Ohio State is a very good team, maybe a Final Four Team even, and each set was close, 20-25, 21-25, 22-25. But I did not expect the Gophers to lose 4 matches at the Pav all season, much less be 5 & 4 at home at this point in the season, or get swept at the Pav.
The blocking was pretty even, 16 for the Gophs vs 18 for the Buckeyes, but for the match, the Gophs got outhit .097 to .284. Landfair was a big part of that, hitting .027 officially, with 9 attack errors vs 10 kills (I had her with 11 kills).
We got decent production from our Middles, Booth with 8 kills and a block, and Gros with 4 kills and 7 blocks, vs a combined 8 kills and 6 blocks for the Buckeye Middles. If you had told me that the Gophers would get swept in a match where our Middles had better numbers than the opposition, I wouldn’t have believed it.
SO HOW DID WE LOSE?
Too many hitting errors; twice as many as the Buckeyes.
Ohio State won the serve-receive game. The Buckeyes had 8 service errors against 1 ace, while the Gophs had 3 service errors against 2 aces. So we served better, right? Wrong, Ohio State disproved the “just-get-it-over” theory, by serving aggressively all night, taking the Gophers out of their offense. Meanwhile, we were serving lollipops, allowing the Buckeyes to tee it up.
Ohio State had (has) a better setter. Melani Shaffmaster is a good D1 setter. The Buckeyes Mac Podraza is outstanding. Better passing and a more skillful setter equals better hitting opportunities for the Buckeye hitters, thus the 097 to .284 stat.
Little things make the difference in close sets.
- Ohio State had a ton of great “saves.” This is not an official stat, but the Gophs had 2 or 3 great saves, vs 9 or 10 by the Buckeyes.
- As usual, the Gophers were out-dinked. Landfair (our only effective dinker) got 3 dink-kills, & Wooker 1. I wasn’t counting the Buckeyes dink-kills, but it felt like a dozen.
- Playing from behind all night. Each set included long strings of sideout-sideout-sideout trading BUT: The Buckeyes had a run to start Set 1; the Gophers played them even the rest of the way without ever pulling square. At 11-11 in Set 2, the Buckeyes had a run to 12-16, and the Gophers never answered. The Gophs trailed 3-10 in Set 3, ran 4 to 7-10, fell back to 14-20, surged again to 20-22, but once again, the Buckeyes made big plays when they needed to.
Are the “saves,” the “dinks,” and big plays when you need them a measure of “intensity?” You tell me. Last year, the Gophs would have sets where they absolutely stunk, couldn’t do anything right – and would still win the match.
There is still a lot of season left, and maybe the Gophs get their act together from Thanksgiving into December. But with a 4 & 3 start, the Gophers chance of competing for the Big Ten Championship are fading fast.