The Gophers spotted Penn State a 3-12 lead to start Set 1 and, despite playing the Nittany Lions almost even after that, lost 14-25, 25-23, 20-25 & 25-27. The 2023 Gophers have not been a strong first-half of Set 1 kind of team (neither were most of McCutcheon’s teams), which leaves them playing from behind too often. They lost Set 1 to Highpoint, and roared back to win in 4, but Penn State is too good for the Gophers to start so slow.
Gopher fans looking for a scapegoat have a target-rich field to choose from. I had:
- Landfair with 6 receiving errors;
- Wooker with 5 service errors; and
- Our Middles were completely outplayed, on offense and defense. Penn State knew that Davis can’t block and picked on her every chance they had (Davis’s one block came in Set 1)
- Penn State’s overall floor game was better. The Gophers made a few wonderful saves, but Penn State made a ton.
- But the pathetic start in Set 1 fell mostly on Wooker. She got stuffed on her first two swings, and lost her confidence. She finished Set 1 with 1 kill – and that was on an off-speed shot.
But it is worth mentioning that the Gophers’ generally poor receiving (not all Landfair), and almost non-existent middle-hitting (completely missing in Set 1), left no doubt as to where the set was going, so Wooker was facing a double-block on almost every swing.
Highlights:
- Landfair, despite her receiving struggles, had 16 kills (her best match of the season), and was the Gophers only offense in Set 1.
- Wooker recovered from a disastrous Set 1 to record 14 kills. (Readers are probably getting tired of hearing this, especially when we lose, but I thought that the Gophers’ pair of Left-side Hitters were better than those of the Nittany Lions – if you consider the quality of the sets they were getting.
- I had the Gophers with 10 “off-speed kills” (dinks) in the match. I’m pretty sure that’s the most in any one match in the history of GopherVBallRocks, and probably the most in the past 15 years. And
- Shaffmaster led the Gophs to victory in Set 2, with 2 of her 4 kills, and her only block.
But winning Set2 wasn’t enough.
Forecast: A GopherVBallRocks reader, who wishes to remain unnamed, not even by initials, predicts that the Gophs will finish 10 & 10 in the Big 10, good for7th or 8th place, but not good enough to make the NCAA Tournament. I went into tonight’s match hoping for something like 14-6 and 3rd place in the Big 10, and a top-16 seed. But Penn State is one of the teams that the Gophers would have to beat for that to happen.
NEXT UP:
- Maryland, Friday Oct 6 at 7:00, on BTN &
- Rutgers, Saturday Oct 7 at 6:00 on BTN+
A chance for the Gophers to play like contenders.