Gophers volleyball team not panicking after resounding early losses

The mood of Minnesota sports fans changes as fast as its seasons, but Keegan Cook is new to the state, so forgive his confusion.

After losing to two of the best teams in the country, Cook was asked at his weekly media session if he still had hope that the Gophers volleyball team could compete at the highest level.

A smile broadened across his face. "We're already using the 'hope' word here?"

Welcome to Minnesota, coach.

This weekend, the No. 10 Gophers (2-2) head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge, where they will face No. 6 Oregon (6:30 p.m. Friday) and No. 5 Stanford (9 p.m. Saturday) after back-to-back losses to No. 7 Texas and No. 3 Florida, where Minnesota won one set.

If the losses can be forgiven for a team blending in a slew of new players along with a new coaching staff, no one is denying that fixes need to be made.

"It's fun," Cook said. "I have never felt such urgency four matches into a season as I feel now."

The Gophers nonconference schedule is ridiculous — especially for a team getting familiar with each other — every opponent reached the NCAA tournament last season.

New challenges are coming. Here are some early takeaways:

Even taking into account the competition, some of the Gophers offensive stats are alarming. They rank 13th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage at .210 and last in kills per set at 11.86. Those struggles can be traced back to their first touch on opponents serve, which has been wayward and kept the offense from getting into system. How bad is it? Minnesota's opponents are hitting 2.07 aces per set and digging 15.71 balls per set, both the worst marks in the conference.

"We every day need to work on serving and passing," libero Kylie Murr said. "Just finding the connection with one another, whether that's passer to setter, setter to hitter, I think just every day really dialing in on the connections we're having with one another."

Taylor Landfair is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, a complete talent who can carry an entire program. But the 6-5 outside hitter is out of rhythm. She's hitting .092 with 2.5 kills per set — for comparison, she hit .257 with 4.4 kills per set last season — and opponents are targeting her defense. Of the 269 serves the Gophers have received this season, 130 have gone to her.

Cook vigorously defended Landfair's ability to effect the game in a multitude of ways and said her leadership is essential to whatever this team hopes to accomplish.

"I don't think people recognize how much of a leader she was in the transition between coaching staffs," Cook said. "I sat in her living room, spoke with her family. We shared a vision, and she bought in. We're all here because she was fighting to keep this team together."

The Gophers are proving resilient and stingy on defense — a good sign for whenever the offense gets clicking. They are fourth in the conference in blocks per set (2.86) and fifth in digs per set (15.5) and opponent hitting percentage (.155). Phoebe Awoleye is fourth in the nation in blocks and has seamlessly stepped into the middle blocker position as a senior transfer. One thing she has learned about this coaching staff and team is that the work is consistent.

"A big thing for our program is: Commitment is not conditional. So we respond to everything the same way," Awoleye said. "If we were to start doing excessive stuff now, it would be like, 'Why weren't we doing that stuff before?' "