Month: October 2021

I was shocked when the mighty Badgers lost in 5 sets at Maryland last weekend. But then on Wednesday, Penn State dropped their first two sets at Maryland – before coming back to win in 5. Tonight the Gophers came ever-so-close to losing at Evanston.

At doctor visits in recent years, I am commonly asked if I “feel safe at home?’ Of course. Except when the Gophers have lost to Wisconsin in 3 the night before, and then lose the first two set to a 6 & 8 Northwestern Team (including losses to powerhouse teams like Northern Colorado, UTEP and UC Santa Barbara).

Maureen pays minimal attention to other Gopher Sports, or any of our local pro sports (except for hockey, for which her interest in absolute zero), but “Fanatic” doesn’t begin to describe her interest in Gopher Volleyball. Maureen is not a good loser and she gets a little crazy when they play poorly. When they lost that 1^st set, Maureen got this look in her eye that was unsettling. When the Gophers lost the 2^nd set, I started to worry about projectile vomiting.

She relaxed a little when the Gophers won the 3^rd set. But when the Gophers, who led for most of the 4^th set, fell behind late, giving the Wildcats 4 separate match-points, I started thinking about calling around to find a safe place to sleep. Fortunately, the Gophers outlasted the Wildcats in the 4^th set, and cruised to a commanding win in the 5^th set.

There was hardly a lead-change all night. In Set 1, the ‘Cats jumped out 11-5 and coasted to 23-19 with minimal resistance from our Gophers. The Gophs tied it up at 23-23 before going down 26-24. Along the way, the Gophs missed 3 serves, countless serve receives, and couldn’t cover Northwestern’s dinks. Steph Samedy looked so bad that Coach McCutcheon went to his McMenimen for Samedy / Miyabe for Shaffmaster double-sub, the first time I can recall him doing that in the first set.

The 2^nd set was more of the same except worse. Samedy had a strong set, but no one else did. McCutcheon again went to the double-sub, and even put Natalie Glenn in for Wenaas (who had a horrible night). Worse-yet, as McMenimen & Glenn made back-to-back receiving errors. (I think it was McMenimen & Glenn; the resolution’s not that great on BTN+}. The ‘Cats again led all the way – and no Gopher rally in Set 2. Wildcats, 25-19.

The Gophers reversed the flow in Set 3, leading 11-5, 16-6, and 19-7 before coasting to a 25-18 win. (Maureen got that look in her eye when the ‘Cats got within 6.) Suddenly McGraw (2), Shaffmaster, and Kikelly were serving aces (Myers, normally our best server was off all night), Landfair matched 3 kills with 3 blocks, and Miyabe closed the set with 2 kills. Gophs 25-18.

When the Gophs jumped ahead 9-6 and 11-7 in the 4^th set, it looked like the Gophers had the momentum for good; we were blocking well and Landfair and Samedy were crushing the ball. But we continued to lack any semblance of a Middle Attack, we again started missing our serves, Wenaas was nowhere to be seen (did she get hurt?) and Miyabe couldn’t get a ball down. The ‘Cats tied it at 18-18, and it remained tied at almost every point until 29-29, with the Gophers and ‘Cats trading set-point opportunities. McCutcheon flip-flopping Samedy to left-side and Miyabe (playing in Wenaas’s spot) to right-side created a little more room for Samedy. But I think it was Miyabe (her only kill of the set, maybe?) that got set-point for a 31-29 win.

Miyabe picked up 3 more kills in the Gophers’ 15-7, 5^th set win, Landfair continued to pound the ball, and Rubright, who had subbed in for Husemann mid-match but hadn’t done much yet, came alive late with 3 consecutive block-kills.

Samedy finished the match with 23 kills. Landfair had 20 (on about half as many swings). Wenaas had 7 fairly early, and then disappeared. We’re going to need her going forward. Once again, almost zero offense from our 3 Middles; I don’t see that changing.

I don’t know whether to despair that the Gophers had so much trouble with what appears a mediocre Northwestern squad, or to celebrate their strength of character in coming back for 2-sets down, including fighting-off 4 match points. Which the Badgers couldn’t do at Maryland.

At least Ican sleep with both eyes closed tonight.

Up Next:
Minnesota at Michigan, Friday at 8:00 on BTN; Minnesota at Michigan State, Sat at 6:30 on BTN+

Wisconsin won their 26^th consecutive home-court match, beating our Gophs 25-17, 25-22, 25-17. It was the Badgers wire-to-wire. The 2^nd set was the Gophers best; after spotting Wisconsin a 5-1 head start, the Gophs tied the match at 10-10, 11-11, 7 12-12, but never took the lead. And after the Badgers led 24-17, the Gophs fought off 5 set-points to pull within 24-22. It looked as though maybe the Gopher had some momentum going into the 3^rd set, but it disappeared early, with the Badgers jumping to a 15-8 lead, and the Gophs never getting closer than 4.

The Badgers definitely get more offense from their Middle Hitters, especially 5^th-year senior Dana Rettke, the most dominate Middle in the country. Rettke had 14 or 15 kills, vs 1 by Myers and none from either of our other Middles (Husemann, who was great last week against Maryland started., but after an ineffective 1st set was replaced by an equally ineffective Rubright.) The Gophers, despite a great match by Badger Freshman (from Poland) Outside Hitter Julia Orzol, got way more offense from our outside hitters. The amazing Steph Samedy (who beat Rettke out for Big Ten Player of the Year last season) had 16 kills and Landfair (especially in Set1) and Wenaas (especially in Set1) added 8 each.

And the contrast in outside power was perhaps even wider than that; Rettke attracts so much attention that when she is in the front row, that the Gophers never got more than one block up against the Badger pins, and sometimes none at all; whereas, with no Middle threat for the Gophs, Samedy, Landfair and Wenaas were facing double blocks on most of their swings.

The Badgers’ Middle offense and the Gophers outside offense more or less off-set, and if that was all there was to volleyball, the match might have been even. But the Badgers also had a major advantage in serving and serve-receive. The Badgers had 3 or 4 aggressive servers, which kept the Gophers on their heels all night – whereas only Katie Myers serving gave the Badgers trouble. (Myers was serving when the Gophers ran 5 pts at the end of set 2.) The Badgers also out-dinked the Gophers by a considerable margin.

The Gophers have not been a great serving or dinking team at any time during Hugh McCutcheon’s 10 seasons coaching the Gophs. I can’t tell if that’s due to recruiting preferences or coaching strategy, but 10 seasons is enough to say it is not a coincidence. McCutcheon’s teams have consistently been strong, even dominant, at the net, and often that’s enough. But against a team that can match the Gophs kill-for-kill and block-for-block, the Gophers mediocrity at serving and dinking puts the Gophs at a serious disadvantage.

TOMORROW NIGHT: Gophs at Evanston 7:00 on BTN+