I predicted it would take a miracle for the Gophs to beat either #5 ranked Stanford today, or #1 ranked Texas tomorrow, and they almost pulled one off today, pushing Stanford to the edge before losing 28-26, 23-25, 25-16, 13-25 & 13-15. As you might expect from a back & forth 5-set match, the play was fairly even. For the match, we out-hit Stanford .302 to .222, and out-blocked them too.
The big difference in the match was serving; especially by Cardinal Left-side Hitter Jordyn Harvey, who terrorized the Gophers with her serve. Harvey, only had 7 pure aces, but served points in bunches, and at critical moments. As a team, the Cardinal had 12 aces and 12 service-errors – I’d take that number any day; but the Gophers had 9 aces and 23 errors. I know that some GopherVBallRocks Readers will want the Gophers to serve more conservatively, and maybe that’s a good idea vs unranked teams. But I don’t think this squad has the fire-power to beat a top-5 team without service pressure; the only way we’re going to do that is by hitting our aggressive serves.
SET 1: Our offense got off to a terrible start. Shaffmaster got the Gophers’ first kill of the match (4 total, for the match, a good number) to tie the set at 8-8, and not counting an attack by Wooker that was blocked out of bounds by the Cardinal, Grote got our first convincing kill at about 15-15. This woke Wooker and Hanson up, and the Gophs took a commanding 24-19 lead. But after a side-out, 24-20, Harvey rotated to the serve and ran 5 pts to give Stanford a set-point. We finally got a side-out off Harvey and escaped, 28-26.
SET 2: Tight all the way, with ties at 6-6, 10-10, 16-16, and 22-22, before losing 23-25. SET 3: Tight to start, tied 7-7, but then Hanson and Grote started pounding the ball, and the Gophers cruised, 25-16. Harvey did not generate a run in either set, and the Gophers were up 2 sets to 1.
SET 4: Tied at 2-2, Harvey ran 4 to put the Cardinal up 2-6. We traded sideouts for six rotations, and then, at 8-14, Harvey ran 5 to put the Cardinal up 8-19. Coach Cook subbed out Shaffmaster and other starters to rest them for the decisive fifth set.
SET 5: After another poor start, we were down 2-6, but Wooker got hot, Slylar Gray had back-to-back aces, and we took a 8-7 lead. We fell behind 9-11, but pulled back to tie at 13-13 before Stanford scored the last 2 points to win the match. Honestly, it felt like we had a 50-50 chance to win.
INDIVIDUALLY
Julie Hanson, new to her role as a starting Left-side Hitter after playing behind Landfair for two years, tied Wooker for most kills in the match, 14 (on fewer swings).
Wooker looked like the Wooker we know as a hitter, but blocked and received and dug better than she did most of last year.
Opposite Lydia Grote had slightly fewer kills. 11, but a better hitting percentage than either.
Freshman Left-side Alex Acevedo, who looked so good against Iowa State in last week’s exhibition, did not play. I think she was available
Middles Phoebe Awoleye and Calissa Minatee blocked reasonably well, 4 & 3, and got a few kills, 6 & 4. As was typical last year, all of Awoleye’s kills came on “quicks,” and all of Minatee’s came on “slides.” At least for this match, our Middles weren’t the problem or the solution.
Shaffmaster played like only Shaffmaster can, 40 assists, 4 kills, 2 blocks, 3 aces (3 serving errors), and 2 spectacular saves.
I am curious to see what will happen, as the season unfolds, with our 2 Liberos, Zeynep Palabiyik and Kate Thibault, both sophomores. Not surprisingly, Palabiyik, who was with the team last year, played Libero in today’s match, and was part of every serve-receive formation; while Thibault, a transfer, played D.S., so naturally fewer touches. Palabiyik had some terrific digs, but was part of the receive trashed by Stanford’s Harvey. Thibault was on the court almost half the match, and fairly inconspicuous – which is sorta what you want from your D.S.
TOMORROW, 6:30, FS1, The Gophers take on #1 rated Texas – who crushed #3 rated Wisconsin in 4 sets today 30-28, 23-25, 25-15, 25-11. (I didn’t see any of it, but from the box score, it appears that the Badgers played the Longhorns even through two sets – and then folded.) I’d be thrilled if the Gophers could make the Longhorns work a little harder than that.
SUPERFAN AT THE FAIR
I write the blog (I know how the rotations for a 6-2 with a Lib and DS works), but Maureen is the GVB superfan in our house. (You do not want to sit next to her when the Gophs lose a set.) The State Fair is also one of Maureen’s passions, and last week, two of her passions collided (3, if you count her grandchildren who were also there.)
L to R, Kali Engeman, Syd Schnichels, Maureen Trepp, Lydia Grote, and “The Wooker.”
(BTW, Maureen is 5-7, barefoot)
I wasn’t there, but here’s the story as I heard it: Maureen, our two daughters, and various grandkids are at the Fair (one of the 3 days they went). There’s a group of 6 tall coeds, buying corn, or whatever. Maureen screams, “It’s The Wooker,” and runs at them. As she approaches, her scream changed to “Wooker and Grote.”
They had a nice chat, with Maureen mentioning that we’re season-ticket holders, and maybe even mentioning GopherVBallRocks. The players expressed appreciation for her support, and then 4 of the 6 posed for this photo.
(Some fairgoers were excited to see Motley Crue.)