Our now #11 Gophers lose to #17 Florida in 4 sets, 25-27, 26-24, 23-25 & 21-25.
Set 1: Thanks to the Mich-So.Car match going 5 sets, BTN didn’t begin coverage of the Gopher match until late in Set 1. We were down 20-24, went ahead 25-24, then lost 25-27.
Set 2: It was tied at 5-5, 9-9, 12-12, 19-19, and 24-24 before the Gophs pulled it out 26-24.
Set 3: It was tied at 4-4, 9-9, 13-13, 20-20 and 23-23 before it got away.
Set 4: In a set we needed to win, we started slow and trailed most of the way, 2-5, 4-8 and 7-11. But behind a red-hot Wooker, we rallied to a 21-18 lead. Then when Wooker, by then our only reliable hitter, rotated to back-row, we were unable to produce any offense, allowing the Gators to run 7 points, and take the match.
The good news was Wooker, with 21 kills, 5 from the back-row! With Julie Hanson graduated, I didn’t think we had anyone who could produce from the back-row, but Wooker proved me wrong. Wooker looks primed for a great season!
The other good news was our freshman Middle, Hoecke, who produced 10 kills (1 overpass, 2 quicks & 7 slides), and at least 2 blocks. It doesn’t look like Hoecke has any intention of going to the bench when Minatee is healthy. Taylor had 2 kills (both quicks) and 7 blocks.
Gilk was awful, and Coach Cook benched her late in Set 3 – sliding Kinney over to Opposite and bringing the freshman Crossen in at leftside. Kinney had been playing okay at leftside, and has played Opposite most of her career. But she wasn’t particulary effective at Opposite tonight, especially not during Florida’s 7 point run at the end of the match.
I don’t know what’s wrong with Gilk. She was an All-Big-10 Freshman last year, and is the only Gopher on this year’s All-Big-10 Team. Whatever it is, I hope that Gilk and/or the coaching staff can fix it quickly. I don’t know the timetable for Acevedo’s return from last October’s knee injury, but if Gilk doesn’t turn it around soon, Kinney’s move to Opposite could become permanent — and Acevedo will be our other starting leftside.
Thanks to Wooker, we outhit Florida .274 to .245, but we had 11 serve-receiving errors, 4 by Palabiyik and 3 by Gilk, to Florida’s 4 – enough to make the difference in a close match. I think Palabiyik is probably the best serve-receiver on the team, but she has to be more assertive than she was tonight, especially on balls between her and other Gophers. She was assertive in 2024 and before she got injured last season – we need that from her.
The other discouraging development is that we are now 3 & 5 in sets decided by 2 points. Plus the embarrassing loss by 4 when we were up 3 late in tonight’s 4th set. Last year, once our freshmen bench got their confidence up, the Gophers were winning the close ones. There are going to be a lot of close sets and close matches ahead – we need to get that confidence back.
NEXT UP: Unranked Auburn, 5:00 this afternoon (Wednesday) on FS1. The Gophers cannot afford to lose another one.
READERS RESPOND
Since I was unable to attend the Gopher’s Aug 22 exhibition match at #33-ranked Iowa State, I asked readers for help. And frequent GopherVBRocks contributor R.A., also unable to make it to Ames, forwarded comments (below) that he had seen elsewhere. These are not my thoughts nor those of R.A., and I am somewhat reluctant to post material from unknown and therefore untrusted sources. But since I asked, here they are:
ANONYMOUS: “Garr: bad, constantly out of position. Most of ISUs point to zone 5.
Wucherer: bad, lots of errors. Not in our receive, but played all around.
Crosson: glimmer of hope. Needs to work on her swing mechanics, but decent backrow play.
Taylor: looking lost. Needs Pedro’s mentorship more than anyone.
Hoecke and Blazkova: good. Should be starters
Z: noticeable improvement by the team when she was the L, but she’s moving a lot slower (understandably so). Still likely not ready to play L full time
Gilk: by far our best pin and it’s not close. Did not play 6 rotations at all.
Stella: bad. Location off and erratic decision making. Hitters constantly having to make adjustments leading to points for ISU.
Kinney’s stats were rough.
Acevedo and Minatee dressed but did not play.
Serving as a team completely regressed since Crissy departed, no service pressure.”
R.A.’s thoughts re the loss to ASU: “We were simply outplayed. Wooker was stellar in every way, a great sign when her serving had previously been a liability. And I forgot that Stella and Wooker had never played together before – one more learning challenge as the season unfolds. Gilk and Kinney also looked solid. Our Middles didn’t do much. I suspect Stella played better than the commentators acknowledged.”
G.O.’s thoughts re the loss to ASU: “Like last year, Taylor had a lot of net violations. That alone was the difference in the two close sets. Also, even when we get a free ball, we don’t return it with any authority. Season is early. Hopefully all this talent can gel.”