Our Gophers swept the Scarlet Knights, 25-23, 25-17, 25-9. As the scores suggest, Rutgers was competitive in Set 1, less so in Set 2, and seemingly eager to get to their hotel in Set 3. The Gopher hitters (Landfair, Wooker, Hanson, and Davis) pounded the ball all night, but –
In Set 1, Rutgers blocked well and dug really well, getting a lot of balls, that looked like they were down, back over the net. With the Gophs leading 12-7, Rutgers went on a run behind strong serving from fifth-year senior Setter Alyssa Nayar, and strong hitting by red-shirt sophomore Outside Hitter Alissa Kinkela (who led the match in kills), to pull ahead 17-19. But after a sideout, on a Shaffmaster kill, Landfair served well-enough to take Rutgers out-of-system, and the Gophs took back the lead, 22-19. Then, at 24-23, Shaffmaster got her 2nd kill of the set (she finished with 5 kills for the match) to finish it off.
With Nayar serving to start Set 2, Rutgers jumped out to a 1-5 lead. But it was all Gophers after that. Coach Cook subbed Hanson in for Grote late in Set 1. This surprised me, as Set 1 was still much in doubt, but Hanson played well the rest of the match; I especially liked her serving (Grote serves well also). By Set 3, the Gophers on the court included Minatee, for Owoleye, and McGhie and Crowl in a 6-2. As far as I could tell, Grote was healthy and available when Cook went to Hanson. Not sure, but my best guess is that Hanson has worked hard all season and Coach decided she deserved to play – against a team the Gophers should have swept.
But we lost to Rutgers two weeks ago in Piscataway; the Gophers are the “1” in Rutgers 1 & 7 record (now 1 & 8). How did we lose that match? Anything I say will sound like an excuse, but here goes:
- I have to assume that Rutgers, like most teams, plays better at home;
- The Gopher loss to Rutgers came on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, including a 3 hour bus ride following a 5-set loss to Maryland (another team we should have beaten);
- Shaffmaster did not play at all against Maryland (some sort of illness), and did not play in Set 1 against Rutgers that night. We played a 6-2 in Set 2, with Shaffmaster sharing the setting duties with McGhie. We lost both sets. Shaffmaster played fulltime in Set 3, which the Gophs won decisively (behind Grote’s hitting) 25-16. Shaffmaster played fulltime in Set 4 also, but the roof fell in. Perhaps the Gophs, not accustomed to playing back-to-back, and/or Shaffmaster, not 100% healthy, ran out of gas.
- There are multiple GopherVBallRocks readers who remain skeptical of Shaffmaster, even in her 4th season as our setter, but as I said before the season began, Shaffmaster (2nd to Murr, of course) is the least “replaceable” member of this team. And, in my opinion, Shaffmaster is a “clutch” player, who plays her best when the set is on the line, her 2 kills late in Set 1 tonight an example.
SUNDAY: 2:00, MICHIGAN STATE AT THE PAV.
Michigan State is 5 & 4 in the Big Ten, as are the Gophs. The Spartans record resembles that of the Gophs in that they swept Michigan home & home, and lost to Northwestern at home, and Nebraska at Lincoln. But another of their losses was to unbeaten Nebraska,, and they won at Rutgers, where the Gophers lost. The Gophers are not the obviously better team.