Author: jktrpp

Back in January, writing about the portal, I predicted that all 10 of our players eligible to return for ‘26 season would do so, and so far that prediction is holding up. And that, in addition to 3 incoming freshmen, we might pick up a strong player not intimidated by our already crowded roster. Perhaps one who has starred for a less successful team, or a European. And this also has come true.

We picked up 6-3 Middle Lucie Blažková from Washington State. A native of the Czech Republic, Blažková redshirted at WSU in 2023 before starting in every match during her freshman and sophomore seasons. She has 2 years of eligibility remaining.

As a freshman in 2024, Blažková’s 1.2 blocks per set (134 total) ranked third in the WCC and she was named to the WCC All-Freshman Team. Last year, while repeating her 1.2 blocks per set, she also set the WSU all-time single-season hitting percentage record with a .443 mark (9th-highest in the nation) on 280 kills. And she was named First Team All-WCC after being the WCC Player of the Week 3 times.

For now, Blažková (I might go with Lucie, easier to spell) gives us 4 Middles competing for 2 starting roles. Going to be interesting to see who gets them. I haven’t seen Blažková play, but for now I’d rank her #2 behind Jordan Taylor. Elena Hoecke was last year’s best high school player in MN and has a lot of upside, but she’s a freshman. And Calissa Minatee has proven to be an effective hitter, but she’s short (6-1) for a Middle and coming off an ACL injury.

Split? Yup, 25-27, 25-15, 25-12 & 19-25. I think they could have played a Set 5, but chose not to. If this was an in-season match against a Summit League Team, even the defending Summit League Tournament Champ and NCAA Tournament rep, a split would be disappointing. But this was an exhibition match – so a little less so.

Set 1: The Gophers played their best, healthy team: Stella at Setter, Gilk at Opposite, Wooker & Kinney at Leftside, Taylor & Hoecke at Middle and Garr at Libero & Thibeault at D.S. The Gophs struggled with serve-receive (especially Wooker, Kinney and Thibault) and lost a tight-all-the-way overtime set. 

Set 2: With Crosson hitting Leftside, Kinney at Opposite and Gilk sitting out, and Thibeault & Garr switching jerseys, the Gophs started 0-5, roared back to lead 24-10, and coasted to the win.

Set 3: Back to the “starting line-up” except with Crosson instead of Wooker, the Gophers crushed St. Thomas.

Set 4: Using Lee in a 6-2 and Olivia as part of their serve-receive, the Gophers were crushed.

The best possible spin on this is that once Palabiyik is healthy, Wooker & Kinney won’t have to be part of our serve-receive, and that we will never use Lee in a 6-2, or Olivia in serve-receive – if we’re trying to win. The flaw in that analysis is that I am unfamiliar with St. Thomas’s personnel – and I have no idea when they were playing their second-stringers.

NOTES:

• Wooker, Kinney and Gilk were all hitting with authority.
• Taylor blocked very well.
• Hoecke started okay and got better as the match went on.
• Crosson started poor and got better as the match went on.
• Crosson came with a reputation as a great passer, but she wasn’t tonight.

OTHER NOTES:

• A healthy Palabiyik will make this a much better team.
• When Acevedo and Minatee are healthy, they will have to compete for starting roles.
• Better timing between Stella and her Middles will greatly improve our offense.
• We will sorely miss the back-row attack that Julia Hanson provided.

NEXT UP: Maybe an intra-squad or alumni match in late August? 

We, as in the Gophers, playing their first VB (after cancelling the past two weeks due to illness within the team) since early December, and we, as in GopherVBRocks, there to watch and report on it. For the record (or non-record given that these are Exhibition Matches), The Gophs swept South Dakota 2-0 and Northern Iowa 2-0. The Gophs dominated SoDak, but the sets versus UNI were super-tight, 30-28 and 25-22. (The Panthers were an NCAA second-round Tournament Team last December.) I thought there was going to be a mini-match against a  third team, but either I misunderstood, or the Gophs were being cautious on their first outing.

The VERY GOOD news was that The Wooker was back in action, playing hard and crushing the ball! The BAD news was that she went down twice due to collisions – and both times came up wincing and holding her lower-back – the same lower-back that caused her to miss the last season and a half. 

   > If Wooker is 100% when the real season starts in late August, she will be the Gophers best hitter and likely to lead them to the best season in the Coach Cook era; 

   > If Wooker is still nursing her back injury through the ‘26 season, this could become a “drama,” which while not Wooker’s fault, could burden the entire team; and

   > If Wooker ends up missing most of the season, the Gophers could still be good – but not as good as they would be with a healthy Wooker crushing the ball.

Given her troubling injury and the meaninglessness of today’s matches, should Wooker have even been playing? I think yes. She was surely involved in the decision, and if she’s not ready to play hard (which she did today) after 18 months, will she be ready to do so in 4 more? I’d like to know – but more importantly, Wooker and Coach Cook need to know.

Veterans Acevedo, Minatee and Palabiyik were present but not dressed – which makes sense and doesn’t concern me at all. All injured their knees (two ACLs and a meniscus) last September or October – and these are exhibition matches. Having broken my femur, lost both meniscuses (menisci?), and ruptured a quad-tendon, I get that knee injuries are serious. But their recoveries should be more predictable than Wooker’s back.

   > I fully expect Palabiyik to reclaim her spot as the Gopher’s starting Libero.

   > When the ‘26 season starts in late August, I think Minatee will be our “second” Middle, behind Taylor – but she will be challenged by Hoecke.

   > If Wooker can’t go, Acevedo will likely be one of our starting Leftsides. If Wooker (and Gilk) are healthy, Acevedo will have to fight for playing time.

All three incoming freshmen played, some more than others. 

   > With Minatee not dressed, Middle Elena Hoecke started and played full-time (well, she’s a Middle, so only front-row), and looked good. Not dominant exactly, but good for an incoming freshman. I expect her to challenge a healthy Minatee for playing time.

   > Leftside Makenna Crosson did not start but played a fair amount, even against UNI. She looked decent. I didn’t see enough today to make me think that she will challenge Kelley and Acevedo for our “second” Leftside behind Wooker this coming season, but when starters were injured last season, we saw freshmen take advantage of opportunity and grow into key roles, so who knows?

   > Libero Madi Craft played sparingly behind Garr and Thibault today – not enough for a fair evaluation. If Palabiyik, Garr and Thibault all stay healthy, Craft might be a candidate for a “red-shirt.”

Veterans Stella, Gilk, Kelley & Taylor all played great; I thought Gilk especially. Georgia and Olivia also played; Georgia as half of a 6-2 in both Set 2s, and Olivia as a designated server – giving both an opportunity to demonstrate their value to the team. 

IN OTHER NEWS: After two years of a 20-match Big Ten Schedule, which involved playing the other 17 teams once (and 3 of them twice, one of them a geographic rival, in our case Wisconsin), the Big Ten is switching to just the other 17 teams, once each – and then a BIG TEN TOURNAMENT. 

There is some argument about better preparing Big Ten Teams for the NCAAs, but I find the logic underwhelming. I assume it’s about money, but that’s confusing too. I find it hard to believe that ticket sales for a 5-day tournament in Indiana, even at jacked-up prices, will exceed the ticket sales for 27 (18 divided by 2, times 3) on-campus matches, 9 of them against hated rivals. It must be TV money.

NEXT UP: The Gophers will host St. Thomas at the Pav next Friday, 4/24, at 6:00. This will be your last chance to see the Gophs this Spring – and it’s FREE (I think).

CONGRATULATIONS to the Gopher Women’s Gymnastics for making the FINAL FOUR!

The Gophers have announced their 2026 spring schedule – loaded with 2025 NCAA Tournament teams, including a match-up with the Badgers!

Friday, April 3 at Iowa St. (Ames, Iowa, TBA)

Friday, April 10 vs. Wisconsin (UW Eau-Claire, 6:30 p.m.)

Saturday, April 18 at Northern Iowa Tournament* 

Friday, April 24 vs. St. Thomas (Maturi Pavilion, 6 p.m.) Free admission.

* The UNI event, at Cedar Falls, will be an all-day, 6-team “Tournament,” featuring abbreviated matches. Besides the Gophers and UNI, the field will include: Iowa, South Dakota State, South Dakota, and St. Thomas. My guess would be two, 3-team brackets, playing best 2 out of 3 matches, followed by the 1st place teams playing each other. and maybe the 2nd place teams playing each other? 

And I am happy to report that the updated Gopher roster includes every player eligible to return, so we haven’t lost anyone to the portal (yet), plus the 3 anticipated recruits, already in school. It also does not include any surprises – I still think we need an upgrade at back-up setter. And we don’t know how healthy those who were injured might be. But I’m pretty happy with what we’ve got.

Also happy to report that this blog is now a blog again, as the technical difficulties have been resolved (at least for now.) Email comments, questions or opinions to jktrpp@gmail.com, and I’ll post ’em.

I think the ‘26 Gophers will be better than the ‘25 Gophers. Other teams will be better also, but the Gophers will have even greater success. Whereas the ‘25 Gophs finished tied for sixth in the rugged BigTen, the ‘26 Gophs will finish Top-Three. And where the ‘25 Gophs earned a top-sixteen seed going into the NCAAs, the ‘26 Gophs will earn a top-eight with a solid chance to make the Final Four.

I’m going to assume that all 5 of our dynamic freshmen will be back to play their sophomore seasons – and why wouldn’t they be? It certainly appeared, from Section 110, that all 5 had a good experience, starting, getting better individually as the ‘25 season went on, jelling with each other and getting better as a team. Hard for me to imagine why any of them would be dissatisfied. And they’ll be better next year. Why? Because sophomores inevitably improve from their freshmen seasons. They’ll carry forward confidence in themselves, and confidence in each other. This core group is going to be terrific! Thibault should be back for her junior year and should be better also.

I am also going to assume that all 4 of the players who were injured this past season will be back and 100% healthy. Acevedo, Minatee and Palabiyik all suffered knee injuries early in the year. I don’t mean to make light of knee injuries, especially ACLs, but these are young women, who I assume have had and continue to receive first-class medical treatment. I expect all three to be 100% by August. Who knows what goes through a young woman’s mind as she sits on the bench nursing an injury and watching her “back-up” enjoy success? But Acevedo and Minatee will have their eyes on the vacancies in the starting lineups created by Hanson’s and Myer’s graduations, and I would expect Palabiyik to be confident about winning back her role as starting Libero. There is no obvious reason that all three wouldn’t be back.

Wooker injured her lower back in early September of 2024. She played off and on throughout the ‘24 season, but was never 100%. It does not appear that there was a surgical intervention during 2025, nor has there been any indication of one during the current off-season. Backs are trickier than knees; maybe Wooker will be 100% by this coming August, or maybe she’ll never play again. If she is 100%, she will be a star, likely the best player on the ‘26 team. If she can’t play, replacing Julia Hanson will be a major challenge for the ‘26 Gophers.

And the Gophers have a top-15 ranked class of freshmen coming in. This group includes:

• 6-3 Middle Elena Hoecke (Lino Lakes/Centennial H.S.) Hoecke is the No. 1 ranked Class of ’26 recruit in Minnesota, the 2025 Baden Ms. Minnesota Volleyball,  the 2025 StarTribune Player of the Year, and a 2025 Under Armour All-American. I haven’t seen her play, but I’m guessing she’s pretty good. 
• 6-3 Outside Hitter Makenna Crosson (San Jose, Cal) Crosson is ranked nationally as the #25 or #35 (different rating services) Class of ’26 recruit, a MaxPreps All-American as a sophomore in 2023 and on the MaxPreps Player of the Year Watch List in 2025 (she missed most of her junior season due to injury), the WCAL Player of the Year, and is considered excellent in serve-receive. (This will give us 3 Makennas on a 15(?) player roster.)
• Libero Madi Kraft (Eagan, MN) Kraft was a two-time Minnesota Class AAAA All-State team selection, a 2025 Baden Ms. Minnesota Volleyball Finalist, the #8 ranked Class of ’26 recruit in Minnesota (the second ranked libero), and last year helped her Northern Lights 17U team win a Junior National Tournament in Dallas.

All 3 are expected to be enrolled at the U of M in January and available for the Spring Season.

To sum up, this means 6 returning starters, 4 previous starters returning from injuries, and 3 incoming freshmen, 13 total potentially high-level players competing for 8 starting roles.

And then there’s the Out-Portal. As I have written above, I can’t imagine why any of the 6 individual returning starters would want to enter the portal, nor can I imagine why any of the 4 players due to return from injury would enter the portal, nor, to my knowledge, have any entered the portal so far. Nor do I expect any of the 3 recruits who recently signed the paperwork to play for the Gophers, and are expected to start classes at the U any day now, to change their minds. 

Sure, there’s money on the table now, but despite what you hear, the teams we are competing with all have roughly the same amount of money, and divide it up roughly the same way, i.e., the Lion’s Share for football and the Lion’s Share after football for men’s basketball, leaving other sports including women’s basketball, hockey, volleyball, baseball, etc. with a few hundred K for their entire roster. Hard to imagine that an otherwise satisfied volleyballer getting $15K from the Gophers would jump to a different school for $20K. 

That said, I can’t know what goes on in the mind of an 18, 19, 20 year old young woman, so I can’t say for certain that we won’t lose anyone. But I wouldn’t bet on any one of them leaving. My guess is that all 13 described above will be wearing Maroon and Gold this coming August.

Perhaps more interestingly, there’s the In-Portal. (And maybe a late, fourth, incoming freshman recruit? Perhaps someone from another country?) 

The first question regarding the In-Portal is why would a team with 13 talented players, and room for only 8 or 9 to play, even be looking at the In-Portal? The answer is to look at this past and previous year’s Final Four Teams – most of which were strong to start with, and then brought in All-American caliber players to become even stronger – in some cases pushing talented existing players to the bench. In a sense, this seems not a good idea in terms of team-chemistry – but try telling that to Nebraska, Wisconsin or Kentucky, who make Final Fours playing In-Portal transfers.

The second question is why an All-American caliber player would transfer to the Gophers when Nebraska, Texas A & M or Kentucky is on the other line? Given again that I can’t know what goes on in the mind of a young woman, I can’t say for certain, but probably not until we’ve advanced beyond the Sweet Sixteen. Unless there would be some sort of personal connection which isn’t impossible.

A more likely possibility would be a strong player – but not an All-American that would interest Nebraska. Perhaps one who has starred for an unrated team (I’m thinking of a Lydia Grote who had starred at Cal-Berkley) and dreams of playing at a higher level before she runs out of eligibility. Someone not intimidated by an already crowded roster. Reader R.A. called my attention to Kaia Castle, a 6-4 Middle from Montrose MN, who entered the Portal after a respectable red-shirt freshman season at Ohio State. Castle has already signed with Texas A & M, but  someone like Castle would seem gettable, and wouldn’t hurt.

And then there’s need. Our pressing need is for a back-up setter. Georgia Lee was our back-up setter in ‘25, has another year of eligibility and could well be back. Lee also served this past season as a designated server, and was adequate in that role. But on those brief occasions in which she needed to run our offense – she was not, in my opinion, an adequate back-up. (I have no doubt Lee is a fine young woman, but that’s a different conversation.) We need someone who could step in and run our offense if, heaven forbid, Stella is unavailable, even temporarily.

Back-up Setters are like back-up quarterbacks and back-up goalies, forgettable when you don’t need them – then suddenly the most important player on the team when you do. And it is difficult to recruit strong back-up Setters because strong Setters don’t want to be back-ups. But we need to find one. Planning for a season-accomplishment better than ‘25 without a capable back-up Setter would be like the Vikings planning to reach the Super Bowl without a back-up quarterback.

2026 PREVIEW – Part 2

I haven’t heard anything about additions or subtractions from the 2026 roster from what I understood it to be a couple of weeks ago. If any readers have heard anything, please let me know. For now, here is how I think the line-up will shake out:

SETTER: The ‘26 Gophers will almost certainly play a “5-1,” meaning one Setter. And we have a very good one in Stella Swenson. I think Stella, who will be better in ‘26 than she was in ‘25, is good enough to lead us to a Top-Three in the BigTen, and  top-eight seed. 

> But Stella is human, and therefore vulnerable to injury or illness, so we need a back-up Setter. We do not, in my opinion, currently have a back-up Setter capable of covering tips or running our offense. I suppose it is possible that Georgia Lee will be dramatically better this coming season than she was last season – but her biggest deficit is that she is slow. I find it hard to imagine that her quickness will improve dramatically over the off-season. 

> With expectations otherwise high, it strikes me as foolish to go into the coming season without a capable back-up Setter, and I hope this problem can be resolved by August.

LIBERO: In recent years, the Gophers have played a Libero-plus-one-Defensive Specialist system, but the trend among top teams is toward a Libero-plus-two- Defensive Specialists system, and I think that was the plan in ‘25 until Palabiyik was injured, eliminating that option. I think we will play a Libero-plus-two-Defensive Specialists system in ‘26, meaning that we will play 3 Liberos.

> With Palabiyik healthy, and I expect that she will be by August, and the addition of incoming freshman Madi Kraft, we should have 4 Liberos available.

> I expect that a healthy Palabiyik will reclaim the off-colored jersey, and that Garr and Thibault will both play regularly as Defensive Specialists. If everyone stays healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the freshman Kraft red-shirt.

OPPOSITE: Given only one Setter, we’ll play only one Opposite, and I think Gilk will be our every-set Opposite. Even playing two D.S.s, we will still need one Outside Hitter to play 6 rotations and participate in our serve-receive – and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gilk get this job also. 

> Reader R.A., focusing on her late-season struggles, has a much lower assessment of Gilk than I do, but I like her up-side. 

> Kinney would be the obvious back-up at Opposite if something happens to Gilk, even if Kinney has secured a starting role at Leftside. 

> And maybe the freshman McKenna Crosson would be a darkhorse candidate who emerges to win the 6-rotation role.

MIDDLES: We will play 2 Middles; we have 3. I expect that the starters, for the first match of the season next August, will be Taylor and Minatee, with incoming freshman Elena Hoecke waiting for her opportunity. 

> Taylor is the tallest player on the team, one of the most athletic, and has the potential to dominate a match defensively. Her up-side is enormous. Offensively, Taylor wasn’t there yet this past season, especially on the slides. Her coordination with Stella needs to improve dramatically – and I think it will.

> Minatee produced surprising offensive effectiveness during her freshman season in 2024, and again early in 2025 – before her injury. She should recover from her torn meniscus and be effective offensively again in 2026. But she is undersized at Middle, which limits her defensive effectiveness. 

> I haven’t yet seen Hoecke play. (Looking forward to the Spring exhibition                              season.) But she was the best high school player in MN this past fall, and I               expect that Hoecke will push Taylor and Minatee for playing time. If Hoecke does crack the line-up, in place of Taylor or Minatee, the choice could be based on whether Coach Cook values Taylor’s defense or Minatee’s offense. 

LEFTSIDES: We will play 2 Leftsides. Assuming that Wooker and Acevedo are healthy, we’ll have 4, including Kinney and incoming freshman Elena Hoecke competing for playing time. 

> Wooker is the biggest question mark on this roster. She played so well during the 2023 season, that Wooker was named First Team Pre-season All Big Ten last August, despite struggling with her back during the 2024 season. If she is completely healthy and can regain her 2023 skills, Wooker  could easily be the Gophers best player – and elevate this team to a legitimate Final Four Contender. I’m pulling for her. But backs are tricky and it is also possible that Wooker will never play again. 

> Kinney was a highly regarded recruit. She started slow, especially when given limited opportunity. But thrust into the starting line-up when Wooker and Acevedo were injured, Kinney got better and better, matching Hanson kill for kill in several matches. Kinney isn’t physically over-powering, at least not yet, an off-season in the weight room might make a difference. But she has a full range of attack angles and attack velocities – the best variety of weapons the Gophers have seen in recent years.

> This past season, before she blew her ACL, Acevedo was our #2 Leftside, behind Hanson. Acevedo serves well and, before her injury, she was playing significantly better than she had been during her freshman season in ‘24. Her knee could be 100% by August, and I assume that Acevedo expects to regain her starting role. I don’t want her anywhere near our serve-receive, but if we play a Libero-plus-two- Defensive Specialists, she wouldn’t need to.

> Crosson is another player I haven’t seen and am looking forward to seeing during the Spring exhibition season. She missed her ‘24 season due to an injury, but played well this past season and comes in highly regarded. Wooker, Kinney and Acevedo (and Gilk) are all 6-1, but Crosson is taller at 6-3, and is considered an excellent passer.

> I’d love to see Wooker back in the line-up. If she is not healthy, the season- opening starters are likely to be Kinney and Acevedo. Maybe Crosson will push her way into the line-up by mid-season – hopefully based on her talent, not in response to injuries.

Anyway, I am very excited about the potential of this squad – I don’t think a Final Four appearance is out of the question.

In 4 sets, 25-19, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19.  At Indiana, making this the Gophers second straight road win! I feel like the Gophs might be slightly overrated, but if we’re overrated at #20, the Hoosiers are definitely overrated at #23. The Hoosiers did have a great Oct 3,4 weekend, defeating UCLA and So. Cal on their West Coast road trip. This was our first win over a rated team, but you have to wonder how long the Indiana Team we played tonight will remain top-25? 

Set 1: Kinney was on fire, 7 kills without a hitting error, and Hanson had a pair of nice kills toward the end of the set.                                                                                                                                               Set 2: More Hanson and a lot of Gilk; Gilk spurring the Gophs to their first significant lead halfway through the set. But the big Set 2 news was 4 aces by Stella, 3 of them consecutive.  We had more Aces than blocks in set 4.                                                                                   Set 3: Not sure if it was complacency or what, but our serve-receive suddenly went bad (especially Hanson). The lone bright spot was Myers generating offense late to give the Gophs momentum into set 4.                                                                                                                                      Set 4: Stella did a great job of distributing the ball all match, but especially in Set 4. Hanson, Gilk and Kinney were all effective with strong blocking by Myers and Taylor. 

Hanson led the way with 17 kills and a very impressive .457. The Gophs as a team hit .412; you won’t lose many matches hitting .400 or higher. A lot of the credit goes to our serve-receive; except for Set 3, we were making decent first passes – which makes Stella’s job much easier. Stella also kept the Hoosier defense off balance by not always making the obvious set. Stella’s 5 aces didn’t hurt either

Note: the up-ref was calling throws, 2 on the Gophs and at least 1 on Indiana, on hits that other Big Ten refs let go. 

NEXT UP: A Short trip to West Lafayette for a Sunday at Noon match (BTN+) against a very strong Purdue squad, ranked #11. (And seemingly not-overrated.) An interesting match for Myers who transferred from Purdue – could she get hot against her former team? I know they’ll expect her “slide,” and try to take it away. I said last week that I’d be happy with a weekend split, and I’m happy – but I could be really happy with a win at Purdue – the signature win the Gophs are still looking for.

I went into the weekend feeling that a split on this Northwest road trip would be good, but after last night’s embarrassing loss to the Ducks, I wasn’t feeling very optimistic. But the Gophs flipped the switch and beat the Huskies in four, 14-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25 12. Were the Gophers jet-lagged last night? Were the Huskies still celebrating last night’s 5-set win over Penn State? Did the Gophs “win one” for Coach Cook, who’s last job was at Washington? We know it wasn’t because Oregon is much better than Washington; Washington beat Oregon last weekend. Was this the match that will change the course of the season? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Set 1: The Gophers were terrible. Most of our third touches were free-balls, and on the rare occasion that we actually spiked one, the Huskies dug our lips off, Honestly, 14-25 sounds closer than it felt. Hanson had 3 kills, which was only slightly encouraging.

Set 2: Tied 10-10, the Gopher Pins, especially Hanson, Gilk and Myers, fueled a long service run by Garr, reaching 17-10, and not looking back.

Set 3: This was tighter, tied 7-7 and 15-15, behind Hanson and Gilk, Kinney and Myers got going as well and Washington had no response. 

Set 4: The Gophers jumped out to an 8-0 lead — and the Huskies seemed eager to get to the locker room.

Serving was dramatically different one night later. Last night the Gophs killed almost any chance they might have had with horrible serving. Tonight, we had 6 aces vs 4 errors (I’ll take that any night). But more importantly, it was the Huskies who couldn’t serve, finishing with 4 aces vs 14 errors! I don’t know how well Washington served last night, but they couldn’t have served that bad while beating Penn State.

And as mentioned, Hanson (the leadership we’ve been looking for?) and Gilk showed up big time. Last night was one of the worst matches in Hanson’s career; tonight she had 15 kills and a .306 percentage. And Gilk had her breakout match as a Gophers, with 11 kills and a .550 percentage. And Myers, who came on a bit in last night’s fourth set, got started earlier and racked up 12 Kills (5 on overpasses) and 5 blocks. Strangely,  things went the other direction for Taylor; last night she was the Gophers’ lone bright spot, and tonight she barely made the box score. But she’s a freshman, so let’s give her a break.

NEXT UP:

At #22 Indiana on Friday, 5:00, BTN

At #12 Purdue on Sunday, Noon, BTN+

I’d be thrilled with another split.

Reader R.A. had shared his views before I even got home. His take on the match itself was pretty much the same as mine — except that R.A. was incensed by the endless babbling of the play-by-play announcer. I get it, the guy was a clown; but here is a tip for R.A. and anyone else annoyed by the admittedly amateur announcers we get on BTN+ — that’s what the MUTE button is for.

The freshmen-heavy Ducks have struggled this season, but the Gophers were the cure, Ducks in four, 19-25, 25-23, 14–25 & 18-25. There was a brief moment of hope, after the Set 2 win, that we might have turned things around; but we stunk it up again in Set 3. 

Just one match after serving very well against Ohio State, we served horribly. I had us with 6 aces vs 12 errors. And our serve-receive was worse. It felt like less than half of our receives gave Stella the ball where she wants it, and less than half of Stella’s sets were where our hitters wanted it, and I’d swear we ended up dinking or bumping the third touch more often than attacking it. Kinney led the team (I had her with 9) kills — primarily because she’s the only strong dinker on the team. Hanson finished with 6 kills, two of those from the back row. I haven’t seen the official numbers, but I’m guessing Hanson’s hitting percentage was in negative numbers.

The lone bright spot on the team was Taylor, who I had with 6 kills and 6 blocks, and who dominated the net when she was on the floor, She had an especially strong Set 2, finishing with a kill for set-point. Myers was invisible for the first 3 sets, before getting hot in Set 4, finishing with 7 kills (6 slides and 1 OP). That was it for bright-spots; not much from our outside hitters

We know it can be tough for a freshman-heavy team to play well on the road — and it doesn’t get any easier. Not tomorrow night at Washington or when we get back to the Pav to host better teams than Oregon. I know that some Readers were looking forward to the transition from the Shaffmaster-era to the Stella-era. But one thing that Shaffmaster provided was leadership when the going got tough, and I’m not seeing that, so far, on this ’25 squad. I worry that a long losing streak will cause these freshmen to lose their confidence.

Taylor stepped up tonight. We need her to continue to play at that level — and for a couple more, freshmen or not, to join her. Washington at Washington will be tough, but we have the talent to play a lot better than we did tonight.

Our Gophers, who I felt were on a tipping point going into today’s match vs Ohio State at the Pav, tipped the right way, sweeping the Buckeyes 25-22, 25-21 & 25-14. The Buckeyes are not very good, and maybe we should have beaten them more easily, but at least we swept them. Which might help with our confidence heading into a gauntlet of 9 very tough games. (We’ll be the underdog in all 9.)

In a recent post I had suggested that we needed Leadership from inside the team, and suggested Hanson as a likely source given that she is our best player and also our most senior player. But maybe not the right personality type? I don’t have any inside info as to what was said by whom or to whom since last Wednesday’s fiasco, but Hanson had a big match today, so there’s that.

Specifically, Hanson had 16 kills (3 back-row) on 25 swings, with 2 errors, for an amazing .560 hitting percentage. As impressive as the .560 was, her percentage on good sets was surely higher as one of her hitting errors and many of her non-kills were dink-attempts off poor sets. I’d say she was about 1 for 6 on dinks. (I’m making this up, but Hanson must have been around .800 on good sets.)

The other bright spot was our serving, especially from Kinney and Garr. Kinney started the match with an ace, and finished the match with 4 aces and no serving errors! I had previously suggested that she might be a strong server – but that was based on a small sample. Garr had 2 aces and no errors, but she also served a ton of points. Garr was aided in this by serving behind a front row of Hanson, Gilk and Myers. Gilk started slow, but finished with a second-best 8 kills, and passed well.

If one wanted to look for negatives, in a close win over a bad team, they would include:

• Barely any offense from our Middles during Sets 1 & 2. Not necessarily our Middles’ fault, you can’t generate offense if Stella doesn’t set you. And not necessarily Stella’s fault – hard to set our Middles without a good first pass, which she wasn’t getting. And
• Kinney had 4 of her 5 match-kills in Set 1 (when we needed it) and then disappeared as a hitter. Kinney continued to serve well, but finished the match with a hitting percentage of zero (meaning she had 5 hitting errors to nullify her kills).
• We won’t beat good teams with offense only from Hanson, no matter how well she plays.

THE ROAD AHEAD IS BRUTAL:

Oregon at Oregon (Fri, 10/17, 8:00, BTN+), 

Washington at Washington (Sat. 10/18, 9:00 BTN+), 

# 20 ranked Indiana at Indiana (Fri, 10/24, 5:00, BTN), 

# 12 ranked Purdue at Purdue (Sun. 10/26, Noon, BTN+)

# 28 ranked Illinois at the Pav (Wed 10/29, 7:00, BTN)

#22 ranked USC at the Pav (Sat, 11/1, TBA, BTN+)

#7 ranked Wisconsin at Wisconsin (Wed, 11/5, 7;00, FS1)

#1 ranked Nebraska, at the Pav (Sat, 11/8, 2:30, Peacock)

#19 ranked Penn State, at the Pav, Fri, 11/14, 7:00, BTN)

WHEW! It gets a little easier after these 9 matches, but it may not matter if these freshmen don’t pick it up fast. Winning 4 of the 9 would be very encouraging.

I could be over-thinking this, but I believe that our ‘25 Gophers are at a major point in their season, from which things could go very well – or very poorly. 

Our pre-season ranking was #14. I thought 14 was a bit high, and it was assuming a completely healthy and deep team. We lost our season opener, on a neutral court, to a good Texas A & M team. Despite a couple injuries, we then rattled off 12 straight wins, mostly sweeps. The competition during this run was on the weak side, but among the 12 victories were a 4-set win over a strong South Dakota State squad at the Pav, and a sweep of Marquette at Marquette, followed by a Pav sweep over a decent Michigan State squad and Rutgers. Bumping our National rating to #10.

I was feeling confident, and more importantly, so was the team. Coach Cook was feeling so confident that he subbed Olivia into an undecided third set against Rutgers – which didn’t go well at all! I was surprised by this, certainly not something McCutcheon would have even considered, but Cook pulled Olivia out in time to save the sweep.

Two readers chimed in on this:

CB: “I think Coach Cook is smart to play his bench when he has the chance, it’s good for team morale, generally. And maybe especially playing Olivia occasionally, because there is this question about whether she really belongs on this team. Also, using Olivia against Rutgers in that third set pushed the team’s back up against the wall. There will be other “pressure-situations” like this in our future.”

RA: “I was there, and Rutgers was no rout. Sets 1 & 3 could easily have easily been lost and we would have been down 1 set to 2 going into Set 4. I love these freshmen, but there are a bunch of Big Ten teams that are better than Rutgers, and I think this team is going to struggle.”

BACK TO JOHN: There was never a moment during the Rutgers Match that I felt, that the Gophers felt, that they could lose that match. And I liked the “no-sweat, we-got-this” swagger that these freshmen bring. Maybe this team is better than I thought they were.

Then, with injuries mounting, the wheels fell off. We lost in 4 sets to a Michigan squad that had been swept by an MSU squad that we swept a week earlier. We had two excuses: 1) On top of losing Palabiyik for the season, Garr was out, leaving us with Thibault and no D.S. and 2) It was this freshman-dependent team’s first Big Ten road match. And Garr is back, so maybe a one-off bad day. We beat Northwestern at Northwestern.

Then the embarrassing sweep at the Pav by UCLA. OUCH! The Bruins are a good team but they aren’t Nebraska. Down 4 players for the season, now including Acevedo who had been our one fast-starter in previous matches, the Gophers played poorly until late in Set 1, too late for a mini-rally to make any difference. We carried the momentum into Set 2, but couldn’t even win that set. We played pretty good defense in Sets 2 & 3, but generated hardly any offense.

R.A. commented on that also: Mid-Set 1 I told my seatmate we would be swept. Even Hanson’s 13 kills (with a pathetic .083, dragged down by roll shot after dink after roll shot. All match, weak receives leading to poor passes to Stella, leading to poor sets that led to dinks and rolls. Gophs were a team completely out of system and off their game. They looked confused and frustrated, not sure what to do. Stella was just as frustrated.  I hope we can handle Ohio State. If not, the season is in trouble. Hopefully, Coach uses rest of this season to teach them how to get past ups and downs up their play without falling into frustration. 

BACK TO JOHN: If they play like they did against UCLA, through these next 5 matches, these Gophers will lose every match and have no chance of even making the NCAAs. I do believe that they are capable of playing significantly better. Cook is out of options for lineup changes, or Xs & Os. Motivation gets tossed around, but this is more about regaining their confidence in themselves and each other. 

I did a lot of coaching with significant success in 3 sports at a variety of levels — all together, well over a thousand “games” with an overall record in the .600 to .650 range. And I can remember 3 pre-game or halftime speeches that fired my team up enough to make a difference. Maybe I was just bad at pep-talks, but my thought is that the “change” the Gophers need has to come from inside the 8 remaining starters.

They need on-the-court LEADERSHIP. Stella plays the position best suited for being the one — but she is clearly frustrated and seems to have lost confidence in herself. Hopefully that’s temporary. Hanson is the most skilled and most senior player on the team — but may not have the personality. Joe Mauer was a superstar, but not at firing up his team. Lindsey Whelan, nowhere near as talented as Mauer,  could put a team on her back. Maybe there are others among the remaining 8. I sure hope so, we need our confidence back.

SOMETHING TO WATCH FOR:

In the recent losses, the Gophs have really struggled with serve-receive. And unfortunately, the Buckeyes #10 has a killer serve. We can survive a OSU ace now and then, but if #10 (or others) can generate 4 or 5-pt runs, that can destroy confidence faster than anything.