As of now (Thursday a.m.), the Gopher’s matches vs Illinois at the PAV are on for tomorrow (6:00 p.m.) and Saturday (5:00 p.m.), both on BTN+ and Fox 9 +. As mentioned here on numerous occasions, you have to purchase BTN+; I don’t remember what Fox 9 + is. (If anyone knows, please share it with us.) Everything during this pandemic is always tentative, so I guess something could still happen to disrupt this weekend’s matches, but I assume that the Illini are in transit by now, so I think any questions would have been resolved, and the matches will be played as scheduled.
I don’t know if the Gophers will be at full strength. Rollins missed the last match (the Gophers’ only loss of the season) at Nebraska due to a “non-covid illness,” but that was 3 weeks ago, so I assume she would be healthy by now. Last week’s matches vs Ohio State were postponed due to covid issues within the MN program, so possibly there may be some players still on quarantine, and I don’t know how the covid issues impacted their opportunity for practice. The Gophers could be rusty.
Illinois comes in at an unimpressive 2 & 8, but they’ve had a horrible first-half schedule. Their 8 losses have been two each to #1-Ranked Wisconsin (in straight sets), #8-Ranked (at the time, #12 now) Penn State (in 4 sets & 5 sets), #11-Ranked Ohio State (in 4 sets & 5 sets), and #4-Ranked Nebraska (in straight sets). Illinois could end up a Sweet 16 team despite their early record, and a victory over the Gophers would significantly increase their chances of an NCAA invite.
I will not be able to watch Friday’s match, as my Geezer Volleyball match has been rescheduled to basically the same time as the Gophers are playing. Reports from any reader who does watch are welcome.