Month: September 2021

Reader R.A. digs in on Samedy’s lack of creativity being part of the Gophers’ problem against Michigan: I agree that Samedy is one of the all-time greats.  But opponents know what she will do. She would be more productive if she hit more cross-court shots — vs simply powering shots thru blocks, or dumping them over hands.

Reader R.A. continues: What makes Maryland’s win over Wisconsin even more inscrutable is the way they handed points to the Gophers. They had more hitting errors (35) than kills (24) against the Gophs, almost as many hitting errors as we had kills (37). Thank you, Terps!  I believe our blocking unnerved Maryland into those hitting errors.

[John: I felt that the Gopher blocking corps, led by Husemann, was especially effective in the 1^st set of the Maryland Match, and may very well have contributed to Maryland hitting so many ball out of bounds the rest of the way. But still – it is hard to understand how the Terp team we saw at the Pav yesterday could have beaten the mighty Badgers.]

The Gophers barely broke a sweat beating Maryland in 3 sets, 25-13, 25-12, 25-16. Maryland came out tough in the 3^rd set, taking an 8-7 lead over the somewhat casual Gophers — but then the Gophs got serious. Unlike Friday night’s 5-set grind over Michigan, the outcome of the match was never in question.

The big news was that junior Middle Ellie Huseman, who spent most of her first two seasons as a Gopher on the bench (behind Regan Pittman, of course, but also behind Katie Myers and Shea Rubright) played the best match of her Gopher career, with 9 blocks and 3 kills. A couple of her blocks came early in the 1^st set, and may have taken the Terps out of their game plan.

Another item of interest was that sophomore Left-side Taylor Landfair played the entire 3-set match (not back row, of course), recording 8 kills and 2 blocks. Landfair’s stats weren’t that much different than those of Airi Miyabe (10 &1), who played that position against Michigan; but Miyabe (who I love) gets her kills by finding seams and changing angles, whereas Landfair gets most of her kills with raw, jaw-dropping power. She also had one fantastic power-dink – that’s where she threw the ball straight down inside the 10-ft line. (Illegal for most of us, but legal, like a Michael Jordan 3-step dunk, if you look really good doing it.)

And another item of interest was the dedication of Melani Shaffmaster (presumably at McCutcheon’s direction) at finding offense somewhere besides her corner hitters. Whenever possible, Shaffmaster fed quick-sets to her Middles, she sets slides (where the Middle hitter circles behind her – a play the Tapp Sisters were great at) to her Middles, she set Samedy and Wenaas in the back row, and she attacked 2^nd-touch balls. Aside from setting Samedy back-row (often effective), Shaffmaster had limited success with these tricks, percentage-wise, but some success. I counted 2 quick-set kills, zero kills off the slide, 1 back-row kill by Wenaas and one by Landfair, and two 2^nd-touch kills by Shaffmaster; so 6 kills out of maybe 25 or 30 attemps (I’m guessing here); probably a lower success rate than setting her corner hitters. (The Gophs hit .302 for the match.)  And yet, maybe trying these other attacks now and then helped to keep the Maryland defense off balance.

BADGERS LAY AN EGG

Maryland opened their Big Ten season at home Friday night vs the #2 nationally ranked Wisconsin. I hadn’t seen a score, but there’s no chance that the powerful Badgers (and I’m not kidding, the Badgers deserved their ranking) would have any trouble with the Maryland team that played at the Pav this afternoon. But shockingly, the Terps took down the Badgers in 5 sets.  I guess the Terps are better at home than on the road, but still??? Apparently, Wisconsin self-destructed, with 34 hitting errors and 17 service errors. Hard to imagine.

NEXT UP: At Wisconsin, Friday at 8 p.m., on BTN

GEEZER VOLLEYBALL IS BACK

This last note is of interest to a limited audience, and most of them already know it. But if you’re a guy, 55 or older, and free on weekday mornings (M/W/F), BAJ volleyball resumes, after a 5-month layoff, on Friday, 9:00 a.m. at Jefferson High. Contact me at jktrpp@gmail.com for information.

Reader R.A. writes: Not only is it predictable that the sets will go to Samedy, her shots are predictable.  Hard and straight.  She got 30 kills because she’s so strong, but teams know exactly where to place their blockers. Whereas Landfair’s skilled cross-court shots were often unreturnable. Also, ALL our hitters too often dumped soft shots over the net. while Michigan shot howitzers at us Of course, weak first passes to Shaffmaster was often a factor behind uncertain sets that resulted in dumping soft shots to Michigan. 

[John: I think R.A. is a little too hard on Samedy; it’s not her fault that she’s our only real threat most of the time – 30 kills through strong double blocks impresses me. I agree that Landfair was unstoppable Friday night – that might change when she plays full matches. I also agree that the Gophers dump soft shots too often. My philosophy, as a player, a coach, and a fan, is that hitters are supposed to hit — hit a good set, and hit a bad set. But the Gopher hitters seem overly worried about making mistakes. Maybe that’s McCutcheon’s coaching, or maybe they’ve grown up playing on teams that fed them perfect passes every time.]

R.A. continues: Regan was my favorite player.   When I have tried to see what she’s doing in lieu of another year here, all I see are volleyball camps she runs, with an emphasis on confidence-building (it seems).  Great for these girls, but I’d like to see her do this after another year with MN.  Anyone else with info?

Reader C.B. writes: The Gophers “slams” seem to be blocked at a much higher rate than we block the opponents.  Last night, Michigan seemed much more effective at blocking than the Gophers. 

[John: Michigan had 11 official “blocks” to Minnesota’s 8. But this stat only counts block-kills for a point. It does not count all the balls which were blocked back into the hitter’s court, and then dug up by the hittter’s teammates. As far as I know, no one keeps that stat.]

C.B. continues: Samedy, while getting a lot of kills, also got blocked a lot. Is this because she is the only threat? Could she do something different to avoid hitting into these effective walls? Landfair, when she got in, didn’t seem to get blocked much.

[John: Michigan certainly knew, coming into the match, that Samedy was the Gophers’ big gun, and especially knowing that the Gophers rarely set their middles, they presumably would have focused on blocking Samedy. And yet, she managed 30 kills; 30 kills is a lot, comparable perhaps to 30 points in a MN vs Mich basketball game. But as C.B. notes, Samedy also got blocked a lot.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Gophers need more weapons. Samedy hitting out of the back-row is harder to block, so that’s part of the answer. Landfair could be a big help because she is capable of hitting over most blockers. But if we are going to compete for the Big Ten Title, or claim a spot in the Final Four, we also need to generate some offense from our Middles.

Better offense from our Middles is complicated; we will need: 1. Better first-passes to Shaffmaster. Setting Middles is more difficult, with a smaller margin of error. Shaffmaster’s not going to set her Middles if she has to run halfway across the court to get the ball; 2. The timing between Shaffmaster and her Middle Hitters needs to be better; and 3. Our Middles, whichever two establish themselves, need to become better attackers.

It’s going to take al 3 of these things.]

It wasn’t pretty, but the Gophers hung on to beat Michigan, 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 19-25, 15-11, running their season record to 2 & 0 in 5-set matches. The Gophers seemed the better team all night long, and maybe even the Wolverines knew it, but when the score was 7-7 in the 5^th set, it was not at all obvious that the Gophs would win their Big Ten Opener.

SET 1: The Gophers led all the way, but never by much. Very much a team-effort, with contributions from Shaffmaster, Wenaas, Husemann. Miyabe, Samedy and McGraw.

SET 2: Tied 6-6, the Gophs jumped to a 15-7 lead, mostly in rotation 1, with Kilkelly serving behind a front line of Wenaas, Husemann. and Samedy, especially Samedy, who continued to pound the ball even when rotated to back-row. It helped that the Gophers had zero serve-receive errors through the first two sets, and minimal serving errors.

SET 3: The teams traded runs, with the Gophs leading 5-2, trailing 10-12, leading 17-16, trailing 19-23, and pulling to within 23-24 before Wenaas blasted one just wide to give Michigan the set. A big problem mid-set was 3 consecutive missed serves by the Gophs. (A missed serve now and then is part of the game, but volleyball is a game of momentum, and 3 consecutive missed serves hands the momentum to the other team. Very hard to win a set, at any level, when you miss 3 in a row.) Michigan also began serving more aggressively in Set 3, causing serve-receive errors by Miyabe & Kilkelly, and generally causing poor first passes. The Gophers hit a pathetic .133 for the set.

SET 4: Michigan led most of the way. The Gophers pulled close a couple of times, but never regained the momentum. Mid-set, Landfair came in for Wenaas (more about that below); and late in the set, Rubright came in for Husemann. Landfair and Rubright both contributed, but too little, too late.

SET 5: The set was tied 7-7, but the Gophers dominated the rest of the way behind Samedy and Landfair. Both had multiple hard-kills, and both also scored on roll-shots (weaker than a full swing but stronger than a dink).

THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE MYSTERIOUS

GOOD: The amazing Steph Samedy racked up 30 kills. The gophers competed mid-net; Husemann and Myers each had kills off of quick-sets from Shaffmaster. Both had blocks, as did Rubright. And I felt that the Gophers were very good all night at “covering their hitters;” a ton of the Gopher attacks were blocked (thus the low hitting percentage) and a few got down for block-kills. But the Gophs dug up most of the shots Michigan blocked, keeping the play alive and often winning the point. This was an overall team effort, with almost everyone contributing. Plus CC McGraw continued her great overall play; she served well, dug well, set well, and generally was all over the court helping her team in a variety of ways. And the fact that the Gophers were able to take charge midway through the 5^th set was encouraging.  

BAD: The Gopher offense continues to be overly-reliant on outside hitting. We try to compensate for our lack of a consistent middle attack by setting Samedy and Wenaas in the back row. Samedy is effective hitting from the back row, but Wenaas is not (at least not yet). I worry about wearing Samedy out, especially given that the 2021 off-season was so short. We also ran a slide to Myers a couple of times, but I don’t remember it ever working.

MYSTERIOUS: Coach McCutcheon is still trying to figure out his lineup, and Landfair’s mysterious injury (she doesn’t get any attention from trainers) doesn’t make it easier. At least we know it’s an injury; you don’t sub her in at a critical part of the match if she’s in the dog-house. And she was terrific, notching 8 kills in the equivalent of one full set, on maybe 10 or 12 swings. So why isn’t she starting?

Apparently, Landfair has an injury that prevents her from playing a full match — but doesn’t prevent her from standing with the other bench players through the first 3 ½ sets (and even dancing, as reader D.S. points out), then jumping on a stationary bike when she gets a nod from McCutcheon, then entering the match and hitting about .800! Apparently something with her right leg. I hope it heals soon; we should be able to handle Maryland on Sunday without her, but the Gophers will need Landfair at full strength to compete next week at Madison.

MORE MYSTERY: When Landfair came in, it was for Wenaas (rather than Miyabe). And Wenaas, who is an excellent passer, continued to play back-row for Landfair. I thought Wenaas had a good match overall, with 11 kills & 3 blocks in 3 ½ sets, and a ton of serve receives through 5 sets. But when Wenaas looses her confidence, or gets tired, or whatever, she stops crushing the ball and reverts to dinking. Even from the back row. And she’s not good at it. Dinking can be very effective, but it works best after you establish the threat of POWER. Neither Michigan, nor any other Big Ten team, is frightened of Wenaas’s power from the back row.

Interestingly, Michigan targeted Wenaas with their serves all night long – even when Landfair, who usually gets targeted, was on the court. It makes sense to avoid McGraw and Kilkelly as much as possible, and Wenaas was the next easiest target. But I thought she did great receiving serves. Maybe it got her tired?

AND MORE MYSTERY: In Friday morning’s Strib preview of the Michigan match, they reported that there were 10 seniors on last season’s (last spring) All-Big Ten team, and 9 of the 10 were currently using their Covid-Bonus season of eligibility. Who’s not? Regan Pittman. In a previous post, I had asked if anyone had any idea why Pittman declined her opportunity for a Covid-Bonus season of eligibility (at least so far, theoretically she could play next year). Or even knew where she was? What she’s doing? I still don’t know.

TOMORROW: Maryland

I was out of town, but the Gophs didn’t miss my screamed support, winning all 6 of their sets in the D.C. “Classic.” Not sure how “Classic” it is if one of the teams is St. Thomas, at this point, D-1 in name only. (Not sure how “Classic” Diet Coke is either, I drink it because my doctor says I’m not allowed to drink real Coke, but I don’t like it.)

The Gophers dispensed of the Tommies 25-14, 25-8, 25-7, without playing Samedy.  Natalie Glenn and Shea Rubright got more playing time than they’ve had lately, and freshman Middle Anna Wolf, from River Falls saw her first action as a Gopher.

Iowa State was more competitive, going down 25-17, 25-19, 25-20. But according to reader D.S., who was there and who provides this week’s commentary (thanks, D.S.), “there never was a feeling that Iowa State had enough fire power to beat the Gophers.”

D.S. WRITES: “Despite a slow start in the1st set, trailing 11-5, the Gophers played better defense with several blocks from Middles Katie Myers and Ellie Husemann, 6 and 5 blocks, respectively for the match. They pulled ahead with dynamic kills from the Jenna Wenass and Stephanie Samedy to finish out a 25-17 win. Wenass was the best overall player on the floor all night, leading the way with 14 kills, four or five from the 10 foot line, 13 digs, and several blocks, holding her own on the left side. Sometimes we take C. C. McGraw for granted, but she was her old self with some acrobatic digs leading the Gophers with 19 for the match.

The second set was fairly even until 17-17 when the Gophers simply put it away at 25-19 with Melani Shaffmaster utilizing the Middles more. Husemann scored consistently with good sets, 7 kills for the night, and of course Samedy hammering some big kills, 12 total from the 10 foot line and the right side. Airi Miyabe played well in spurts, blocking some critical balls and scoring on a few kills when given the opportunities. The service return still appears to be an issue with the Gophers, with our receives not allowing Shaffmaster to set from close to the net enough times, and having to bump easy to read sets allowing the opponents too many blocking opportunities. The timing of our service errors weren’t critical in determining the sets, but we still had seven errors, mostly long out of bounds.

The 3rd set was similar to the first two, where there never was a feeling that Iowa State had enough fire power to beat the Gophers. The final score was 25-20, with MN jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead and Iowa State played catchup the rest of the set. Shaffmaster went several times to Miyabe, who finally went away from tipping it to scoring with some well-place hard kills. Again, Wenass shined in this set smoking a number of balls and playing great defense along with Rachel Kilkelly, another player MN needs to have playing well.

Noticeably were the players who never got any playing time. Taylor Landfair, which we still don’t know why she’s seeing virtually no time on the court, spent most of the night dancing (ala..Taylor Morgan) on the sidelines, along with no playing time for Shea Rubright and Natalie Glenn. I wasn’t there in time for warmups, so i’m not sure if those three were healthy, but they were definitely happy-dancing to the music. It was nice to have the Gopher Band back in the Pav and the masked crowd was very enthusiastic, and as loud as they could be under the circumstances.”

A TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE

The Gophers finished their non-conference 5 & 3 (or 4 & 3 if you don’t count St. Thomas). Nothing like what we have become accustomed to in the McCutcheon era, but they played an incredibly tough schedule, with their 3 losses coming to top-10 teams – and two of their wins coming on the road vs top-15 teams.  In past years, the Gophers have cruised through an easier non-conference schedule and emerged from the always tough Big Ten season with a high rating and NCAA seed – only to get knocked off by lower-seeded teams in the Sweet 16. Clearly the strategy here is to play tough opponents early and peak at playoff time. (As Nebraska seems to always do.)

WHAT WE KNOW AND DON’T KNOW

We know that Steph Samedy is one of the top players in the country, and one of the greatest players in Gopher History. We also know that, despite how good she is, she can’t beat a good team by herself.

We know that Jenna Wenaas is a terrific volleyball player with a bright future. We know that C.C. McGraw is back to form after missing much of last season with an injury. We know that Airi Miyabe remains a versatile super-sub. We’ve learned that Katie Myers is a stronger server than we saw last season. And we know that serve-receive remains the Gophers’ Achilles’ Heel: our offense is top-notch when big, talented Melani Shaffmaster gets a perfect pass, and mediocre when Shaffmaster (who we’ve learned is not especially quick) gets a poor pass.

We don’t know, and I don’t expect to know anytime soon, who our “starting” Middles are. It was Myers and Ellie Husemann against Iowa State, but I doubt we’ve seen the last of Shea Rubright. Coach McCutcheon may well shuffle all three into the two middle spots until someone begins to dominate. (Perfect first passes to Shaffmaster would make that easier.)

Taylor Landfair remains the biggest puzzle. Late in the loss to Texas, Landfair left the court, disappeared into the locker room, and later returned to the bench. She has played a little since, but only a little. I was at the Texas match, and saw her leave, but I didn’t see why. Or even at whose initiative. Apparently the TV commentators didn’t offer much explanation either. And the official Gopher website never comments on such matters.

Maybe she was injured – but I didn’t see her get injured, and no trainer followed her into or out of the locker room? Coach McCutcheon didn’t bench Landfair and send her to the locker room because he suddenly decided that Natalie Glenn gave us a better chance to beat Texas. He might have pulled Landfair to let her calm down, catch her breath, or something like that – and pissed-off, she went to the locker room on her own? Or maybe Landfair, frustrated that she wasn’t dominating the Longhorns (she’s from Texas and was probably recruited by Texas), benched herself?

Whatever the problem, it is my opinion that this team needs Landfair, 2019’s #1-rated recruit, last season’s North Region Freshman of the Year & First Team All-Big Ten player, to recapture her form. Landfair was not only good last year, she was, at times, scary good! It is impossible for opponents to focus on Samedy when Landfair is crushing the ball over said opponent’s best blockers.  I am fairly certain that Coach McCutcheon agrees that this team is stronger with Landfair in the lineup; whatever the problem is, I hope it gets worked out soon.

NEXT UP, THE BIG TEN:

The Gophs start the Big Ten season this weekend with matches against Michigan (7 & 2, with wins over LSU & Florida State) on Friday (8:00 on BTN); and Maryland (12 & 0 versus a pretty weak schedule) on Sunday (1:00 on BTN+). Michigan, a perennial NCAA team, should definitely be tougher than Iowa State, and an unbeaten Maryland team could be.

Last night, the Gophs completed their sweep of the PAC 12 Challenge with a 5 set win over Oregon at Oregon, 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-12. Once again I couldn’t watch the match (let us know if you did), but back-to-back wins over ranked teams, Stanford #14, Oregon #11 (Gophers #13), the latter on their home court, shows me something, as does a W in their first 5-set match of the season. Maureen always wants the Gophs to win in 3 sets, each 25-6 or so, but a 5-set win at Oregon, coming back from behind after 3 sets, suggests that this team does have the toughness we hadn’t seen yet this season.

Samedy was Samedy-like, with 20 kills, but Jenna Wenaas kept pace with 19 kills and 4 blocks. Katie Myers contributed 9 kills and 8 blocks. We know that Myers is a ferocious blocker, but the kills are a surprise because she rarely gets a set from her own team and her kills mostly come off of opponent overpasses — 9 would be a lot of overpasses. We must have found a way to set Myers from our side of the net (I wish I could have seen the match).

What I know of the match is that the Gophers’ offense dominated the 1st set (won by our Gophs), the Ducks’ defense dominated the 2nd set (won by Oregon), and the 3^rd set was tight (14-15) before a 10-4 run by the Ducks put the Gophers down 1 set to 2 sets.

Then the fun began. The Gophs led early in the 4^th set, but fell behind 15-17; if we had been watching, I imagine we would have felt a similarity to the 4-set matches Gophers have been losing. But when Coach McCutcheon (apparently) switched to a 6-2, using  Bailey McMenimen (almost her first appearance this season) and (a resurrected) Taylor Landfair, The Gophs went on a 10-3 run. The deciding 5^th set started 3-3 before Myers recorded 3 straight blocks to give the Gophs the lead. Oregon held tough, but 3 kills from Samedy and a close-out kill from Wenaas won the match. Rachel Kilkelly and Airi Miyabe also contributed somewhere along the way, and CC McGraw had 30 digs.

This weekend’s success evens the Gophers’ record to 3 & 3 (the losses all to highly-ranked teams) with only St. Thomas and Iowa State (these matches should be televised) left on the non-conference schedule. I still don’t know what happened to Landfair, but I hope she is back on track when the Gophs open the Big Ten season hosting Michigan on Sept, 24.

Friday night, our #13 ranked Gophers knocked off #14 Stanford, in Eugene, Ore., 25-22, 19-25, 25-16, 25-17 – the Gophs first win this season vs a ranked opponent. I didn’t see the match, love to hear from anyone who did, but from what I can tell:

Steph Samedy brought a typical Samedy performance, 20 kills, 14 digs and 3 blocks. (Where would we be without covid-bonus-year Samedy?) Jenna Wenaas, Airi Miyabe, CC McGraw and Katie Myers also played well. Miyabe apparently played left-side hitter in place of Taylor Landfair, who once again did not play. (Landfair was present and dressed – anyone have a theory what’s up with Landfair?)  Coach McCutcheon was quoted as being proud of the team’s consistency throughout the match.

So far this season, our Gophers have struggled to win the close sets, so the 25-22 first set was likely a key to the match victory. The teams were tied at seven; the Gophs jumped out to leads of 14-10, 20-13 and 23-19; but Standford cut the lead to 23-22 before making a service error and a hitting error to hand the set to the Gophers. Good to see the win, and service & hitting errors are part of the game; but I would feel better if the Gophs had “won” rather than Stanford losing.

Set 2 was tied 7-7 & 15-15, before Stanford won. But the Gophers dominated sets 3 & 4, trailing 2-3 in set 4, but otherwise leading wire-to-wire in both sets.

Great to notch the win over a marquee team, but without being able to watch, it’s hard to know how good Stanford is. Maybe we’ll know more after tonight’s match at Oregon. (Also not viewable locally, to my knowledge.)

Let me start with an apology. I ended my post re the loss to Texas with “Up next: Gophs travel to Eugene,” completely forgetting yesterday’s match at #5 ranked Florida. My lame excuse is that I wrote that as we were driving north for a quick Boundary Waters trip, and had other things on my mind. I didn’t remember Florida until we got back, late last night.

Needless to say, I didn’t see the Florida match. I would love it if a reader or two who did see the match would forward their observations. That goes for the rest of the non-conference season, as I am unsure of being able to watch Stanford, Oregon, St. Thomas or Iowa State. (I don’t anticipate any such conflicts during the Big Ten Season.)

All I know so far is what I glean from the Gophers official site. The match was close in some sense; the Gophs did win the 3^rd set, and the total score was Florida 97 – Gophers 87. Not horrible playing at #5 ranked Florida while “missing” both of our starting left-side hitters. I say both because Taylor Landfair did not play, presumably a continuation of what ever took her out of the lineup late in the Texas match; and Wenaas played but was ineffective.

As one would expect, the magnificent Steph Samedy did all she could to carry the squad, ranking up 31 kills on 71 attempts (an outstanding 380), and added 14 digs. And we got reasonable production from the bench, with super-sub Airi Miyabe, who started in Landfair’s spot, getting 6 kills and 9 digs; and Freshman Natalie Glenn getting 5 kills and 8 digs. (I can’t tell if Glenn subbed in for Wenaas or Miyabe; Can someone help me here?)

But, as best I can tell, there were also a couple of discouraging developments: * The Gators jumped out to early leads in every set, even the one we won; * And in a back-and-forth 4^th set, which could have pushed the match to a 5^th set, our Gophers led 23-22 – but couldn’t finish. Having not seen the match, I am reluctant to draw conclusions. But this seems a continuing pattern.

UP NEXT (really)

Our so-far-still-ranked Gophs travel to Eugene to play Stanford on Friday and Oregon on Saturday. (Both games broadcast on the PAC-12 Network; does anyone have access?) Both teams are ranked, probably higher than the Gophs when this week’s poll comes out, so there’s a chance that the Gophers could be flying home 1 & 5.

Reader R.A. was disappointed that the Gophers “choked” (R.A.’s term, not mine) in the 1^st set against Texas (the Gophs led 23-20) just like they did vs Baylor when they lost a set they led 24-20. R.A. also feels that Samedy needs to be less predictable with her attack angles, to reduce getting blocked. And agrees that Rollins will not be missed.

Reader G.C. made some of the same points re losing sets you lead late, and agrees with my observation that we have to find a way to get more production out of our Middle Hitters.