Month: April 2024

 My suggestion that the Gophers may have offered a full-ride to Olivia, who may not be a top-tier D1 Prospect, just to get Stella, is pure speculation, and nothing more.  It is not based on any real information. I don’t even know that Olivia was offered a full-ride, and I don’t know what other schools may have been recruiting either or both. And I don’t know that Olivia won’t become productive for the Gophers before she finishes school.

But I’ve heard of such things, and I don’t think it even breaks any rules. Stella might have said that she wanted to sign with a team that would also sign her sister. Or her mother might have said it. Or McCutcheon/Cook might have inferred it. Plus there’s a 4th sister, a current sophomore, who will be the starting setter for Wayzata next fall, who the Gophs ought to be recruiting.  Wooker’s older sister McKenna was on the Gopher Roster in 2022, for her first year of grad school — I’m guessing she was on scholarship. If Carter Booth had a sister we could have signed, she might still be a Gopher.

I saw Olivia play some in high school. She looked decent — but not dominant; Stella was, and so was Samantha. Wilhite and the Tapp Sisters were too. I didn’t even know their names when I saw these 5, but they caught my attention immediately — as top D1 prospects ought to. Wilhite didn’t even start for the Gophers in her freshman year, and Landfair struggled as a freshman. So maybe I’m underestimating Olivia. 

I am skeptical that Olivia will ever be a regular in the Gopher rotation, but if Stella is as good as I think she is, meeting whatever demands she might have made was smart.

This afternoon, at the Pav, the Gophers took three of four sets from Marquette, 25-21, 24-26, 25-17 and 25-17. As was true last week, I don’t know how good the ‘24 Marquette squad is, but they went 16 & 2 in the Big East last fall, and advanced to the second round of the NCAAs (where they lost to a strong Purdue squad), so probably not horrible.

SET 1: (I missed the first half of Set 1 because I was doing my civic duty, attending a District DFL Convention. It was supposed to start at noon, and there was approximately one hour of legitimate business to do. But no one who ever attended a DFL event will be surprised to hear that it was still going when Maureen and I slipped out at 4:00.) The Gophs played what I consider their default starting line-up, with Palabiyik as Libero and McGhie at D.S., and Shaffmaster setting Wooker, Hanson, Grote, Oloweye and Minatee in a 5-1. Hanson was on fire with 7 kills.

SET 2: Gray played  Libero, Palabiyik switched jerseys to play D.S. and  Shaffmaster and McGhie set a 6-2, adding Schnichels to the mix as the other Opposite. (Crowl, recovering from surgery, was again in attendance but not dressed.) I’m not certain what substitutions Marquette made, but the slight reversal in fortunes (a 4-pt win to an overtime loss) seemed (to me) to fall on the shoulders of Gray (not ready for prime-time) and McGhie (not an adequate setter even in a 6-2. Schnichels was not the problem.

SET 3: A line-up similar to Set 1, except for Gray at D.S. (instead of McGhie) and Schnichels at Opposite instead of Grote).  An intriguing development was when the red-shirt Freshman Ng came in to serve for Gray (not a strong server) and ran 5 points including 3 consecutive aces. Our new, Designated-Server?

 SET 4: Back to the Set 1 line-up (including Grote) except for Stella Swenson replacing Shaffmaster. And then halfway through Set 4, Olivia Swenson replaced Hanson as a Leftside Hitter.

HERE’S WHAT I SAW:

• I have to start with Stella Swenson. She looked fantastic! The second coming pf Samantha. I’ve only seen her wearing Maroon and Gold for two sets, Set 4 last week and Set 4 today, but I’m sold. In addition to setting like silk, she started her set with back-to-back aces, recorded 2 blocks, and made 2 spectacular digs. Shaffmaster, a 5th-year Senior, a legitimate leader, the Gophers best clutch player these past couple of years, has played her heart out for the Gophers; so I don’t see how Coach Cook can bench her. But Stella is better. And I’m sure Wooker, Hanson and Grote know it.
• Olivia looked slow and uncomfortable. She also looked like a liability at serve-receive, which is part of a Leftside Hitter’s role. Olivia (like Stella) is really still in high-school, so she might get better. But based on what I saw today, the U of M gave Olivia a full-ride to ensure that we got Stella. And that was a bargain.
• Schnichels looked good. I can’t imagine that she will take the #1 Opposite job away from Grote, but I think she’ll give Crowl a run for her money at #2.
• Owoleye, our best blocker last year, had 6 blocks in the first 3 sets, a strong number. And she might have had more except that the Marquette hitters started swinging wildly – hitting a ton of balls out of bounds. Reader T.R. will love this (not), after every out-of-bounds hit, all 6 Marquette players on the court made touch signs to the ref, even when it wasn’t even close to a touch.
• Hanson picked up her game. Last week, against Iowa State, Hanson played back-seat to Wooker and Grote. But today, she matched Wooker with 15 kills.
• But not to be out-done, Wooker added several blocks (for the 2nd week in a row) and continued to serve aggressively. She’s not showing the jump-serve we saw last August, but she’s serving hard. So far, she’s producing more service-errors than aces (I’d like to see that ratio at least even), but the Gopher need an aggressive server in the line-up.

I’m not planning to drive to Waterloo Wisconsin for next week’s exhibition finale vs the U of Illinois. (If any GopherVBallRocks reader is, please report back.) So I think we know what we’re likely to know until August. Two things I’m keeping my eye on:

1. Stella Swenson may not be on the floor for the first set of the first non-conference match,  but she has to be in the line-up for the first Big Ten Match in mid-September. She’s that good. So where does that leave Shaffmaster? Cook better have a plan.
2. I like what I’ve seen (these last 2 weeks) from Palabiyik at Libero, and we can probably get by with McGhie at D.S. But we desperately need another Middle, one at least as good as Owoleye. And I don’t think Engeman is the answer. (I hope I’m wrong.) Cook will be coaching the 19-U National Team at a series of Tournaments this summer. I presume that most of the U.S. 19-U players will already be committed to NCAA teams. But maybe some of the foreign players won’t be? A late-blooming European or Latin American Middle, maybe. We need help at Middle.

READERS WRITE: While I was writing the above, frequent GopherVBallRocks contributor R.A. sent in his own account. (Much appreciated, as always, R.A.) Basically, R.A. agrees with me on Hanson, Wooker, Owoleye, Stella & Olivia Swenson. The major disagreement between us is that R.A. remains skeptical of Palabiyik at Libero. I’m not claiming that Palabiyik will be as good as Kylie Murr was, but I think she’ll be okay.

My two cents worth:  Assuming Stella Swenson is as good as John suggests (fast, agile, cagey, and does not require a perfect pass to make slick sets), moving Shaffmaster to Middle makes more sense than a 6-2.  A 6-2 requires two fast, cagey, agile setters (like Nebraska, where Landfair will thrive on great sets). Why would we play big, slow, Shaffmaster as a back row only setter? I think Shaffmaster could quickly become the savvy middle needed to make Golden Gopher Volleyball really good. She could probably even run the slide. 

JOHN: I understand your thinking, T.R., and I don’t entirely disagree – especially your point about Shaffmaster being more effective as a front-row setter, where she can attack a couple of times each set, than she is as a back-row setter. But here is why I am skeptical that Cook will go this route:

1. Shaffmaster didn’t just suddenly get big and slow; she was probably big and slow since at least age 16, which is when girls stop growing. A mediocre H.S. team might not have had other strong options at setter, but Shaffmaster played for years on these high-powered Indiana traveling teams, the equivalent of Northern Lights, competing in national tournaments. I think she was even the setter on at least one National Team, U16, or U 17, or something. At some point, some coach would have had the same idea — that maybe setter isn’t Shaffmaster’s best position. (The same way quarterbacks end up as safeties.) But, for whatever reason, Shaffmaster  remained a setter. This suggests, to me, that either Shaffmaster is unwilling to try another position, or she tried and wasn’t that good at it. 

2. Last year, the Gophers desperately needed a skilled D.S. as part of our receive, to take the pressure off of Wooker & Landfair. And the Freshman Palabiyik was available (after a match or two). But Coach Cook didn’t start playing Palabiyik as D.S. until the season was at least half over. At the time, I thought that maybe Palabiyik just wasn’t that good, but by the end of the season, it was clear that she was a better receiver than Wooker & Landfair. My guess is that Cook is the type of coach that is hesitant to rush freshmen into the lineup.

I don’t know how Cook is going to use Stella this fall, and I doubt that we will find out before August.

Friday night, while most of you were watching women’s basketball, Maureen and I drove down to Faribailt to watch the Gophers exhibition volleyball match vs Iowa State. Which the Gophers swept, 25-19, 25-15, 26-16 & 25-19. (Exhibitions are generally 4 sets, regardless.) Not sure how strong Iowa State is expected to be this year, but the Cyclones are coming off a season when they finished 11 & 7 in the Big 12, and made the NCAA Tournament (a first-round loss to Hawaii), so they should be decent – and yet the Gophers dominated throughout. 

• One caveat: Teams typically sub liberally in these 4-set exhibitions, but the Gophers did not. We played Oloweye & Minatee all 4 sets because they’re the only two Middles on our Spring Roster (not a big deal during the Spring exhibition season). Neither Oloweye or Minatee were great last year. I had Oloweye with 4 kills (all quicks) and 3.5 blocks, and & Minatee with 8 kills (including 3 slides) and 1.5 blocks against ISU. These are respectable stats for 4 sets – against a strong opponent – but ISU was not. 
• We couldn’t go into the fall season with only two Middles. Fortunately, the Gophers have acquired a third Middle from the portal, Excelsior’s Kali Engeman, transferring home from Georgia Tech to enroll in the Carlson School of Management. When she’s eligible in August, Engeman will address the depth issue. But her stats, 9 kills and 7 blocks for the Yellow Jackets last season, are not inspiring.
• The Gophers also played Wooker, & Hanson all 4 sets. Our third Leftside Hitter, Olivia Swenson, was dressed and available, but never played. (More about Olivia below.)
• I wish I could report how much the Cyclones used their bench, but I was unable to keep track of this.

The Gophs did sub at other positions:

• In Sets 1 & 3, we played Shaffmaster (in a standard 5-1); in Set 2, we played Shaffmaster and McGhie in a 6-2; and in Set 4, we played Stella Swenson in a 5-1.
• Palabiyik played Libero in Sets 1-3, but she was replaced by Gray for Set 4, and even Ng appeared briefly.
• Grote played Opposite in Sets 1 & 3, and red-shirt Freshman Schnichels played Opposite in Sets 2 & 4. (Crowl was present but not dressed, presumably with some minor injury.)

WHAT I SAW WAS:

• A team that looked a lot like the ‘23 Gophers, with Wooker (11 kills and 6 blocks) & Grote (10 kills and 3 blocks) dominating the scoring (although Wooker’s 6 blocks were surprising). Wooker, serving aggressively, also led the team with 5 service errors. (I continue to believe that we need to have Wooker serving, and serving aggressively. But she needs to cut down on her error rate.)
• Hanson, the heir-apparent to Landfair, had 4 kills and 1 block. We’re going to need more from her.
• Palabiyik looked good; I think she will be an adequate Libero. Gray looked awful, I think McGhie will end up as our D.S.
• The trio of Wooker, Hanson & Palabiyik handled almost all serve-recieving – and were adequate.
• Schnichels (2 kills and no blocks) also looked adequate; but nothing to make me think that she will challenge Grote and Crowl for playing time. (This was, however, the first time I’ve ever seen Schnichels play, so I don’t want to judge unfairly.)
• The debuts I was looking forward to were the Swenson sisters, especially Stella, and I was very impressed. Long-time readers know how much I loved Samantha, and Stella looks like the second-coming of her three-time All-American older sister.

> On one particularly interesting play in Set 4, the first touch had popped the ball high but way off target. McGhie (our incumbent 2nd-string setter) now on the court as D.S., was well positioned and called for the ball. Stella ran over McGhie, knocking her aside, and making a perfect set. And sending a message, “When I’m on the floor, every second touch is mine.” (To the uninitiated, Stella’s behavior might sound rude. But this is exactly the attitude we want from our setter.)

> I can’t see Coach Cook benching 5th-year senior Shaffmaster, even if Stella is better.

> I can’t imagine Stella wanting to red-shirt. 

> Reader T.R. wants Shaffmaster to play Middle this year, but I don’t see that happening either.

> My idea is for the Gophers to play a 6-2 this fall (which elevates Crowl into the regular line-up).

> But I don’t know what Cook is planning, or will end up doing. I will be very interested to see what Cook does.

• Sister Olivia was dressed, and hit in warmups, but never took the court during the match – despite the fact that she was/is our third Leftside Hitter. My guess is that Cook doesn’t want to rush “high school girls” into these spring exhibition matches; and unlike Stella, Olivia seems unlikely to challenge established starters for playing time. I hope Olivia turns out to be a legitimate D1 player, not just Stella’s sister, who we gave a scholarship to to make the family happy. (There’s yet another Swenson, currently a H.S. sophomore, and also a setter. Imagine the ‘26 & ‘27 Gophers playing a Swenson-Swenson 6-2!) 

UP NEXT: (Two more Spring Exhibitions)

• Marquette, at the Pav, 4:00, next Saturday, April 13;
• U of Illinois, at Waterloo Wis. H.S. (East of Madison), at 1:00 the following Saturday, April 20.

So unless you’re headed to S.E. Wisconsin, next Saturday is probably your best chance to see the Gophs this Spring. I’m hoping to be there, but I do have a conflict I’ll need to resolve.