Month: April 2021

Losing to Stanford in the National Semis last year (2019) was disappointing, but only slightly. The 2019 Gophers had over-achieved just to reach the Final Four, and Stanford was loaded. Losing to Oregon at the Pav in the 2018 Sweet 16 was more painful, as the #2 seeded Gophers had legitimate championship aspirations. But that loss came after an epic 3^rd set which the Gophers thought they had won 40-38, only to have set point reversed on a challenge leading to a 41-39 loss, which the Gophs didn’t recover from. This year’s loss to Pittsburgh, again by a team that appeared to have legitimate championship aspirations, was more painful yet.

Samedy was quoted in the Strib, “We gave it our best. Pitt just ended up being the better team.” I guess. It wasn’t bad officiating and there are no “bad bounces” in volleyball, so the team that wins was obviously the best team on the court that day. But I didn’t think Pittsburgh was that good. I was surprised that the Panthers seemed more relaxed in the 5^th set than the Gophers who had been 5 for 5 in 5-set matches.

McCutcheon in the Strib, “It seemed like we were letting them dictate things more in the fourth set than earlier in the match. We were struggling to get any kind of rhythm.” I think Coach’s “Letting them dictate things” is a reference to the Gophers poor serve-receive. (The ESPN commentator working the National semis referred to this as “ball control,” but I’m unconvinced that this term works better than “passing.”) In the end, this game requires all 5 skills, just being strong at the net isn’t enough.

WAS THE BIG TEN OVERRATED?

It appears so, maybe not as much in volleyball as in men’s basketball, but yes. Gopher men’s hockey dropped their traditional affiliation with the WCHA for the Big Ten because the Big Ten commands a bigger market – more people watching means more $ and more hype. And we fall for it.

If you judge by representation in the Final Four over the last decade, the Big Ten really is the strongest and deepest conference, with annually half-a-dozen teams with the potential for a tournament run. But if you saw Texas plow through Penn State, Nebraska and Wisconsin in rounds 3,4, & 5, leaving the Big Ten out of the Championship Game, it is clear that there are other strong programs around the country.

The impact of the pandemic was interesting. The powerful Big Ten, the almost as powerful PAC, and the vast majority of less- powerful conferences, deferred their entire volleyball seasons to the Spring. But the SEC and the Big 12, both representing portions of the country that trend “red,” taking a more casual approach to the pandemic, chose a different path for volleyball, playing half of their conference season in the Fall and half in the Spring. Kentucky and Texas won their split-season conferences, and now face each other in the Championship Game. I couldn’t say for certain that the split-season worked to their advantage, but it didn’t hurt them any.

ROLLINS TO TRANSFER

As we await an announcement of whether seniors Steph Samedy, Regan Pittman and Airi Myabe will return for a “pandemic-bonus-year” of eligibility, we were surprised to hear that junior Adanna Rollins will be transferring. I haven’t heard where or why.

I grew up in an era in which D-1 Varsity* athletes were ineligible their freshmen year, then competed during 3-consecutive years of  eligibility, almost always for one school. But now freshmen can compete, “red-shirt” years are common, transferring is common and no longer requires an excuse, and a pandemic has given everyone a bonus year of eligibility. (The roster of the pandemic-year Gopher women’s basketball team even included a high school girl.) It’s a new world.                                                                          (* “Club sports,” like the water polo I played and coached for the Gophers, and men’s volleyball, have long had different eligibility rules.)

I don’t have any inside knowledge of where Rollins will be transferring to, or why, but this is a fan-blog, so let’s speculate:

• She’s already in graduate school, in business. Maybe “Carlson” doesn’t fit her needs.
• She’s probably played high-level volleyball for at least 6 years, maybe she’s looking for a lower-pressure situation.
• She’s a Texas girl, maybe she’s tired of cold weather.
• Maybe she’s homesick and will be transferring to someplace closer to home.
• Maybe she has a boyfriend (or girlfriend) at another school.
• Other schools are prohibited from “recruiting” her before she enters the “transfer portal,” but maybe she’s been offered a “better opportunity.”
• Or maybe she’s unhappy.
• She’s never been much of a smiler, maybe she’s always been unhappy.
• Maybe, after playing second-fiddle to Alexis Hart, she expected to become the “star” left-side hitter, and is jealous that Taylor Landfair got more attention.
• Maybe she doesn’t feel secure about starting next year (I think she probably would), with Landfair a more powerful hitter, Wenaas a better passer, and another crop of talented freshmen on the way.
• Maybe another accomplished left-side hitter is transferring in (we haven’t heard about it, but) and she is miffed about needing to compete for playing time.
• Maybe she’s had a falling-out with the coaching staff.

Whatever, we wish her well. Rollins has never been the “star,” but she’s been a steady, reliable, starter, and we saw how much the team depends on her when she missed the 2^nd Nebraska match.

2021 RECRUITS

The Gophers bragged about their 2020 recruiting class, as well they might have given that it was rated the #1 recruit-class in the country. I haven’t seen similar bragging about this year’s class, but the Gophers have signed 4:

• Lauren Crowl, a 6-foot, 4-inch, left-handed, right-side hitter from Eagan (Eastview and Northern Lights). Taller than Samedy, and left-handed (an advantage for a right side hitter, though you wouldn’t know it to watch Samedy play), Crowl was obviously recruited to replace Samedy, who was supposed to be out of eligibility. She might have to wait a year if Samedy returns for a bonus year (or battle Miyabe for the position if Samedy leaves and Miyabe stays). And
• Also in the competition for right-side hitter will be Natalie Glenn, a 5-foot, 10-inch, right side hitter from Southlake, Texas, also left-handed. 5-10 sounds a little short for a Big Ten right side hitter, but she seems (as far as I can tell) slightly higher-rated than Crowl. Glenn is probably a great passer, and the Gophers sure need that.
• Anna Wolf, a 6-foot, 4-inch middle blocker from River Falls (and Minnesota Select). The Gophers had 4 middles this past season (Pittman, Rubright, Myers and Husemann), and if they all comeback and are joined by Wolf, the competition for playing time could be intense.
• Skylar Gray, 5-foot-10 out of Maple Grove, was a left-side hitter in high school, but more likely to play libero or D.S. for the Gophers.

As of game-time today (second round play plus Wisconsin’s Sweet 16 victory last night), the 6 Big Ten teams had not even lost a set. But our Gophers managed to lose 3 sets (the 2^nd, 4^th & 5^th) to a spirited but unseeded and not obviously-overpowering Pittsburgh. How disappointing!

Maybe Pittsburgh, who hasn’t lost a match since October, is better than they look; we’ll find out tomorrow. McGraw didn’t play; maybe the back-up plan of Kilkelly at libero and Wenaas at D.S. wasn’t as solid a replacement as I thought it would be. One of our two losses on the season came at Lincoln in a match that started even earlier than today’s match at noon; maybe the Gophers are just not a Morning in Nebraska team.

But the most likely explanation is the weaknesses I pointed out last week in my piece HOW GOOD ARE THE GOPHERS? I told you that the Gophers had excellent outside hitting. And while our OH-trio of Samedy, Landfair & Rollins have each had better matches, they were good today, with 23, 15, & 15 kills respectively, and you shouldn’t lose a match when your outside hitters put up 53 kills. And the blocking wasn’t bad either; I have Pittman in double figures. The blocking and outside hitting was good enough to win most matches.

But the Gophers got virtually zero offense from the middle. I don’t think Pittman and Rubright had 5 kills between the two of them. And it wasn’t their fault; they got hardly any sets. Shaffmaster is pretty good setting her middles off a perfect pass, and a quicker, more talented setter (e.g., Seliger-Swenson) might have done more with the mediocre passes Shaffmaster was getting. But a mediocre serve-receive and a big, slow setter is a bad combination.

Our serve-receivers weren’t giving up aces or shanking their receives out of bounds, but they weren’t putting them where Shaffmaster wanted them either. I wasn’t keeping track, but I would swear that Shaffmaster was making the first set underhand more often than overhand, because she had to run 15 feet to reach it. And underhand setting pretty much eliminates middle-hitting. In high-level collegiate volleyball, the receiving team wins the majority of the points because they have the advantage of the first attack; but the Gophers were returning free-balls and giving Pittsburgh the first attack, even on their serve, more often or not.

NEXT YEAR

The old reliable consolation to a season-ending loss is “Wait to next year.” In this odd, pandemic year, “next year” is only 4 months away. I’ll have more to say about “next year” after I’ve recovered emotionally.

Reader G.H. writes, “Thanks for analysis of Pittsburgh.”

Reader G.U. asks, “What’s the status on McGraw?”

John: I wish I knew. In this modern age of phony-secrecy, the U of M releases no info on the health of student athletes. I was hoping to see McGraw in action vs Georgie Tech, but she wasn’t. I think I saw her standing on the sidelines in a hoody and a knee brace, so you can draw your own conclusions from that.

I am skeptical that she will be in the lineup tomorrow vs Pittsburgh. I think we are stronger with a 100% McGraw at libero and Kilkelly at D.S., but Kilkelly at libero and Wenaas backfilling at D.S. has been decent.

Reader T.R. writes, “Good reviews as usual coach.  Gophers and ncaa tourney most fun to watch and best sports action going by far. Related to the 6-2, I see the gophers main restriction is that their hitters are mainly that—hitters— just great power hitters especially with perfect sets (natl champs if Swenson was still setting) but are not great overall players that can win it all, with required defense, quickness, etc.  6-2 good if versatile hitters can slam most any set.  But calm confidence in toughest spots gives the gophers a shot against any team. Have you applied yet for strib vb reporter job?

John: I am committed to retirement, and the Strib has Rachael Blount. Ms Blount apparently gets assigned to write about Gopher V-Ball because it’s a “chick-sport,” more than due to her knowledge of V-ball. I’m sure Ms Blount is a capable reporter, but her 3/22 story about the Gopher’s loss to Wisconsin the previous evening was shorter but almost word-for-word the same as a longer account on the Gopher website, except that Blount (probably good enough at math to recognize that 6-2 is more than 6) described the Gopher system vs the Badgers as a “4-2.” A “4-2,” of course, is the system we play at Geezer volleyball and is common to pick-up games at the Y.

It’s really hard to say. They looked pretty good sweeping 14^th seed Utah on Thursday Night, slightly more dominant than the Gophers sweep of Georgia Tech. But then how good is Utah? The PAC 10 has not been impressive in the early rounds (see below).

Pittsburgh finished 3^rd in the ACC, at 14 & 4, just a hair above the Gophers’ most recent conquest Georgia Tech (13 & 4). But two of Pittsburgh’s losses came in September, and two in October; they haven’t lost a match in 2021! They also hadn’t played anyone any good, until Utah. Pittsburgh is 1 & 1 versus this year’s Sweet 16 Teams (an October split with Louisville in Pittsburgh). The Gophers are 5 & 2.

The Panthers are led by right-side hitter Ndee (#5) and left-side hitter Lund (#23). One of their middles (#11), and their other left-side hitter (#2) looked decent.  But I didn’t see the raw power that Samedy, Pittman, Rollins & Landfair can bring.

But I was very impressed by their “floor-game,” i.e. digging and scrambling. I lost track of the number of times that Utah pounded the ball off an attempted Pittsburgh block and it looked like a Utah point – but Pittsburgh saved the it and went on to win the point. When I was coaching, I told my hitters, “Pound the ball, and if they dig it up, pound it again. And keep pounding it until they don’t dig it up.” But great digging can frustrate a hitter.

The other interesting thing about the Panthers is that they play a  6-2, apparently have all season. When Shaffmaster couldn’t play vs Wisconsin, and also last season (2019) when Miller was hurt, the Gophs were forced to play a 6-2 because our back-up setter, McMenimen, can’t block. I kind of like the 6-2, because it gives you 3 front-row hitters in every rotation, but most coaches prefer the 5-1 because it provides more consistent setting. Illinois played a 6-2 against the Gophs last month, so it isn’t something the Gophers haven’t seen.

The Panthers won’t be a pushover, but I like the Gophers’ chances, mostly because of their greater experience in tough matches and against tough teams. Sunday at noon on ESPN U.

There are 8 Sweet 16 matches on Sunday, 6 of the 8 featuring Big Ten Teams; we should know by the end of the day how strong the Big Ten really is. Here’s how the “power conferences” are doing: > The Big Ten had 6 teams in the 48 team tournament, and all 6 made it to the Sweet 16.                                                                                                                                                                                              > The PAC Ten had 5 teams in the 48 team tournament, and 2 made it to the Sweet 16.                                                                                                                                                                                               > The Big 12 had 3 teams in the 48 team tournament, and 2 made it to the Sweet 16.   (Rice was a covid no-show.)                                                                                                                                         >  The SEC had 3 teams in the 48 team tournament, and 2 made it to the Sweet 16.                                                                                                                                                                                 >  The ACC had 4 teams in the 48 team tournament, and 2 (Including Pittsburgh) made it to the Sweet 16. 

BYU & W. Kentucky are also in the Sweet 16.                                                                                                                                           

The Gophers took 3 straight sets from the Ramblin’ Wreck, but all 3 were close and the outcome undetermined until late. The first set was back and forth until the Gophs pulled away 16-12 before eventually winning 25-19. The Gopher kills were evenly distributed between Rollins, Landfair, Pittman, & Samedy, plus  Shaffmaster getting 3, including one when the Wreck was on a run. Tech led the second set 9-6 and it was tied 14-14 before the Gophers went on a run to lead 20-16, eventually winning 25-21, with Samedy & Landfair carrying the load. And Tech also led the third set 9-6 before the Gophers took a 15-12 lead, eventually winning 25-18, with Samedy & Rollins carrying the load.

NOTES:

• The Gophers wore masks, Georgia Tech did not; if that put the Gophers at a disadvantage, you couldn’t tell.
• McGraw, presumably still injured, did not play, so Killkelly played libero and Wenaas D.S.
• As expected, the Wreck was led by their Brazillian stars who seem more successful hitting from the back row than the front. (Maybe that’s a Brazillian thing.)
• I think we intended to use a triple-block against the Wreck’s back-row attacks, but Shaffmaster was consistently late getting there.
• On the other hand, Shaffmaster did a better job covering dinks than earlier in the season.
• Pittman got a kill on a “quarter-slide.” A typical slide, which the Gophs run often, involves Pittman “sliding from her middle position all the way to the right pin; but on this “quarter-slide,” Shaffmaster fed Pittman behind Shaffmaster, but just barely, a subtle variation that confuses the blockers.
• One of the Georgia Tech runs, leading to their 9-6 lead in the third set, highlighted my concern about our digging; 3 consecutive Wreck points were the result of the Gophers handing them a “free-ball,” which in turn were the result of poor-quality digs by the Gophers.
• And speaking of quality digs, Landfair and Samedy both demonstrated their awesome power when they got good sets; but the difference between Landfair and Samedy  is that the freshman needs good sets to get her kills, but the polished senior often turns poor sets into points.

ON TO OMAHA, uh, I guess we’re already in Omaha. The Gophers Sweet 16 opponent (on ESPN U) will be the winner of a Utah/Pittsburgh match later this evening. I’ll try to watch that and share my thoughts when I can.

Georgia Tech beat Lipscomb in 4 sets last night, advancing them to tonight’s 2^nd round versus our Gophers, 6:00 on ESPN 3. (If you’re busy at 6:00, you can watch it later because it’s “streamed.”) I watched last night’s match so that I can provide a little better analysis than appeared in this morning’s Strib. I didn’t know if I got ESPN 3, but it turns out I do. (Maybe I get ESPN 7?) It’s “streamed,” but I got it through my regular Comcast connection without paying extra – not sure how that works.

Back to Georgia Tech: The ‘Rambling Wreck is led by two Brazilian outside hitters, one who looks like my idea of a Brazilian (I haven’t been there) named Brambilla, the other a redhead named Bergman (go figure???). Both seem to take most of their swings from the back-row. In all my playing, coaching, and Gopher-watching history, I can’t remember seeing a team that relied so heavily on back-row attacks.

[We were in Orlando one time, to watch Ethan play in the 16 & Under Nationals, and we got to watch the 18 & Under championship match. This was pre-rally-scoring, and though the match was 2 out of 3, it lasted over 2 hours because both teams had one unstoppable hitter, who was fed every set, regardless of position, and it went serve, bump, set, and kill; sometimes a full six rotations between either team scoring a point. But that’s different.]

The advantage of back-row attacks is that there’s more margin-of-error for the set, you just throw it up in the general direction and let the hitter find it. And back-row attacks are harder to block. The disadvantage, for the hitter, is that you have to be conscious of where your feet leave the floor (maybe you get used to this, but it’s an additional complication), and you have less court to aim at – basically the back 10 feet. (I have seen back-row attackers dink, but I didn’t remember these Georgia Tech hitters doing it last night.) Obviously, the Gopher coaching staff was scouting the match last night, and maybe there are tactical moves that can slow down an offense dependent on back-row attacks – but I don’t know what it is.

The Gophers finished in 2^nd place in the Big Ten, and the Wreck in 4^th place in the ACC. But the Gophers were 15 & 2, just barely better than the 4^th place Buckeyes at 15 & 3, while the Wreck was 13 & 4, just barely behind 2^nd place Notre Dame at 14 & 3. So the only reason for confidence is the assumption that the Big Ten is a stronger conference than the ACC. But how much better?

Historically, the Big Ten is a stronger VB conference. I took a quick look at the 50 teams appearing in the last 25 National Championship Games, and counted 22 Big Ten teams, 24 West Coast teams, and a couple each by Texas & Florida. No ACC teams have ever made it to the finals! And this season’s final national coaches poll had 6 Big Ten Teams in the top 12, and no ACC teams. (First place Louisville was ranked #13, with 3 more including Georgia Tech scattered between 19 & 23.) But polling suggested that the Big Ten was the nation’s strongest in men’s basketball in 2020-21, and that turned out an illusion. And 3 of the Men’s “Frozen Four” teams were from Minnesota, and none of them won it. So …

Watching last night’s Georgia Tech/Lipscomb match, I tried to visualize how either of these previously un-seen teams would match up against the Gophers or other top Big Ten Teams; lacking benchmarks, a difficult exercise. The serving, receiving/digging and setting looked about the same — strong, skilled girls that know how to play volleyball.

As mentioned above, Georgia Tech’s reliance on back-row hitting was definitely different. But if the Gophers have any obvious advantage over Georgia Tech, it would be at the net; the Gophers are very strong blockers, and Georgia Tech didn’t seem to be. Georgia Tech’s reliance on back-row hitting could neutralize the Gophers’ blocking, but I think the Wreck will have a difficult time handling the relentless power of Samedy, Pittman, Landfair and Rollins. So I like our chances.

Reader M.C. notes that opposing servers also target Shaffmaster when she is in the back row rotation, which takes the Gophers out of sync.

In a 5-1 system, the setter is in the back-row half the time, and serving at this back-row setter is a common tactic. But according to the stats on the Gopher website, Shaffmater hasn’t touched a single receive all year. There are a variety of counter tactics a receiving team can employ to prevent their setter from receiving.

1. You can let your setter participate in the receive, and have the opposite/right-side hitter take the first set (and then switch while the ball is on the other side of the net). Samedy, the Gophers’ opposite is a very skilled passer and could easily handle this responsibility. The down side is that Samedy can’t set herself, so the Gophers wouldn’t have a right-side hitter on this initial return. Or
2. Your setter can “hide” close to the net, as long as they are positioned behind the front-row player in front of them. This the tactic I used most frequently when I was coaching, but I think the Gophers employ this tactic only when their setter is back-left, behind Landfair, resulting in a formation with 3 players “stacked” in the left front corner, with the setter moving toward the setting position as soon as the serve is struck. . Or
3. Your setter can “hide” behind one of your primary receivers, again moving toward the setting position as soon as the serve is struck (but choosing a path which does not interfere with the receive). I’ve also used this tactic This works well when your setter is back-right (following the loss of serve), and the Gophers use it in that rotation. But it is more difficult coming from other positions, especially if your setter chooses the wrong path. Or
4. Your setter can “hide” in plain sight, in the center of the court. I never had the nerve to try this when I was coaching (at a much lower skill-level), because it requires your receivers to pretend that their setter isn’t there, even though she is. (She’s not there in the sense that she will not handle the receive, even when they serve right at her — which they love to do.) The Gophers use this when Shaffmaster is back-middle, and she does quickly duck out of the way, but it requires extreme concentration by our liberos and D.S,’s to not be distracted.

Before the season started, I shared my expectation that the Gophers would be one of the best teams in the country, with a chance to compete for their first National Championship. And now they enter the NCAAs as the #3 overall seed. But we know a lot more about them now, so as we head into the playoffs, this seems a good time to reevaluate this Gopher Team. Coaches & recruiters generally evaluate players on 5 skills (serving, receiving/digging, setting, hitting and blocking) plus “intangibles.” Let’s use these same 6 categories plus a 7^th, bench, for our evaluation.

• SERVING: I have previously blogged about the Gophers’ serving, so I won’t repeat that. I give them 4 stars (out of 5).

• RECEIVING/DIGGING: As is typical of high-level teams, the Gophs use a receiving formation that tries to force opponents to serve to our libero and D.S. (McGraw & Kilkelly, or when McGraw is out, Kilkelly & Wenaas), who between them cover about 80% of the court. And our opponents try to avoid our libero and D.S., aiming instead at our left-side hitters (Rollins & Landfair) along the outside edges of the court. (Our middles, setters and Samedy almost never touch a serve.)

Current Gopher stats show this contest of wills to be a virtual draw, McGraw, Kilkelly & Wenaas have handled 51% of our opponents serves, while Rollins & Landfair handled 49%. And their “success” is also similar, with “error rates” of 6% for Rollins, Kilkelly & Wenaas, 8% for McGraw, and 10% for the freshman Landfair. Which raises the question of why our opponents are so intent on aiming for the edges.

But I think that only balls shanked out of bounds or otherwise unplayable count as “errors;” it doesn’t measure the “quality” of the pass. I don’t hold myself to “quality” in Geezer volleyball, if I get the ball “up,” where at least one of my teammates could play the 2^nd touch, I figure I’ve done my job. But the expectations for the Gophers are higher; Coach McCutcheon is not looking for a “playable” first pass, he’s looking for a “perfect” first pass, high in the air and exactly where the setter wants it. The Gophers don’t publish stats re quality passes, but my sense is that McGraw, Kilkelly & Wenaas’s service-receives tend to be of significantly higher quality than those by Rollins & Landfair, which is why they are targeted so often.

Overall, I give the Gophers 4 stars for their serve-receive.

Digging up spikes and dinks are the other half of this category. Again, the Gophers would prefer to have the digging done by our libero and D.S., but this is a lot harder to manage when the ball is live. Consequently, digging is spread out almost equally between Rollins, Shaffmaster, McGraw, Samedy and Kilkelly, who between them have handled 83% of the digging. McGraw and Kilkelly are very good, and Samedy’s no slouch. But most of Shaffmaster’s digs, and most of Landfair’s contribution, about 20% of the Gophers’ overall digging between the two, is covering dinks, and Shaffmaster and Landfair, both unusually tall freshmen, are not good at digging dinks. I do think they’ve improved as the season progresses, but if I were to rate Shaffmaster and Landfair on covering dinks, I’d give then 1 and ½ stars.

Overall, I give the Gophers 3 stars for their serve-receive/digging.

• SETTING: In a “5-1 system,” responsibility for setting falls almost entirely on one player, in this case freshman Melani Shaffmaster, who has accounted for 76% of the Gophers’ “assists.” (An “assist” is a set that the hitter converts into a “kill;” the Gophers don’t publish stats on sets not converted to kills.) Shaffmaster is a very talented and highly recruited player, who brings a high-upside and a unique skill-set to the position; she has shown improvement as the season progresses, and she would likely have performed even better if the Gophers’ first passes were better. She was also recognized as the setter on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

But for comparison, Samantha Seliger-Swenson, the Gopher setter from 2015 through 2018, accounted for 87% of Gopher assists during her 4 years as setter, including 86% her freshman year. I just watched a 2016 Gophers at Nebraska match on BTN. (As has been true for the past decade, the Gophers and Nebraska, then and now, were among the top teams in the country.) I’d swear the only assists of the match by anyone other than SSS were balls where SSS was the digger. (Admittedly, the team passing seemed better.)

Also for comparison, Badger setter Sidney Hilley (out of Champlain Park, MN) was one of 7 players unanimously chosen All Big Ten, while Shaffmaster was not one of 6 setters recognized as 1^st or 2^nd team All Big Ten. Early in the season, Shaffmaster really struggled to set her middle-hitters. Fortunately, Shaffmaster gets a lot of help setting, especially from veterans McGraw, Samedy and Pittman.

Overall, I give the Gophers 3 stars for their setting.

• HITTING: If you look at Big Ten statistics, there is a big gap between the top 6 teams (Wisc, Neb, Penn St, Ohio St, Purdue, MN) and the rest of the Big Ten. The Gophers rank 6^th, with a hitting % of .248, way behind Hilley’s unbeaten Wisconsin’s .344, but not far behind Neb, who ranks 2^nd at .272.

This suggests that our Gophers are mediocre hitters, at least by Big Ten standards. But statistics don’t always tell the whole story. First, the Gophs have played a much tougher schedule than the Badgers. And also, the Gophers have often struggled with their digging and setting, making their hitters look less wonderful than they really are. Steph Samedy was recently recognized as Big Ten Player of the Year (beating out the Badgers’ dominant middle-hitter Dana Rettke), and Pittman joined Samedy as one of 7 players unanimously chosen All Big Ten, freshman Landfair, who has really been coming on after a slow start (though I’d still like to see her be more aggressive), also made 1^st team All Big Ten, and Rollins made 2^nd team All Big Ten. I doubt that there is a better trio of outside hitters in the country than the Gophs’ Samedy, Rollins and Landfair.

Middle-hitters Pittman & Rubright are becoming more effective as they get better sets, and Shaffmaster, a 6ft, 3 in, setter, is a significant weapon with .9 kills/set. For comparison SSS never averaged more than .4 kills/set in any of her 4 seasons.

Overall, in consideration of the quality of sets they get, I give the Gophers 5 stars for their hitting.

• BLOCKING: The Gophers rank 12^th in the country in blocks/set, but 5^th among “power conference” teams, behind Louisville, Purdue, Texas and (surprisingly) 4 & 16 Maryland. But they rank ahead of top teams like Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn St., Ohio St., Washington and Baylor, most of whom have played easier schedules! This suggests that the Gophers are a very strong blocking team.

Pittman leads the Gophers by a mile, with 88 blocks, but it isn’t just Pittman, Samedy has 47, Rubright has 43, Shaffmaster has 36, Rollins has 34, and Landfair has 33. Really a whole-team effort.

Overall, I give the Gophers 5 stars for their blocking.

• BENCH: Before the season started, reader D.S. noted that the Gophers’ bench is the strongest in recent history. And sure enough, all 14 players on the roster have played, and all in competitive situations, not just mop-up duty.

Freshman Jenna Wenaas, the #3 ranked recruit in the country, has played in more than half of the sets, occasionally at left-side hitter (presumably her preferred position), racking up 19 kills, but mostly at D.S., racking up 61 digs and 126 serve-receives.

Airi Miyabe has played in a third of the sets, at both outside and middle-hitter, racking up 12 kills, 9 blocks and 3 digs, and perhaps more importantly, providing a spark of energy when the Gophers needed it most. And Rubright earned her spot as the “other middle” (opposite Pittman) not by default but only after proving herself more effective than Katie Myers and Ellie Husemann, who also had opportunities to play.

And Bailey McMenimen and Hunter Atherton took over the setting when Shaffmaster couldn’t play (due to covid protocols) or was struggling (early in the season), between them racking up 42 assists and 13 digs. McMenimen and Atherton handled the setting in the Gophers’ single match vs Wisconsin. Given that it was a 4-set loss, one might conclude that our bench-setters didn’t perform very well; but we took a set from a Badger team that finished the season 45 & 3 in sets played

So I agree with D.S. that the bench is a strength of this Gopher Team. Then again, the Gophs finished the regular season 15 & 2, the first loss at Lincoln without Rollins, and the second loss to the Badgers without Shaffmaster or McGraw, so there is clearly some drop-off between the starters and the subs.

Overall, I give the Gopher Bench 4 stars.

• INTANGIBLES: There are few stats to help measure intangibles, but I love this team’s intangibles. Two points:
• Five of the Gophers’ 17 matches went 5 sets, and the Gophers won all five, and 13 of their sets were decided by 2 points, and the Gophers won 10 of those. To me, this is the mark of a team that has the confidence to make big plays when they need big plays.
• I like the balance of seniors (Samedy & Pittman) who provide leadership, juniors (Rollins and McGraw) and sophomores (Kilkelly) who are steady, reliable performers, and freshmen (Landfair and Shaffmaster) who are getting better week after week.

On intangibles, I give the Gophers 5 stars.

• SUMMARY:
• Serving – 4 stars;
• Receiving/digging – 3 stars;
• Setting – 3 stars;
• Hitting – 5 stars;
• Blocking – 5 stars;
• Bench – 4 stars;
• Intangibles – 5 stars.

29 stars out of a possible 35 sounds like a Final Four Team!

New this year, hopefully for this year only, the NCAA Tournament includes 48 teams (vs the standard 64), and will be played entirely in Omaha (presumably in some sort of “bubble”), the early rounds in a “Convention Center,” with as many as 4 matches going on simultaneously.

The tournament begins this Wednesday, April 14, but the Gophers, as one of the top 16 seeds (actually, the #3 overall seed) get a first-round bye. So the Gophers first match will be in the second-round, on Thursday, April 15, against the winner of a first-round match between Georgia Tech and Lipscomb.

#23 ranked Georgia Tech, with a record of 13 & 4, finished the regular season 4^th among four closely grouped teams (inc Louisville, Notre Dame and Pitt) in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets are led by #13, unamimous 1^st-Team All-ACC junior outside hitter Marianna Brambilla. The Lipscomb Bison are the Champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Gopher should defeat either of these teams, though the GT/Lips winner will have a slight advantage from having already played a match in this unusual (for collegiate v-ball) venue); and advance to the Sweet Sixteen, on Sunday April 18, versus whoever emerges from among Long Island, Pitt, and Utah.

These first two rounds will be “streamed” on some ESPN streaming service (which I don’t think I have), and the Final Four, on April 22 & 24, will be broadcast on ESPN2. I have not been able to figure out the broadcast/streaming plan for the Sweet Sixteen; does anybody know?

The Gophs could not possibly have gotten a more attractive draw, in that their road to the Nat. Championship Game does not include Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn state, Ohio state, Texas, or Florida. Their path to the Final Four includes teams like Georgia Tech, Utah, Louisville, & U of Wash; and if they get that far, their opponent in the Nat Semis would likely be Kentucky, Oregon or Purdue. They may stumble against this field, but they ‘ll have only them selves to blame.