Nonstop youth tournaments and higher-level club play have increased the familiarity arriving college athletes often possess about opponents. That is particularly true in volleyball here in Minnesota, where participation rates are well above our standing as the 22nd-largest state.
There will be evidence of this Friday and Saturday at the Maturi Pavilion, where the Gophers will be playing host to first- and second-round competition in the NCAA tournament.
No surprise that St. Thomas, with its Schoenecker Arena being located four miles from the Pav, is heavy with Minnesotans. And Iowa State, just over the border, always has “gophers” — with Lilly Wachholz, a 6-foot-2 redshirt junior, now a top hitter for the Cyclones from Class 1A power Mayer Lutheran, while freshman Mesaiya Bettis of Burnsville is redshirting.
This is a bit more unexpected: The Gophers’ opponent Friday will be Fairfield (25-5), a Jesuit school in Connecticut with three Minnesotans on the roster.
Abby Jandro from Lakeville North is the senior setter, with 622 assists for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Stags. Allie Elliott, a senior hitter from Stewartville, is second on the team with 290 kills. Sophomore Caroline Collins from Lakeville North is a backup waiting her turn.
Julia Hanson, a senior standout hitter, and redshirt freshman setter Stella Swenson were the players at a Gophers media session this week. Any knowledge of that Minnesota connection with Friday’s opponent?
“Yes. … Abby Jandro is one of my closest friends,” Hanson said. “We hang out all the time. I was in Nashville with her last summer. I go to her cabin all the time.”
Minnesota volleyball, small world — especially now that St. Thomas upset South Dakota State on the Jackrabbits’ court to win the Summit League tournament last month and reach the NCAA tournament in its first season of Division I eligibility.
