Michigan is a good team, at #24, seemingly better than unranked Northwestern and playing at home, so I was nervous. But the Gophs dominated the Wolverines 25-12, 25-22, 25-13. The Gophs outhit the Wolverines .378 to .053, and out-blocked them 13-2. I think the Gophers have more talent than Michigan (almost anyone, really), but they don’t always exploit it the way they did tonight.
I couldn’t watch Set 1, or the first few points of Set 2 (see BTN doubleheader), but piecing together the announcers’ comments, the stats available on the official Gopher website (not everything I’d like), and the 1.8 sets I got to watch, the story was Landfair, Landfair, and more Landfair – hitting front row, hitting back row, and serving. She only had 1 ace, but she apparently had a long service-run in Set 1 (behind a front row of Wooker, Booth, and Shaffmaster) to set the tone for the match.
And our Middle duo of Gros & Booth, in only their second start together, put up a combined 12 kills and 11 blocks. As I said following their Middle-inspired win over Iowa, effective Middles are exactly what the Gophers need to realize their potential.
And while I’m repeating earlier thoughts, I wanted to mention again how good Shaffmaster is at contesting her own team’s overpasses. Serve-receive is the Gophers Achilles’ Heel, and far too many of our receives come down on the wrong side (our opponents’ side) of the net, i.e., an “overpass.” Generally, an overpass is an easy point for the other team, as it is very difficult to transition from thinking offense to playing defense, but Shaffmaster is so good at transitioning from setter to blocker (not an easy play) that she often gets at least a piece of a block, keeping the point alive.
So the Gophs are 3 & 2 in the Big Ten,with a chance to go 4 & 2 if we take care of business in East Lansing on Sunday afternoon. Pretty important to do that; the Gophs cannot keeping playing .500 ball and expect to compete for the Big Ten Title.
BTN DOUBLEHEADER
Prior to the Gopher/Michigan match, I had the chance to watch Penn St., who our Gophs play only once (at College Station), vs Ohio St, who the Gophs will play home and home. Penn St. came in with a 13 & 2 overall record and ranked #13; Ohio St. had an overall record of 7 & 5 (same as the Gophs) and ranked #6. I thought, “I hope this doesn’t go 5 sets and keep BTN from broadcasting the Gophers first set – and of course that’s what happened. Ohio State eventually prevailed in 5 sets.
I hadn’t seen much of the Buckeyes, but I saw the Nittany Lions beat Stanford and Oregon in the BigTen/Pac 12 Challenge at the Pav. My impressions of them then: The Nittany Lions Outside Hitters were shorter than I expected, maybe a bit stockier, and incredibly powerful! I was also impressed by Penn St.’s digging and overall passing.
Penn St.’s lack of height was less obvious on TV, but the power was there — the Lion Pins crush the ball. But the digging I saw at the Pav was missing in Sets 1 & 2, won easily by Ohio St. Penn St. serves more aggressively than Ohio St., which helped Penn St. win Sets 3 & 4. Ohio St responded by shifting from 3 receivers to 2 receivers for Set 5, which they won.
We get Ohio State at the Pav on Wednesday.