Now that I’ve had time to catch my breath, let’s talk about this pair of 5-set wins at Purdue, with particular attention to where the Gophers stand, line-up wise, headed into next weekend’s match-up vs Penn State. Position by position:
LIBERO/D.S.: Star Libero C.C. McGraw dove for a dig on the set-point of Friday’s 3rd set, did not come out for the 4th set, and was later seen leaving the building, presumably injured. In this era of confidentiality, there is no news (that I can find) detailing McGraw’s injury. (IF YOU HAVE ANY, LET THE REST OF US IN.) At this point, I am assuming that McGraw will not play next weekend against Penn State.
Sophomore D.S. Rachel Kilkelly quickly slipped on her libero jersey and played the rest of Friday and all of Saturday’s match. And in the absence of no-show (at least for now) recruit Cami Appiani, freshman left-side hitter Jenna Wenaas stepped into the role of D.S. At 6-1, Wenaas is bigger than the stereotype D.S., but has been a “6-rotation player” her whole career to this point. They both played well, if not spectacularly, and I assume that these two will continue in these roles until McGraw returns.
SETTER: Shaffmaster is, and will continue to be, our setter. (Look for a separate post re my thoughts re Shaffmaster’s performance and potential.)
RIGHT-SIDE HITTER (OPPOSITE): All-American Steph Samedy is our best player. A “6-rotation player,” Samedy serves, blocks (17 in 22 sets), digs, passes and hits – a team leading 91 kills in 22 sets. She pounds the ball from front-row or back row. Her sharp-angle “cut-shot” is devastating and when the defense tries to take that away, she goes down the line effectively. And she’s effective swinging left-side or middle when called upon. (She does not dink effectively, but nobody’s perfect.)
After a 20-kill/20-dig night on Friday, Samedy struggled a bit on Saturday, and the team, who depends on her, struggled also. But when the chips were down, Samedy sparked the comeback to win the match.
I am a big fan of Airi Miyabe, and thought we might see this very talented senior contributing at the left-side or middle positions. But at this point it appears that Miyabe’s role this year is to back up Samedy at right-side. Not a particularly demanding role, but on occasion, like last night when Samedy and the Gophers were struggling, Coach McCutcheon does not hesitate to sub Miyabe in for a few points. I think the primary purpose is to give the hard-working Samedy a breather, but Miyabe brings an energy level that helps also.
LEFT-SIDE HITTER: The Gophers have 3 very talented left-side hitters, Jr. Adanna Rollins, Fr. Taylor Landfair, and Fr. Jenna Wenaas, competing for two, slightly different, left-side positions. (Like most D-1 programs, the Gophs employ one “6-rotation” left-side hitter, who never leaves the court, and one “3-rotation” left-side hitter, who is replaced in the back row by the D.S.)
As predicted here, Rollins, who has been the Gophers’ “6-rotation” left-side hitter since her freshman year, continues, at least for now, as our “6-rotation” left-side hitter. Rollins serves well (5 Aces so far, vs 4 serving errors), she blocks okay (9 in 22 sets), she rivals Samedy at covering dinks, and she hits effectively – 68 kills vs 19 errors, for a solid .301 kill rate. She has power, but lacking overpowering power, she relies on a variety of angles. Like many “6-rotation” left-sides, she is a frequent target for opposing servers, and she handles this pressure well, most of the time.
Also as predicted here, Landfair emerged from pre-season practices as our “3-rotation” left-side hitter. Though I hadn’t seen either of them play, my prediction was based on the fact that Landfair was the #1-rated recruit in the country – versus Wenaas, who was merely was the #3-rated recruit in the country. Landfair has been inconsistent, as one expects a freshman to be. And, an obvious target for opposing servers, even as the Gophers try to “hide” her in a “left-side stack,” Landfair’s been shaky when they find her – so not a likely candidate for the “6-rotation” position (at least not anytime soon).
But at 6-5, with a major vertical, she has unbelievable power. One of the BTN announcers described her “unusually physical for an outside hitter.” No kidding! Landfair has fewer kills (62 vs 68) than Rollins, and more errors (25 vs 19), but a Landfair swing has to be more intimidating (to opposing teams) than a Rollins swing. Like a 2nd-deck blast by Miguel Sano vs a 2nd-row homer by Joe Mauer – same result on the scoreboard, but not the same “awe-factor.” I think Landfair will evolve into a great blocker eventually, and she already might be the best dinker of the Gopher hitters (Miyabe is good also.)
Wenaas is in a tough spot, for now. She got a chance to play left-side hitter a little in an earlier match against Michigan State, but I didn’t get enough of a sample to form an opinion. For now she’s the back-up to Rollins and Landfair; what a luxury to have talent like Wenaas on your bench. Back in the day, freshmen expected to spend a while on the bench; but in the modern era, the #3-rated recruit in the country surely expects to start. At least the shift of Kilkelly to libero gets Wenaas into the line-up; hopefully that, and winning, will keep her motivated.
MIDDLES: The Gophers use two middles, one serves and one doesn’t, but other than during her serve, neither plays back-row. Their primary responsibilities are blocking and hitting. All-American Regan Pittman fills one of these spots (and serves). Pittman is a five-tool player: she serves well (a team-leading 9 Aces vs only 3 errors), blocks well (a team-leading 22), hits well (34 kills in only 72 swings, and a strong .347 kill-rate), and has great hands, digging and setting when she gets the opportunity. I also think of Pittman (via TV, so …) as the Gophers’ emotional leader.
And yet, I get the sense that Pittman, who played next to Samantha Seliger-Swenson her freshman & sophomore seasons, is struggling to adjust to the her freshman setter. In a practical sense, a setter can only feed her middles when she receives a first pass that she can handle with confidence. That was virtually every pass for SSS, but not so many, so far, for Shaffmaster.
Our All-American Pittman was even benched/rested briefly during yesterday’s 4th set. But she came back like a champion in the 5th set, co-leading the power-explosion with Samedy. Pittman
The Gophers hit an astounding .650 in the 5th set; Samedy with 5 kills in six swings while Pittman went 4 for 4. Almost 5 for 5. At 14-8, Pittman pounded a kill for what seemed to be match point, but it didn’t count due to some violation — maybe Pittman touched the net — on BTN+, who can tell? No problem, at 14-9, Shaffmaster put the set in the same spot and Pittman pounded another one. (Let’s hope this trend continues.)
Pittman’s dominance leaves three big, talented athletes competing to fill the shoes of graduated, fan-favorite Taylor Morgan, including 6-3 sophomore Ellie Husemann (from Eagan), 6-2 transfer junior Katie Myers (last year’s 3rd most blocks in the bIg 10), and highly-recruited 6-5 sophomore Shea Rubright.
As predicted here, Myers experience and proven blocking ability won her the starting role in the season opener. And Myers was reasonably effective, with 13 kills, a .257 kill rate, and a team-leading 20 blocks through four matches (vs Michigan State & Rutgers). Myers also got the call to sub for Pittman when she was briefly benched yesterday.
But when the Gophers fell behind 2 sets to 1 in Friday’s match at Purdue, Coach McCutcheon went to his bench for Rubright. I didn’t notice much immediate impact by Rubright during Friday’s 4th & 5th sets (2 kills, 1 block) – but the Gophers turned the 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory, which was apparently enough for McCutcheon to keep her in the line-up for Saturday.
And Rubright came out swinging in Saturday’s set one; Samedy played well also, but I felt Rubright was the dominant player on the court. She cooled off after that, likely drawing greater attention from the Purdue defense, and was part of the mid-match malaise that affected the whole team, but McCutcheon kept her in the line-up. Rubright finished the match with 9 kills and 5 blocks, giving her 11 kills & 6 blocks for the weekend (and season). Even more impressive, her 11 kills (vs 1 error) came on only 19 sets, giving her an amazing .526 kill-rate (Pittman is 2nd, among starting hitters, at .347), more than double Myers kill-rate.
The coaching staff has the opportunity to observe these athletes in practice, so they may have different thoughts re Rubright vs Myers than those of us watching on TV. But Rubright seems more productive on offense, and Myers maybe more reliable on defense, so perhaps McCutcheon’s sense of what the greater need is, versus a given opponent, might be the determining factor as to who gets the start as the season progresses..