The Gophs had 12 service errors (vs 5 aces) in last night’s close and hard-fought 4-set win over the Oregon Ducks. And readers besides R.A. are upset by it.
READER G.U. writes: The Gopher service errors are driving me nuts. It is like missing free throws in BB. There is a reason they are called “free throws” they are FREE and not to be missed. The ladies do not need to strive for aces; just put the damn ball in play.
READER B.W. writes: Seems like service errors are frequent with the Gophers. Does Hugh play different servers to help prevent this problem? Just when they get momentum someone hits the net or serves long, crushing the momentum.
JOHN: I agree, service errors are frustrating. I don’t like it, and I doubt that the Gopher coaching staff is happy about it either. But let me repeat what I have said before, If the Gophers chose to prioritize the minimumization of service errors, they could probably make it through a 4-set match like last night, with zero or maybe 1 service error. But none of our readers are complaining, at least not on GopherVBallRocks, about the 20 hitting errors, in part because they came with 57 kills.
Wenaas was the worst last night, with 4 service errors (in probably 15 or so attempts). But Wenaas is also the one who is jump-serving, which is an aggressive strategy. For me, it was harder to understand Landfair’ 3 service errors, because she didn’t seem to be serving aggressively. Kudos to McGraw who had 1 service errors (and zero aces) last night, but who I thought was serving aggressively enough to force the Ducks out-of-system.
If they “just put the damn ball in play” as D.U. suggests, they will beat weak teams, but they will not win the Big Ten and National Championships. To win at that level, they will have to serve aggressively – and get better at it. Maybe the “getting better should take place in practice, but it’s just not the same.