Minnesota will play a slightly easier non-conference slate in 2025
The Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team announced their 2025 non-conference schedule earlier this week. In a departure to the recent past, it’s an easier slate for the Gophers to get prepared for the gauntlet that will be the Big Ten regular season. Minnesota is set to only face a trio of opponents than finished the 2024 season ranked in the Top 25 out of their 11 non-conference matchups.
The Gophers will begin their non-conference slate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota taking on Texas A&M in the AVCA First Serve event on Monday August 25th. The Aggies finished the season ranked #16 in the nation a year ago. The Gophers will return home Labor Day Weekend and play a three-day tournament at Maturi Pavillion. Minnesota will welcome St. Thomas, Cal Poly and Ball State in for a trio of matches.
The following weekend the Gophers head to Nashville for a pair of matches. They will play at Vanderbilt on Friday night. The Commodores are playing their first season in Division I volleyball. They the Gophers will face Lipscomb on Saturday.
The following weekend Minnesota will host their annual Diet Coke Classic and welcome in South Florida, Dayton and South Dakota State for a trio of matches. Dayton finished the season ranked #17 in the nation a season ago.
The Gophers close out the non-conference slate the following weekend with matches at Loyola Chicago and Marquette. Both teams made the NCAA Tournament in 2024 with Marquette finishing the year ranked #21 in the nation.
Gopher head coach Keegan Cook had this to say about Minnesota’s non-conference slate.:
“Our non-conference schedule priorities were both numerous and specific for fall 2025. First and foremost we want a schedule that allows us to develop our team and prepare them for Big Ten play. 11 matches over five weeks gives us that opportunity. We will be a better team after these five weeks of competition. This schedule needs to position our program to earn a seed and host the NCAA tournament in the Pav again. Our 2025 non-conference opponents cumulative win percentage was over .700 in 2024, with many of the teams returning their core contributors. We sought to schedule programs with winning traditions and cultures, and we achieved that”