The Gophers women’s volleyball team welcomes four incoming freshmen and two transfer students to their 2025-26 team.
Freshmen Kelly Kinney and Jordan Taylor prepped for the upcoming season by competing against the best volleyball players in their age class internationally under their future head coach.
The International Volleyball Federation runs the Volleyball World Championships biennially with three categories: the under-17 age group, under-19 and under-21. The best volleyball players of each country first compete against one another for a roster spot and then are sent to compete against the best of each country.
After serving as an assistant coach last year, Gophers head coach Keegan Cook was selected to coach the United States’ U19 women’s volleyball team for the first time this year.
The U.S. team fell short to Bulgaria, but earned a silver medal.
Although it was upsetting for the U.S. team not to take gold for the second year in a row, Kinney noted that the Bulgarian team had competed together for much longer than the U.S. team, who only had a week to prepare before competing.
Kinney played for the U19 team last year and grew her relationship with Cook and the Minnesota staff. She wanted to keep her college options open, but knew the University of Minnesota was the right decision soon after the recruitment process started.
“One of the phone calls I had with the staff, my mom ended up with tears in her eyes,” Kinney said in an interview with Gopher Sports. “I just knew it was the right decision.”
Though Kinney and Taylor both come from the South, they were both excited to leave their home states and enjoy the winter here.
Cook led the Gophers to a 21-11 finish last year and 13-7 in conference play. They lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but look to go further this year.
The Big Ten hosts some of the most competitive women’s volleyball teams. Cook said in an interview with B1G Today that the expansion and added travel can be more taxing for the players.
“I was not too pleased with our overall record against those four West Coast schools,” Cook said. “Certainly, we would like to change that narrative this year.”
Cook added that the power of the Minnesota team is going to shift this year. They lost some incredibly talented seniors who made them special in terms of serving, blocking and transition, and now, they are adjusting to the shift.
“It is a full kind of reset of the offense here,” Cook said. “You might see more variety. You will certainly see a better receiving team.”
Though Cook said that they had a good defensive team last year, they need to work on their sideouts to be great. A sideout is when the receiving team wins a rally and earns the right to take over serving the ball.
It was Taylor’s first time competing for the U.S. in volleyball, but she quickly stepped into a starting role and, as a blocker, was top five in the tournament.
Taylor said that blocking is her specialty and her favorite way to contribute.
“Skill-wise, blocking is my favorite part of the game,” Taylor said. “Shutting down an opponent with a big block is what I thrive on. It’s such a momentum-changer for the team when I can come up with a block for my team.”
The turnaround is quick for Kinney and Taylor as they start training camp next week, but they said it is nothing unusual compared to their typical club season.The Gophers women’s volleyball team has its first official match August 25 against Texas A&M.