this weekend to join a dozen more former Gophers in the 2022 M Club Hall of Fame class.

The induction took place early Friday evening in a club at Huntington Bank Stadium. The inductees also will be introduced to the crowd during the Gophers' football game against lowly Colorado on Saturday.

There was something of a coincidence this week between Gentil playing her first college match and current events.

The 2022 Gophers, rated No. 6 nationally, were upset by No. 22 Pepperdine in four sets on Thursday night in the Diet Coke Classic.

Twenty years ago, Gentil and the Gophers started the 2002 season against preseason No. 8 Pepperdine in a tournament at the Pavilion.

Those Gophers rolled past Pepperdine in three sets. It was also the introduction of a new collegiate position — libero, a defensive specialist who could stay in the back row.

The late Mike Hebert, then Gophers coach, sent his chief recruiter Brian Heffernan to find a libero, and he targeted Gentil — playing club volleyball in Orlando, by way of her hometown of Fortaleza, Brazil, a city of 3 million.

"I always had been an outside hitter," Gentil said. "That's the way most schools were recruiting me — to be a hitter.

"I give Mike Hebert and Brian Heffernan credit: They saw me as a great fit for libero. They also looked at the new position as being worth a full scholarship, which wasn't the case with many coaches."

It took only that opening upset over Pepperdine for Hebert to have his opinion confirmed.

"If anybody has any player that can dig like [Gentil], I'd like to know about it," Hebert said at the time. "She just pulls people with her. She is a real treasure."

Game 1 of a college career and Hebert never had to change that scouting report.

Gentil was a three-time All-America as a libero, and remains the lone player to be a three-time winner as the Big Ten's defensive player of the year.

And more important … winning.

"We won the Gophers' first-ever Big Ten title in 2002," Gentil said. "We went to back-to-back Final Fours in 2003 and 2004. I wouldn't say we're the reason for all the improvements in facilities and equipment the volleyball program has today, but we helped get it started."

Gentil had a big personality to go with the volleyball skills.

The Gophers won the 2002 Big Ten title on the second-to-last weekend with a win over Indiana. On the first point of the first set, Gentil went sprawling to the court and started grabbing a hip in pain. She stayed in the match, of course, and then was asked what happened?

"Ask my teammate," said Gentil, pointing at Erin Martin. "She kicked me. She's a little clumsy."

Martin said: "She got in the way of my feet."

Late in the 2004 season, Gentil went flying after a ball vs. Penn State and landed on her head.

"I had a CAT scan," she said. "They found nothing, except that I do have a brain. That was a relief."

A very well-functioning brain, as it turns out. She graduated from the U of M with bachelor's degrees in both genetics/cellular biology and physiology. She has a pair of MBAs, including healthcare management.

In 2011-12, Gentil spent 18 months working with an Ernst & Young crew in Luanda, Angola.

"They let us leave the hotel for one supervised meal a week," Gentil said. "We couldn't go out to buy a pack of gum. We'd be there three weeks, fly across the Atlantic for a week at home, and then back to Angola."

She has lived for stretches in Brazil and also in the States. She has made an excellent career in what is described in her company bio as promoting "true digital transformation in the healthcare business.''

Gentil is now the vice president for strategy, operations and partnerships in the Office of Digital Innovation at Johnson & Johnson.

Yeah, those folks.

Paula used her father's name, Gentil, when she came to the States. In Brazil, she uses Jereissati, her mother Magaly's name.

Gentil was in Sao Paolo a few years ago and met Priscilla. It turned into love and then marriage in December 2019.

"She's a great person," Gentil said. "She'll even ride on the back of my new motorcycle, a KTM 1290 Super Adventure.

"Brazil … we love motorcycles, race cars, everything. When I was at school here at the U, I was one of the first students racing between classes on those scooters, with the tiny wheels."

Gentil laughed slightly and said: "I grew up 150 miles from the equator, but when I came here on a recruiting trip, I committed right away.

"Cold weather? Didn't bother me. Mike [Hebert] was a great coach and person, my teammates were the best, and the people here …

"I even had my 'Minnesota parents' in Cannon Falls — Pam and Carl Moberg. Pam never missed one of my matches. They made me part of the family.

"Pam died three years ago. That was so sad. Carl lives by Sioux Falls, and he'll be here celebrating for me this weekend."