I see, this morning, that Melani Shaffmaster was named Big 10 “Setter of the Week” for her work in the Gophers back-to-back 5-set, come-back victories over Purdue. (Steph Samedy was named “Player of the Week,” not the first time and surely not the last.)
Other than noting that she is our setter, presumably for the next 4 or even 5 seasons, I skipped over Shaffmaster’s performance in Sunday’s analysis of the Gophers Week 3 performance. In part because I’m still trying to get my head around Shaffmaster’s impact on her team.
One thought is that the Gophers were lucky to win both matches, and this team that played Purdue “even” will not be good enough to beat Penn State here at the Pav this coming weekend, or Nebraska at Nebraska the following weekend, and how will they even compete in home-and-home matches vs Wisconsin in mid-March? The other thought is that the Gopher team that finished Saturday’s 4th set on a 7-0 run, and 5th set on an 8-2 run – without any errors by Purdue — will win the National Championship!
And if it was Shaffmaster’s fault that Pittman had barely any kills though the Gophers’ first 21 sets (and it seemed like it was) and/or Shaffmaster’s fault that Samedy couldn’t put a ball away during Saturday’s 2nd, 3rd and most of 4th set, then we have to also give Shaffmaster the credit for the virtually perfect setting that allowed the Gophs to completely dominate Friday and Saturday’s critical 5th sets..
When I learned, over a year ago, that the Gophers had recruited a setter who was the 7th rated recruit (overall, not just among setters) in the country, I dreamed (unrealistically, as dreams tend to be) that Shaffmaster would be another Samantha Seliger-Swenson.
Lindsey Berg had a great career setting for the Gophs around the turn of the century (3X all Big10), and has had an even more impressive post-collegiate career including USA Volleyball Female Player of the Year in 2008 & 2011, and leading the USA to a Silver Medal in the London Olympics, among other accomplishments. (Berg is still playing pro ball in Turkey at 40.)
But SSS was a 3-time All-American, a Big 10 Player of the Year, who led the Gophs to a 4-year record of 114 wins and 20 losses, covering the entire court, feeding all her hitters with variety-of-tempo passes. (I would not be surprised to see SSS playing a major role on the USA 2024 Olympic Team.) For my money, Samantha Seliger-Swenson is the G.G.V.B.O.A.T. (Greatest Gopher Volleyball Player of all Time.)
Walking in as a freshman and being compared to SSS is unfair to Shaffmaster. It is already clear that Melani Shaffmaster is NOT the second coming of SSS. And never will be. Shaffmaster is a different player, with a different skill-set. But that’s okay. Being different doesn’t mean that Shaffmaster won’t be able to lead the Gophers to the same, or even greater, success that SSS did.
Fair or not, let’s compare the two:
- SSS had hands like silk. She must have been called for a few carries on her way to 5,674 assists as a Gopher, but I was there for every game she played at the Pav and I don’t remember any. Shaffmaster has been called at least a dozen times already (if the Gophers track this, they don’t publish it), and probably got away with at least that many more.
- One of the reasons SSS (almost) never carried was her quickness. (We get new Geezers at Geezer-Ball every year, most of whom don’t know how to set, so they try to imitate Dave or Mark who are real setters. But I explain to them that Dave or Mark cheat. They move their feet! Hell, even I can set clean if I’m squared-up under the ball.) A volleyball court is 900 square feet, and SSS covered 1,000 sq.ft. of it. Shaffmaster is a bigger gal; her anticipation should improve with experience, but she will never be as quick as SSS.
- As a result, SSS owned the court. And except for when she dug up dinks, the 2nd touch was always SSS’s. And anyone who tried to “help” her got told off. Shaffmaster needs help; which the veterans Samedy, Pittman, Rollins, Kilkelly and especially McGraw have provided.
- And speaking of digging up dinks, SSS was great at that too. This is an area where the Gophers have struggled early in the Shaffmaster era. Shaffmaster needs to get better at digging up dinks, and the rest of the team needs to get better at helping her.
- SSS was a wizard at spreading the ball to all of her hitters, including high-tempo feeds to Taylor Morgan and “slides” to the Tapp sisters, often when and where the opposing team least expected it. And Shaffmaster’s lack of distribution and deception, more than the occasional whistle or the need for help, has been her greatest weakness so far. In her first 21 sets played (i.e., all but the very last one), pretty much everyone in the building knew where the ball was going before it left Shaffmaster’s hands. The good news is that, unlike quickness, which is hard to coach, Shaffmaster will get better at this with the proper coaching – which she is very likely to receive. And the Gopher middles will adjust to Shaffmaster too.
But the comparison is not all one-sided; Shaffmaster brings the promise of tools Seliger-Swenson didn’t/doesn’t have.
- Shaffmaster is listed at 6-3; SSS at 5-11. But I never believed (watching in person) that SSS was a full 5-11, whereas Shaffmaster seems taller than 6-3. At least on TV, she seems as tall as her teammates who are listed at 6-5. Is it possible she’s still growing?
- SSS was credited with 186 kills during her Gopher career (approximately 1 kill per 3 sets played). I’m guessing at least half of them were off over-passes or other mistakes by the opposing team, or desperation “tool” shots. And the other half came from SSS’s bag of tricks, making it look like she was setting one of her hitters, but instead sneaking the two-ball over the net to an uncovered spot. Shaffmaster is tall and STRONG! Most of her 21 kills (very nearly 1 kill per set played) have come on raw power. So while SSS was better at utilizing all of her team’s weapons than Shaffmaster is at this point, Shaffmaster has a whole ‘nother weapon that SSS never had. At first, it seemed to me that Shaffmaster was “going to the well” too often with this. But maybe that’s because I’m thinking of our setter attacking a 2nd-touch as dependent on catching the other team by surprise. Shaffmaster is so strong that she’s less dependent on deception.
- SSS was a courageous blocker, but at 5-11, never super effective, 223 blocks in just under 500 sets played. Shaffmaster hasn’t been better – yet, only 9 blocks in 22 sets played, roughly half as many as Samedy who blocks at the same position. But maybe that’s just a freshman getting comfortable. It seems like Shaffmaster has the potential to become a very effective blocker, maybe not effective enough to lead the team in blocks, but maybe enough to compensate for her struggle to cover dinks.
Love to hear what others think.