Month: September 2023

Minimal drama at the PAV last night as the Maroon & Gold demolished the Maize & Blue, 25-9, 25-17, 25-18. At least so far in ‘23, we have not seemed competitive with the truly elite teams of Women’s Collegiate Volleyball, but our #13 ranked Gophs are a lot better than the hopeless Wolverines. The Gophers were swept st Nebraska, but the total score was 65-75; last night’s win was 75-43! And the Gophers subbed liberally in Set 3.

Though still failing to produce an effective middle-offense (Owoleye had 3 kills, but 1 was off an overpass),  everything else was clicking:

• As one would expect, our outside hitters led the way. The Wooker had 10 kills, Landfair 9 (at a .381 clip), the two of them basically matching the Michigan Team totals (20). Grote added 5, Hanson 2 from the back-row, and Shaffmaster got 3 (in 4 attempts). We hit .287 vs .023 for Michigan. 
• We served well. I had the Gophs with 11 Aces (officially 8, but I count serves that result in over-passes as “aces”), spread around 6 servers, vs 12 service errors – a ratio I’ll take any day. The freshman Palabiyik served for the “other” middle (Murr is only allowed to serve for one) and had 2 aces.
• We blocked okay; 9 (5 by Owoleye) vs Michigan’s 20 kills. 
• We even received well, only 2 official receiving-errors for the match – none by Landfair! Landfair had a couple of “poor” receives, but even those were off-set by 2 very-good digs off Michigan spikes. Landfair’s best back-row match of the season, by far.

TONIGHT: #15 ranked Penn State at the Pav, 8:00, BTN, should be a better test of how good the Gophers are.

Halfway through my 4th season of GopherVBallRocks, this is only the 2nd time I have been so wrong that I felt an official correction was in order. In my recent post regarding the Nebraska Match, I wrote that highly-regarded freshman Libero, Laney Choboy, who had committed to play for McCutcheon, and then switched her commitment to Nebraska, did not play vs the Gophers. I was right that she did not play Libero, but Choboy, apparently playing D.S. for the Huskers, was the server who ran 5 straight points, serving exclusively at Landfair, to give Nebraska control of Set 1.

Lincoln is always a tough place to win. The Gophs won there in the ‘22 finale, but not tonight, getting swept 23-25, 20-25, & 22-25. Hard to claim the match was close, but every set was. The Gophs led 22-21 in Set 1 and 19-18 in Set 3. The Gophs’ weakest showing was in Set 2, where they got down 6-14, but even then they rallied to within 2 at 14-16.

I assume that the stats will say that the Huskers outhit the Gophers, but that was just their middles. As usual, the Gophers had strong offense from our pins, I had Wooker with 10, Landfair with 7 and Grote with 6, plus 3 backrow kills from Hanson. Our middle offense was non-existent, I had Davis and Owoleye with 1 kill apiece, both off quicks. (Okay, Davis had 2, but 1 was off an overpass.) Owoleye did rack up 6 blocks in 3 sets. Apparently, Owoleye ranked #2 in the Big 10 in blocks coming into the match, ahead of, among others, Carter Booth. 

And I assume that the stats will say that the Huskers outserved the Gophers, but does it really count when you’re serving at Landfair all night? As usual, Landfair received fairly well most of the match; I had her with 6 receiving errors (in maybe 25 to 30 attempts?), but 3 of those errors came during a mid-Set 1 run taking the Gophs from 13-13 to 13-18, and though we did have a come-back, that 0-5 run hurt our chances.

It is not just the Gopher’s serve-receive that separates them from the elite teams, it’s their floor game in general. I felt like the Gopher hitters, the pins at least, pounded just as many hard-hit balls past the blockers as their Nebraska counter-parts. But a lot, maybe half of the Gophers-hits were dug up; much less by the Gophers.

I can’t help but feel like playing without a true D.S. is part of the problem. The Gophs continue to sub Julie Hanson in where the D.S. would be, but Hanson is not a D.S.; she’s a back-row hitter. Hanson is a terrific back-row hitter, which helps offset our almost total absence of middle offense. But we need a real D.S.! I was hoping it would be Palabiyik, but she’s eligible now (she played versus Highpoint), and she’s not out there. Maybe she’s not that good?

GOPHER NOTES: Wooker continued her aggressive serving. I had her with 1 ace vs 2 errors, but her aggressiveness took the Huskers out of system several times, creating scoring opportunities fro the Maroon & Gold. Shaffmaster did not attack as often as I want her to, recording only one kill, I think. The Gophers used the 6-2 with Crowl & McGhei, but only briefly. 

HUSKER NOTES: Eagan’s Kennedi Orr likewise set briefly for the Huskers when they used a 6-2, but they mostly played a 5-1, using a talented freshman setter. Freshman Libero Laney Choboy, originally promised to the Gophers, who defected to the Huskers when McCutcheon left, did not play.  

NEXT UP: Michigan at the Pav on Friday, 6:00, BTN+ (I think there are tickets available.) And

#15 Penn State at the Pav on Sat, 8:00, BTN We need a sweep.

With a 46 win over Iowa streak on the line, the Gophers buckled down in Set 5: 25-14, 20-25, 26-16, 24-26 & 15-6?, a total differential of 109-83, to run the streak to 47. The Gophs were clearly the better team, and a win is a win, but going to a 5th set on the other team’s home court is a dangerous practice.

The worst performance of the evening was FS1, who lost the feed in the middle of Set 3, and didn’t find it again until the middle of Set 4. Consequently, my stats are incomplete, and the official Gopher Stats are not up yet (maybe they don’t have them either?) forcing me to use the Iowa stat-sheet.

Set 1: The Gophers broke their pattern of starting slow, not only winning 25-14, but hitting an impressive .464! for the set. Were the Gophs better prepared mentally? Maybe. Were the Hawkeyes poor blockers? Maybe, Were the Hawkeyes poor diggers? Definitely not; I thought they dug well.

What the Hawkeyes didn’t do in Set 1 (did they not read the scouting report?) was to serve aggressively. I had the Gophs with only 1 serve-receive-error in Set 1, and only a couple of poor ones. The other dozen or so Iowa serves were passed right where Shaffmaster wants them, and she teed ‘em up for her hitters, including Davis – who looked like a star against Iowa.

Set 2: was tied 12-12 when Iowa’s best server got aggressive. I think she had at least 4, maybe 5, aces in a run that pushed the Hawkeyes lead to 13-20 And the Gophs never recovered. Some of these serves were hard & long, at Landfair, and some were shorties just barely over the net near Owoleye – who wasn’t supposed to be part of the Gopher receive, and seemed flummoxed. (By the end of the match, Owoleye had been replaced by Minatee, and Murr was diving to get the shorties.) 

Set 3: was tied 7-7 when Murr rotated to serve. This has been the Gophs strongest rotation so far this season, partly because of Murr’s serving, but also because of a front line of Wooker, Owoleye & Grote. I think the Gophs were up 20-12 by the time Murr lost the serve, but FS1 cut out before then. I think the Gophs were again handling the Iowa serves.

Set 4: started  without FS1, so who knows? By the time they regained the feed, the Hawkeye servers were again terrorizing the Gopher receivers, eventually establishing a formidable 7-16 lead. Grote had been ineffective during this run, so Coach Cook subbed in Lauren Crowl at Opposite, and Crowl immediately got a critical kill to stop the bleeding. Soon after, Wooker started jump-serving, something we did not see during the non-conference schedule. She eventually buried one into the net, but not before running 4 or 5 points, including 2 aces, and changing the tone significantly. I think, but who knows, that Wooker finished the match with 3 aces & 5 errors, which I know is a stat that some GopherVBallRocks readers do not appreciate. But Wooker’s aggressive serving rallied the Gophs to a 19-19 tie, and eventually a 24-23 lead, and a match-point opportunity. Though Iowa came back, 24-26, to force —

Set 5: was all Gophers. Landfair started it off with 2 quick kills, and the Gophers never let up, winning the match.

Landfair turned in her best performance of the young season, with 18 kills at a .405 clip, plus 4 blocks. Wooker, beside her serving, contributed 15 kills (including 4 dink-kills, atypical for Wooker) and received well all night. And Grote contributed 14 kills. But if I was awarding a “game-ball,” it goes to Shaffmaster; she had 8 kills (on 12 swings) (I love it) and she set great. Hard to tell when the Gophers struggle with their serve-receive, but when they get Shaffmaster balls she can handle, she does a very nice job of feeding her hitters.

NEXT UP: The #2 ranked Cornhuskers at Lincoln, Sunday, 6:30, BTN.

One can think of the Gopher Volleyball season as having 3 parts: 1) The non-conference season, just complete; 2) The Big 10 season, about to start; and 3) The NCAAs. It’s a little early to talk much about the NCAAs, but this is a good time to review #1 and look ahead to #2.

NON-CONFERENCE REVIEW: The Gophers started with a pre-season ranking of #7 in the country, an honor that surprised some GopherVBallRocks readers, still mourning the loss of our coach and three starters. But despite a 4 & 4 record, we enter the Big 10 season ranked #12. (3rd highest in the Big 10 (Wisconsin & Nebraska, both unbeaten, are ranked #1 & #2).. #12 might seem generous, but the 4 losses came to Florida, currently ranked #3, Stanford, ranked #4, Texas, ranked #9, & Creighton, currently ranked #11, i.e., no teams ranked lower than us. The 4 non-conference wins included Oregon, currently ranked #6,  and Baylor, currently ranked #18. Penn State, Ohio State & Purdue are ranked just behind us. 

Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that these starting-the-Big 10 rankings accurately reflect the quality of these teams, it appears that the Badgers & Cornhuskers will battle for the Big 10 Title, while our Gophs compete with Penn State, Ohio State & Purdue for third place. The Gophs first opportunity to upset the apple-cart comes Sunday, at Lincoln. As a team, the Gophs outside hitting has been very good, their middle hitting not-so-much, their serving has gotten better of late, but serve-receive remains their Achilles heel.  

INDIVIDUALLY: 

• I wasn’t certain, going into the season, who the starting Opposite would be, but transfer-acquisition (from Cal), Lydia Grote, has answered the question decisively. Putting up Samedy-like numbers, she has surpassed my wildest expectations,. In some sets, especially in First Sets, she has often been our only effective hitter. If Coach Cook was key to recruiting Grote, I’m impressed, already.
• Our transfer-acquisition (from Ohio State) Libero, the reigning Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year, Kylie Murr has been great. She has not surpassed expectations – only because expectations were so high. (I think Shaffmaster recruited Murr.)
• Our Sophomore Left-side, The Wooker, is good. Despite an off-match vs Creighton, this #1 recruit in the Class of ‘22 and All-Big 10 Freshman pick last year — despite missing a good chunk of the season with an injury, is better than ever, now a 6-rotation player and right on track for stardom. With 108 kills in 32 sets, she leads the team by a wide margin.
• Our huge senior Setter, Melanie Shaffmaster (she has a covid bonus year of eligibility, assuming she chooses to take it), a pre-season All-Big 10 pick, continues to improve year after year. This year, her digging has been better, and she has been attacking “twos” more than ever – which helps keep the defense honest. Shaffmaster’s right knee is a MAJOR CONCERN. 
• Taylor Landfair, the reigning Big 10 Player of the Year, counted on to lead the team in kills, has been disappointing, so far – and it’s not clear why. With 79 total kills, Landfair has been merely okay, keeping pace with Grote (way behind The Wooker), but with a weak hitting % of .123, due to her many errors. Her error rate seems to come from her trying too hard – which seems to come from her inability to put balls away with a normal effort. Her in-bounds spikes look good, but opponents seem able to dig them with ease. One possible explanation is that being part of the Gophers’ serve-receive (in most rotations), Landfair is often targeted by opposing servers. This is problematic in two ways: it wears her out; and I think her struggle to handle the pressure of serve-receive has affected her confidence. Then again, Landfair has had health issues in the past; there might be something with her health that we don’t know about. Whatever the reason, Landfair is not producing like she did last year. A MAJOR CONCERN. 

• Arica Davis is our one Middle returning from last year, and she has performed as expected. With 14 kills (almost all on “quicks,” Davis has been moderately effective, but not dominant. She is not effective on “slides” (where the Tapp Sisters made their impact), and Davis is not an effective blocker. At 6 ft tall, she is short for a D1 Middle Blocker, and there is not much she can do about that.
• Senior (I think, like Shaffmaster, she has a covid bonus year of eligibility if she chooses to take it) transfer-acquisition (from Georgia, via Loyola Marymount) Phoebe Owoleye seems to have more upside (6ft 2, anyway). Until recently, I thought Owoleye was the opposite of Davis, i.e., strong blocker, weak hitter. But she showed some offensive potential (quicks & slides) this past weekend.

THE BENCH

• Sophomore Julia Hanson (Prior Lake) has been a very pleasant surprise. Playing almost exclusively in the back-row, Hanson has contributed 24 kills (21 of them back-row). Given our lack of middle-offense, Hanson has helped keep our outside-only focus from being too predictable. I wish she could receive serves.
• The Gophers desperately need an effective DS, if for nothing else than to reduce the receiving pressure on Landfair. The most likely choice is freshman Zeynap Palabiyik. Palabiyik was a late arrival from Turkey, where she was considered the #1 U18 Libero in Europe, and apparently wasn’t eligible when the season started. She played recently, vs Highpoint, did not look good, and then did not see the court vs Ceighton. Let’s hope that was just jitters,
• Junior Skylar Gray (Maple Grove) would be another potential option for DS, but she has not impressed in her brief appearances so far.
• Prior to the start of the season, I thought red-shirt Sophomore Lauren Crowl (from Eagan), a 6-4 lefty with a powerful arm, was a serious candidate for starting Opposite. But Grote answered that question. For now, Crowl’s primary role is to replace Shaffmaster in the front row, when Senior Setter Elise McGhie subs in for Grote, in a change-the-look “6-2.” Both players seem adequate in this role; but I do not see an expanded role for either. McGhie also serves sometimes, neither harming nor helping the team much.
• Freshman Calissa Minatee is our 3rd Middle. Minatee has seen action when Davis or Owoleye are unavailable or struggling, and I assume she will play this role throughout the season. It would be nice to see her “claim” a starting-role by outplaying Davis or Owoleye, but no sign of that so far.
• Freshmen Opposite Sydney Schnichels (Wilmar) and Setter Chloe Ng (Vancouver B.C.) look like red-shirt candidates.

At Iowa on tonight, 6:00 on FS1. We’d better win this one.

Our Gophers got away with slow starts against High Point, and last month against TCU, but #14 ranked Creighton was too good for the Gophers to come back after spotting the Blue Jays a 9-23 lead in Set 1, a 7-20 lead in Set 3, and a 1-9 lead in Set 5. Creighton won the hard-fought match, 15-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22, and 15-9. 

I recently said it was too soon to compare Lydia Grote with Steph Samedy, but Grote put up Samedy-like numbers against Creighton, keeping the Gophers in the match with 20 kills at a .474 clip. Landfair and The Wooker had 9 and 7 kills, respectively – on the same # of sets as fed to Grote. Wooker has had some strong matches, but the wasn’t one of them; in Set 5, after 3 consecutive hitting errors, Coach Cook actually benched Wooker for Julia Hanson, Hanson wasn’t any better. 

And we’re still waiting for the real Landfair to appear. I will say, Landfair passed better against Creighton than she has in some matches.  She had 3 official serve-receive errors (about her avg for a 5-set match), but not as many “poor” receives as usual. And Landfair had her serve going, with a career-high 5 aces, vs 3 service-errors, including 4 consecutive aces in Set 3, giving the Gophers life when they barely had a pulse. Led by Landfair, the Gophs had 11 aces for the match, vs 12 service-errors. I’ll take that any day.

The big drama was Shaffmaster getting injured, early, in a tight Set 4. Shaffmaster, favoring her right knee all season, went down hard and didn’t get up. Eventually, she was helped off the court and led to the locker room. Back-up Setter Elise McGhie played the rest of Set 4. There is a reason McGhie is the back-up; she might be quicker than Shaffmaster, but her hands are not as good – and she can’t block at all. But McGhie played her heart out, and the loss of Shaffmaster seemed to inspire the whole team to hang on for the Set 4 win.

McGhie started Set 5 in the serving position. Coach Cook subbed Shaffmaster back in when our setter-position rotated to the front row (I assume that was the plan going into Set 5), but  by then we were down 1-9. Not really McGhie’s fault; more a case of poor receiving and poor hitting.

One bright note was Phoebe Awoleye getting 5 kills. Five kills in 5 sets isn’t great, but I think it was her best offensive performance of the season (Awoleye has been our best blocker so far). And 4 of the 5 were “quicks;” coming into tonight’s match, I don’t think she had 4 kills off quick-sets all season. 

Arica Davis, who didn’t play at all last weekend vs Oregon & Stanford, but was back Thursday vs Highpoint, and has been our most effective offensive Middle, matched Owoleye. But Davis can’t block at all.

I don’t want to take anything away from Creighton. This was high-quality volleyball between 2 good teams, especially the digging and out-of-system play on both sides of the court. I wouldn’t be shocked to see these two teams play again in the NCAAs. But Creighton was the better team tonight. 

NEXT UP: Conference Opener at Iowa, on Thursday, on FS1.

I expect to put up a non-conference review / Big 10 Preview before the Iowa match.

Almost all the way through Set 1, spotting Highpoint U to a 16-23 lead. The Gophers woke up, with Murr serving, to get within 2, before losing Set 1, 22-25. The Gophs eventually won in 4 sets, 22-25, 25-11, 25- 20, & 25-17. If you count the end of Set 1, all of Set 2, and 7-1 start in Set 3, that was a 38-14 run. Theoretically, Highpoint might have been playing above their pay-grade (literally, under the new rules), but I don’t think so. Though the match started at 7:00, the Gophers did not appear ready to play until nearly 7:30. Especially their serving; 1 ace and 5 service-errors during that slow start. (The Gophs finished the match with 12 aces vs 9 serve-receives, which isn’t bad.)

Landfair started especially slow. her stats in Set 1: 1 kill (on a dink), 1 ace, 1 block, 2 service-errors, and 4 receiving errors. In fact, through the first 3 sets, Landfair had 2 dink-kills, 1 back-row kill, 1 right-side kill, and zero left-side, power-kills. She finally got going, with 4 kills in the first half of Set 4, and then she hurt her back in a collision with Murr, on a dig attempt. (Hanson, who was already in the game, playing back-row for Grote, took over as left-side hitter, and Crowl subbed-in for Landfair. The Gophers used a two-person-receive in one rotation.) Landfair received minimal medical attention, and did not appear to be seriously injured. 

After struggling to receive serve in Set 1, Landfair was mostly not lined up to receive serve the rest of the match. Hanson took over toward the end of Set 1, and off & on afterward, and Zeynep Palabiyik (apparently now eligible), made her Gopher (and American) debut in Set 2. It was not a great start, Palabiyik looked nervous and did not impress, individually; but the Gophs played a lot better in Set 2..

After the slow start, the Gophers were especially dominant when Murr was serving. Murr deserves credit for serving well, but a lot of the credit goes to the strong play of our front-row in front of Murr: The Wooker at left-side, and Grote at Opposite contributed 15 & 13 kills, respectfully, and Owoleye and Grote contributed 4 & 3 blocks, respectfully; definitely our best rotation, as it often has been. I’m not ready to call Grote the second-coming of Steph Samedy, but she looks great so far.

Other notes:

• For the match, including the poor start, Minnesota out-hit High Point .281 to .069. 
• Our Gophers have been vulnerable to opponents dinking on us in recent years, but I thought Shaffmaster did a nice job of digging HP’s dink-attempts. Shaffmaster’s comfort-level with Murr might be a factor.
• I’ve previously noted that Wooker is much more willing to attack an imperfect set than, Landfair, for example. She showed that tonight, getting a kill on a set inadvertently 15 ft off the net.
• Davis, absent from the lineup during the Gophers last 3 matches, started (3 kills in 3 sets). Minatee played Set 4, when the Gophs appeared to have the match under control.

NEXT UP: #14 Ranked Creighton at the PAV, 4:30 Saturday afternoon.

Heading to Palo Alto, after last week’s beatdown by Florida, to play the #5 & #6 teams in the country, I was hoping for a respectable split. Then, after Friday night’s thrilling 5-set win over Oregon, I held out hope for a sweep. And after a spirited comeback in Set 1 (the Gophs were down 9-17, then rallied to get within 3 before losing 21-25); and then a dominant performance in Set 2 (25-19) to even the match, my hopes grew. But no such luck; in Sets 3 & 4, Stanford took early leads and cruised easily to a pair of 16-25 wins.

At least I think it was easy; I didn’t even get to watch it. Saturday’s match was advertised as being broadcast on the PAC 12 network. But not live, apparently, because when I tuned in they were showing Oregon crushing a west-coast equivalent of Eastern Michigan in football. So I was stuck watching the live-stat-feed off the Gopher Volleyball website. Not really much fun, nor particularly informative. But I watched it for you. And then, finishing this blog after midnight, I was unable to log in to my blog-site. (Overnight maintenance, maybe? No problem this morning.)

I can tell you that our trio of outside hitters, The Wooker, 12 kills, Landfair, 8 kills, and Grote, 8 kills, were outhit by Stanford’s outside hitters, who posted 17, 16, & 8. Does that mean that Stanford’s trio is better than ours, who I have suggested in the best trio in the country? Maybe. But I can’t say because I have no idea what quality of sets each trio was fed.

I can tell, from Stanford’s 8 service-aces, and 15 service-errors, that the Cardinal served aggressively throughout the match. And given how poor our serve-receiving has been (you don’t suppose they had scouted the Gophers?), the 8 aces were probably the tip of the iceberg of our on-going struggle to receive.

I don’t like making excuses for the Gophers, but:

• Back-to-back matches, vs very good teams, on the West Coast, is a tough assignment, and we did get the split.
• Injuries are part of the game, and our primary weapons seem healthy, but the Gophs are not quite 100%. > Arica Davis, our most prolific Middle-Hitter, did not play this weekend. (Presumably an injury of some sort.) > Shaffmaster has been limping on a bad right knee since the season started. (This could be a season-long phenomena.) > And Palabiyik is still on the bench, reportedly awaiting eligibility clearance. (We don’t know how much help she can provide – but she can’t hurt.)

And speaking of Shaffmaster, I’ve been begging, for 3 years, for her to attack more often, like at least twice per set – even if she is only successful half the time. Tonight, along with 32 “assists” and 14 “digs’ (fairly standard numbers), Shaffmaster tried 9 attacks, producing 6 kills – with no errors. That’s what I’m talking about.

NEXT UP:

The Gophs will finish off their non-conference schedule next weekend, with THE DIET COKE CLASSIC (personally, I’ve become a Coke Zero guy) at the PAV, featuring #16 ranked Creighton and that always dangerous High Point squad. (Can anyone tell me, without looking it up, where High Point is and what conference they represent?) We’re 3 & 3 now; 5 & 3 wouldn’t look too bad.

In a seesaw, tight-all-the-way, match, our Gophers hung on to beat the Oregon, 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19 & 16-14 – a much needed win! As usual, our outside hitters dominated. I had The Wooker with 21 kills, Landfair with 17, and Grote with 9. I had Julia Hanson, really an outside hitter, with 6 kills from the back row, Middle Owoleye with 5 (4 quicks + 1 off an Oregon overpass), and 3, including the match-point, by Shaffmaster. None by Minatee, and once again, Davis did not play. I haven’t seen or heard anything, but Davis did not play vs Florida either, and given Minatee’s offensive ineffectiveness (she had a couple of blocks), I assume Davis must be injured. Anybody know anything?

Some of the issues that plagued the Gopher vs Texas & Florida, particularly their serve-receive, remain. The Gophers had only slightly more official receiving errors than the Ducks, but Shaffmaster scrambled around chasing mediocre first-passes a lot more often Oregon’s setter. And it seemed to me (I’m watching this on a low-def PAC-12 broadcast), that Landfair was the Ducks favorite target. I have no idea how much Palabiyik will help, when she is finally available, but I am anxious to see her try. Anybody know anything?

Other than our serve-receive, I thought our digging was good – Oregon didn’t burn us with dinks as much as some teams have. Oregon’s was too. And both teams enjoyed success with back-row hitting. In addition to Hanson, the Gophs got back-row kills from Landfair and Grote, and the Ducks were effective from middle-back. The total score was 110 to 104, and Set 5 went into overtime; but in the end, the Gophers’ .323 hitting % was enough better than the Ducks’ .262 to secure the victory.

TOMORROW NIGHT: STANFORD AT STANFORD

(See my note, earlier today, on how to watch.)

This weekend’s matches are part of the Big 10 / PAC 12 Challenge, tonight vs #6 Ranked Oregon, at 6:30 p.m., and tomorrow vs  #5 Ranked Stanford, at 9:00 p.m. (depending on the length of the earlier match).

But these matches are apparently not being broadcast on the Big 10 Network, as one might expect, only on the PAC 12 Network. Some GopherVBallRocks readers winter in Arizona, and might have the PAC 12 Network, but I don’t. 

Avid GopherVBallRocks reader M.C. suggested that one can purchase a 1-week trial of the PAC 12 Network, and then cancel it at no charge. So I have performed step 1. We shall see how easy step 2 turns out to be. Good Luck.