Author: jktrpp

With a 46 win over Iowa streak on the line, the Gophers buckled down in Set 5: 25-14, 20-25, 26-16, 24-26 & 15-6?, a total differential of 109-83, to run the streak to 47. The Gophs were clearly the better team, and a win is a win, but going to a 5th set on the other team’s home court is a dangerous practice.

The worst performance of the evening was FS1, who lost the feed in the middle of Set 3, and didn’t find it again until the middle of Set 4. Consequently, my stats are incomplete, and the official Gopher Stats are not up yet (maybe they don’t have them either?) forcing me to use the Iowa stat-sheet.

Set 1: The Gophers broke their pattern of starting slow, not only winning 25-14, but hitting an impressive .464! for the set. Were the Gophs better prepared mentally? Maybe. Were the Hawkeyes poor blockers? Maybe, Were the Hawkeyes poor diggers? Definitely not; I thought they dug well.

What the Hawkeyes didn’t do in Set 1 (did they not read the scouting report?) was to serve aggressively. I had the Gophs with only 1 serve-receive-error in Set 1, and only a couple of poor ones. The other dozen or so Iowa serves were passed right where Shaffmaster wants them, and she teed ‘em up for her hitters, including Davis – who looked like a star against Iowa.

Set 2: was tied 12-12 when Iowa’s best server got aggressive. I think she had at least 4, maybe 5, aces in a run that pushed the Hawkeyes lead to 13-20 And the Gophs never recovered. Some of these serves were hard & long, at Landfair, and some were shorties just barely over the net near Owoleye – who wasn’t supposed to be part of the Gopher receive, and seemed flummoxed. (By the end of the match, Owoleye had been replaced by Minatee, and Murr was diving to get the shorties.) 

Set 3: was tied 7-7 when Murr rotated to serve. This has been the Gophs strongest rotation so far this season, partly because of Murr’s serving, but also because of a front line of Wooker, Owoleye & Grote. I think the Gophs were up 20-12 by the time Murr lost the serve, but FS1 cut out before then. I think the Gophs were again handling the Iowa serves.

Set 4: started  without FS1, so who knows? By the time they regained the feed, the Hawkeye servers were again terrorizing the Gopher receivers, eventually establishing a formidable 7-16 lead. Grote had been ineffective during this run, so Coach Cook subbed in Lauren Crowl at Opposite, and Crowl immediately got a critical kill to stop the bleeding. Soon after, Wooker started jump-serving, something we did not see during the non-conference schedule. She eventually buried one into the net, but not before running 4 or 5 points, including 2 aces, and changing the tone significantly. I think, but who knows, that Wooker finished the match with 3 aces & 5 errors, which I know is a stat that some GopherVBallRocks readers do not appreciate. But Wooker’s aggressive serving rallied the Gophs to a 19-19 tie, and eventually a 24-23 lead, and a match-point opportunity. Though Iowa came back, 24-26, to force —

Set 5: was all Gophers. Landfair started it off with 2 quick kills, and the Gophers never let up, winning the match.

Landfair turned in her best performance of the young season, with 18 kills at a .405 clip, plus 4 blocks. Wooker, beside her serving, contributed 15 kills (including 4 dink-kills, atypical for Wooker) and received well all night. And Grote contributed 14 kills. But if I was awarding a “game-ball,” it goes to Shaffmaster; she had 8 kills (on 12 swings) (I love it) and she set great. Hard to tell when the Gophers struggle with their serve-receive, but when they get Shaffmaster balls she can handle, she does a very nice job of feeding her hitters.

NEXT UP: The #2 ranked Cornhuskers at Lincoln, Sunday, 6:30, BTN.

One can think of the Gopher Volleyball season as having 3 parts: 1) The non-conference season, just complete; 2) The Big 10 season, about to start; and 3) The NCAAs. It’s a little early to talk much about the NCAAs, but this is a good time to review #1 and look ahead to #2.

NON-CONFERENCE REVIEW: The Gophers started with a pre-season ranking of #7 in the country, an honor that surprised some GopherVBallRocks readers, still mourning the loss of our coach and three starters. But despite a 4 & 4 record, we enter the Big 10 season ranked #12. (3rd highest in the Big 10 (Wisconsin & Nebraska, both unbeaten, are ranked #1 & #2).. #12 might seem generous, but the 4 losses came to Florida, currently ranked #3, Stanford, ranked #4, Texas, ranked #9, & Creighton, currently ranked #11, i.e., no teams ranked lower than us. The 4 non-conference wins included Oregon, currently ranked #6,  and Baylor, currently ranked #18. Penn State, Ohio State & Purdue are ranked just behind us. 

Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that these starting-the-Big 10 rankings accurately reflect the quality of these teams, it appears that the Badgers & Cornhuskers will battle for the Big 10 Title, while our Gophs compete with Penn State, Ohio State & Purdue for third place. The Gophs first opportunity to upset the apple-cart comes Sunday, at Lincoln. As a team, the Gophs outside hitting has been very good, their middle hitting not-so-much, their serving has gotten better of late, but serve-receive remains their Achilles heel.  

INDIVIDUALLY: 

• I wasn’t certain, going into the season, who the starting Opposite would be, but transfer-acquisition (from Cal), Lydia Grote, has answered the question decisively. Putting up Samedy-like numbers, she has surpassed my wildest expectations,. In some sets, especially in First Sets, she has often been our only effective hitter. If Coach Cook was key to recruiting Grote, I’m impressed, already.
• Our transfer-acquisition (from Ohio State) Libero, the reigning Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year, Kylie Murr has been great. She has not surpassed expectations – only because expectations were so high. (I think Shaffmaster recruited Murr.)
• Our Sophomore Left-side, The Wooker, is good. Despite an off-match vs Creighton, this #1 recruit in the Class of ‘22 and All-Big 10 Freshman pick last year — despite missing a good chunk of the season with an injury, is better than ever, now a 6-rotation player and right on track for stardom. With 108 kills in 32 sets, she leads the team by a wide margin.
• Our huge senior Setter, Melanie Shaffmaster (she has a covid bonus year of eligibility, assuming she chooses to take it), a pre-season All-Big 10 pick, continues to improve year after year. This year, her digging has been better, and she has been attacking “twos” more than ever – which helps keep the defense honest. Shaffmaster’s right knee is a MAJOR CONCERN. 
• Taylor Landfair, the reigning Big 10 Player of the Year, counted on to lead the team in kills, has been disappointing, so far – and it’s not clear why. With 79 total kills, Landfair has been merely okay, keeping pace with Grote (way behind The Wooker), but with a weak hitting % of .123, due to her many errors. Her error rate seems to come from her trying too hard – which seems to come from her inability to put balls away with a normal effort. Her in-bounds spikes look good, but opponents seem able to dig them with ease. One possible explanation is that being part of the Gophers’ serve-receive (in most rotations), Landfair is often targeted by opposing servers. This is problematic in two ways: it wears her out; and I think her struggle to handle the pressure of serve-receive has affected her confidence. Then again, Landfair has had health issues in the past; there might be something with her health that we don’t know about. Whatever the reason, Landfair is not producing like she did last year. A MAJOR CONCERN. 

• Arica Davis is our one Middle returning from last year, and she has performed as expected. With 14 kills (almost all on “quicks,” Davis has been moderately effective, but not dominant. She is not effective on “slides” (where the Tapp Sisters made their impact), and Davis is not an effective blocker. At 6 ft tall, she is short for a D1 Middle Blocker, and there is not much she can do about that.
• Senior (I think, like Shaffmaster, she has a covid bonus year of eligibility if she chooses to take it) transfer-acquisition (from Georgia, via Loyola Marymount) Phoebe Owoleye seems to have more upside (6ft 2, anyway). Until recently, I thought Owoleye was the opposite of Davis, i.e., strong blocker, weak hitter. But she showed some offensive potential (quicks & slides) this past weekend.

THE BENCH

• Sophomore Julia Hanson (Prior Lake) has been a very pleasant surprise. Playing almost exclusively in the back-row, Hanson has contributed 24 kills (21 of them back-row). Given our lack of middle-offense, Hanson has helped keep our outside-only focus from being too predictable. I wish she could receive serves.
• The Gophers desperately need an effective DS, if for nothing else than to reduce the receiving pressure on Landfair. The most likely choice is freshman Zeynap Palabiyik. Palabiyik was a late arrival from Turkey, where she was considered the #1 U18 Libero in Europe, and apparently wasn’t eligible when the season started. She played recently, vs Highpoint, did not look good, and then did not see the court vs Ceighton. Let’s hope that was just jitters,
• Junior Skylar Gray (Maple Grove) would be another potential option for DS, but she has not impressed in her brief appearances so far.
• Prior to the start of the season, I thought red-shirt Sophomore Lauren Crowl (from Eagan), a 6-4 lefty with a powerful arm, was a serious candidate for starting Opposite. But Grote answered that question. For now, Crowl’s primary role is to replace Shaffmaster in the front row, when Senior Setter Elise McGhie subs in for Grote, in a change-the-look “6-2.” Both players seem adequate in this role; but I do not see an expanded role for either. McGhie also serves sometimes, neither harming nor helping the team much.
• Freshman Calissa Minatee is our 3rd Middle. Minatee has seen action when Davis or Owoleye are unavailable or struggling, and I assume she will play this role throughout the season. It would be nice to see her “claim” a starting-role by outplaying Davis or Owoleye, but no sign of that so far.
• Freshmen Opposite Sydney Schnichels (Wilmar) and Setter Chloe Ng (Vancouver B.C.) look like red-shirt candidates.

At Iowa on tonight, 6:00 on FS1. We’d better win this one.

Our Gophers got away with slow starts against High Point, and last month against TCU, but #14 ranked Creighton was too good for the Gophers to come back after spotting the Blue Jays a 9-23 lead in Set 1, a 7-20 lead in Set 3, and a 1-9 lead in Set 5. Creighton won the hard-fought match, 15-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22, and 15-9. 

I recently said it was too soon to compare Lydia Grote with Steph Samedy, but Grote put up Samedy-like numbers against Creighton, keeping the Gophers in the match with 20 kills at a .474 clip. Landfair and The Wooker had 9 and 7 kills, respectively – on the same # of sets as fed to Grote. Wooker has had some strong matches, but the wasn’t one of them; in Set 5, after 3 consecutive hitting errors, Coach Cook actually benched Wooker for Julia Hanson, Hanson wasn’t any better. 

And we’re still waiting for the real Landfair to appear. I will say, Landfair passed better against Creighton than she has in some matches.  She had 3 official serve-receive errors (about her avg for a 5-set match), but not as many “poor” receives as usual. And Landfair had her serve going, with a career-high 5 aces, vs 3 service-errors, including 4 consecutive aces in Set 3, giving the Gophers life when they barely had a pulse. Led by Landfair, the Gophs had 11 aces for the match, vs 12 service-errors. I’ll take that any day.

The big drama was Shaffmaster getting injured, early, in a tight Set 4. Shaffmaster, favoring her right knee all season, went down hard and didn’t get up. Eventually, she was helped off the court and led to the locker room. Back-up Setter Elise McGhie played the rest of Set 4. There is a reason McGhie is the back-up; she might be quicker than Shaffmaster, but her hands are not as good – and she can’t block at all. But McGhie played her heart out, and the loss of Shaffmaster seemed to inspire the whole team to hang on for the Set 4 win.

McGhie started Set 5 in the serving position. Coach Cook subbed Shaffmaster back in when our setter-position rotated to the front row (I assume that was the plan going into Set 5), but  by then we were down 1-9. Not really McGhie’s fault; more a case of poor receiving and poor hitting.

One bright note was Phoebe Awoleye getting 5 kills. Five kills in 5 sets isn’t great, but I think it was her best offensive performance of the season (Awoleye has been our best blocker so far). And 4 of the 5 were “quicks;” coming into tonight’s match, I don’t think she had 4 kills off quick-sets all season. 

Arica Davis, who didn’t play at all last weekend vs Oregon & Stanford, but was back Thursday vs Highpoint, and has been our most effective offensive Middle, matched Owoleye. But Davis can’t block at all.

I don’t want to take anything away from Creighton. This was high-quality volleyball between 2 good teams, especially the digging and out-of-system play on both sides of the court. I wouldn’t be shocked to see these two teams play again in the NCAAs. But Creighton was the better team tonight. 

NEXT UP: Conference Opener at Iowa, on Thursday, on FS1.

I expect to put up a non-conference review / Big 10 Preview before the Iowa match.

Almost all the way through Set 1, spotting Highpoint U to a 16-23 lead. The Gophers woke up, with Murr serving, to get within 2, before losing Set 1, 22-25. The Gophs eventually won in 4 sets, 22-25, 25-11, 25- 20, & 25-17. If you count the end of Set 1, all of Set 2, and 7-1 start in Set 3, that was a 38-14 run. Theoretically, Highpoint might have been playing above their pay-grade (literally, under the new rules), but I don’t think so. Though the match started at 7:00, the Gophers did not appear ready to play until nearly 7:30. Especially their serving; 1 ace and 5 service-errors during that slow start. (The Gophs finished the match with 12 aces vs 9 serve-receives, which isn’t bad.)

Landfair started especially slow. her stats in Set 1: 1 kill (on a dink), 1 ace, 1 block, 2 service-errors, and 4 receiving errors. In fact, through the first 3 sets, Landfair had 2 dink-kills, 1 back-row kill, 1 right-side kill, and zero left-side, power-kills. She finally got going, with 4 kills in the first half of Set 4, and then she hurt her back in a collision with Murr, on a dig attempt. (Hanson, who was already in the game, playing back-row for Grote, took over as left-side hitter, and Crowl subbed-in for Landfair. The Gophers used a two-person-receive in one rotation.) Landfair received minimal medical attention, and did not appear to be seriously injured. 

After struggling to receive serve in Set 1, Landfair was mostly not lined up to receive serve the rest of the match. Hanson took over toward the end of Set 1, and off & on afterward, and Zeynep Palabiyik (apparently now eligible), made her Gopher (and American) debut in Set 2. It was not a great start, Palabiyik looked nervous and did not impress, individually; but the Gophs played a lot better in Set 2..

After the slow start, the Gophers were especially dominant when Murr was serving. Murr deserves credit for serving well, but a lot of the credit goes to the strong play of our front-row in front of Murr: The Wooker at left-side, and Grote at Opposite contributed 15 & 13 kills, respectfully, and Owoleye and Grote contributed 4 & 3 blocks, respectfully; definitely our best rotation, as it often has been. I’m not ready to call Grote the second-coming of Steph Samedy, but she looks great so far.

Other notes:

• For the match, including the poor start, Minnesota out-hit High Point .281 to .069. 
• Our Gophers have been vulnerable to opponents dinking on us in recent years, but I thought Shaffmaster did a nice job of digging HP’s dink-attempts. Shaffmaster’s comfort-level with Murr might be a factor.
• I’ve previously noted that Wooker is much more willing to attack an imperfect set than, Landfair, for example. She showed that tonight, getting a kill on a set inadvertently 15 ft off the net.
• Davis, absent from the lineup during the Gophers last 3 matches, started (3 kills in 3 sets). Minatee played Set 4, when the Gophs appeared to have the match under control.

NEXT UP: #14 Ranked Creighton at the PAV, 4:30 Saturday afternoon.

Heading to Palo Alto, after last week’s beatdown by Florida, to play the #5 & #6 teams in the country, I was hoping for a respectable split. Then, after Friday night’s thrilling 5-set win over Oregon, I held out hope for a sweep. And after a spirited comeback in Set 1 (the Gophs were down 9-17, then rallied to get within 3 before losing 21-25); and then a dominant performance in Set 2 (25-19) to even the match, my hopes grew. But no such luck; in Sets 3 & 4, Stanford took early leads and cruised easily to a pair of 16-25 wins.

At least I think it was easy; I didn’t even get to watch it. Saturday’s match was advertised as being broadcast on the PAC 12 network. But not live, apparently, because when I tuned in they were showing Oregon crushing a west-coast equivalent of Eastern Michigan in football. So I was stuck watching the live-stat-feed off the Gopher Volleyball website. Not really much fun, nor particularly informative. But I watched it for you. And then, finishing this blog after midnight, I was unable to log in to my blog-site. (Overnight maintenance, maybe? No problem this morning.)

I can tell you that our trio of outside hitters, The Wooker, 12 kills, Landfair, 8 kills, and Grote, 8 kills, were outhit by Stanford’s outside hitters, who posted 17, 16, & 8. Does that mean that Stanford’s trio is better than ours, who I have suggested in the best trio in the country? Maybe. But I can’t say because I have no idea what quality of sets each trio was fed.

I can tell, from Stanford’s 8 service-aces, and 15 service-errors, that the Cardinal served aggressively throughout the match. And given how poor our serve-receiving has been (you don’t suppose they had scouted the Gophers?), the 8 aces were probably the tip of the iceberg of our on-going struggle to receive.

I don’t like making excuses for the Gophers, but:

• Back-to-back matches, vs very good teams, on the West Coast, is a tough assignment, and we did get the split.
• Injuries are part of the game, and our primary weapons seem healthy, but the Gophs are not quite 100%. > Arica Davis, our most prolific Middle-Hitter, did not play this weekend. (Presumably an injury of some sort.) > Shaffmaster has been limping on a bad right knee since the season started. (This could be a season-long phenomena.) > And Palabiyik is still on the bench, reportedly awaiting eligibility clearance. (We don’t know how much help she can provide – but she can’t hurt.)

And speaking of Shaffmaster, I’ve been begging, for 3 years, for her to attack more often, like at least twice per set – even if she is only successful half the time. Tonight, along with 32 “assists” and 14 “digs’ (fairly standard numbers), Shaffmaster tried 9 attacks, producing 6 kills – with no errors. That’s what I’m talking about.

NEXT UP:

The Gophs will finish off their non-conference schedule next weekend, with THE DIET COKE CLASSIC (personally, I’ve become a Coke Zero guy) at the PAV, featuring #16 ranked Creighton and that always dangerous High Point squad. (Can anyone tell me, without looking it up, where High Point is and what conference they represent?) We’re 3 & 3 now; 5 & 3 wouldn’t look too bad.

In a seesaw, tight-all-the-way, match, our Gophers hung on to beat the Oregon, 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19 & 16-14 – a much needed win! As usual, our outside hitters dominated. I had The Wooker with 21 kills, Landfair with 17, and Grote with 9. I had Julia Hanson, really an outside hitter, with 6 kills from the back row, Middle Owoleye with 5 (4 quicks + 1 off an Oregon overpass), and 3, including the match-point, by Shaffmaster. None by Minatee, and once again, Davis did not play. I haven’t seen or heard anything, but Davis did not play vs Florida either, and given Minatee’s offensive ineffectiveness (she had a couple of blocks), I assume Davis must be injured. Anybody know anything?

Some of the issues that plagued the Gopher vs Texas & Florida, particularly their serve-receive, remain. The Gophers had only slightly more official receiving errors than the Ducks, but Shaffmaster scrambled around chasing mediocre first-passes a lot more often Oregon’s setter. And it seemed to me (I’m watching this on a low-def PAC-12 broadcast), that Landfair was the Ducks favorite target. I have no idea how much Palabiyik will help, when she is finally available, but I am anxious to see her try. Anybody know anything?

Other than our serve-receive, I thought our digging was good – Oregon didn’t burn us with dinks as much as some teams have. Oregon’s was too. And both teams enjoyed success with back-row hitting. In addition to Hanson, the Gophs got back-row kills from Landfair and Grote, and the Ducks were effective from middle-back. The total score was 110 to 104, and Set 5 went into overtime; but in the end, the Gophers’ .323 hitting % was enough better than the Ducks’ .262 to secure the victory.

TOMORROW NIGHT: STANFORD AT STANFORD

(See my note, earlier today, on how to watch.)

This weekend’s matches are part of the Big 10 / PAC 12 Challenge, tonight vs #6 Ranked Oregon, at 6:30 p.m., and tomorrow vs  #5 Ranked Stanford, at 9:00 p.m. (depending on the length of the earlier match).

But these matches are apparently not being broadcast on the Big 10 Network, as one might expect, only on the PAC 12 Network. Some GopherVBallRocks readers winter in Arizona, and might have the PAC 12 Network, but I don’t. 

Avid GopherVBallRocks reader M.C. suggested that one can purchase a 1-week trial of the PAC 12 Network, and then cancel it at no charge. So I have performed step 1. We shall see how easy step 2 turns out to be. Good Luck.

The Gopher V-Ball glass definitely looked half-empty this morning, as our Gophers lost in 3 sets at Florida, 22-25, 18-25, 22-25.  Florida is a good team, fresh off a 3-set win over Stanford at Stanford, and the Gators’ digging was outstanding. But once again, the Gophs struggled to receive serve. Oddly, given the success Texas had picking on Landfair, Florida picked on The Wooker instead – with similar results. Our receive was especially problematic when Landfair and Wooker lined up side-by-side.  

The Gophs put together a couple of nice runs, including a 6-0 run in Set 1 with Landfair serving (2 aces); and an 8-3 run in Set 3 (using the 6-2), both time coming back to make these sets close – but were unable to win either set.

We saw what seemed (watching on TV vs in-person, it is difficult to follow the substitutions) a few new wrinkles as Coach Cook continues to search for an everyday lineup:

• At one point, Hanson took Wookers’ place in our receive (not sure if she subbed-in for Wooker, or for our Opposite, as she has previously done). 
• Our 6-2 in Set 3, with Elise McGhee serving and setting, produced the 8-3 run referenced above.
• Opposite Grote seemed to hit effectively in Set 1, but was  benched (maybe?) for Crowl (who dinks too much for my taste). Maybe Hanson was in for Shaffmaster?
• Receiving in Rotation #2, Landfair hit on the right-side. I don’t recall ever seeing her do that before. (She was not effective.)
• Freshman Calissa Minatee played, her first action since the exhibition vs N. Iowa,. (Davis did not?)

It is a long season, and the goal is to be playing strong in December, so I advise against panicking. But with two tough road games next weekend against Oregon and Stanford, our Gophs could come home with 2 wins & 4 losses (1 & 4 vs ranked teams). And the pressing issue, in my mind, is our serve-recieve. 

As “hitters” go, I continue to think that Landfair & Wooker can be the best pair of Left-sides in the country, and adding Grote, maybe the  best trio of Outsides in the country. But this 3-person serve-recieve with Murr, Landfair & Wooker killed the Gophs vs Texas & Florida. If that remains our receive for the rest of the season, Landfair & Wooker will have to receive a lot better for the Gophers to beat elite teams.

Maybe Hanson is the answer. Maybe Palabiyik is the answer. Maybe Grote or Crowl is the answer. But right now, the glass looks half-empty.

Having lost their season opener to Long Beach State, the Longhorns were no longer #1 entering the Pav. But they were big enough and “bad” enough to spank the Gophers in 4 sets, 14-25, 25-23, 17-25 & 23-25. One could argue that the Gophers came close, in that Set 4 was tied at 23-23, and if the Gophs had pulled that out, who knows how Set 5 might have gone. OR, you could look at the overall score, 79 to 98 in favor of Texas, and conclude that it wasn’t close.

One could say that Texas earned the victory by hitting better, a success rate of .234 vs the Gophs .156. But I don’t think so. Keeping with that theme, maybe Texas served better, 10 aces versus 3 for the Gophs (they had the same # of service errors). But I don’t buy that either. Or you could flip that statistic and note that Texas received better, 3 errors vs 10 for the Gophs – but that’s also misleading.

Taylor Landfair committed 7 of the Gophers’ receiving errors – more than the rest of the Gophs and all of the Longhorns combined. And even that’s misleading, because the official scorer only assigns a serve-receive error for balls shanked unplayable; this stat doesn’t count Landfair’s 20 or so (I do not have an accurate count) poor receives, so poor that the Gopher hitters (including Landfair) were unable to mount an attack, essentially returning a free ball. There were a few poor receives by other players on both teams, but again, I think Landfair’s 27 failed or poor receives were probably more than the rest of the Gophs and all of the Longhorns combined. The Longhorns picked on Landfair without mercy, predominantly with short serves (I felt she did okay with long serves). Is that poor sportsmanship? No! This isn’t a church picnic, this is D1 volleyball; teams are supposed to serve at their opponents weakest passer. 

And I think Landfair’s approximately 27 failed or poor receives was the difference in the match. To my eye, the serving and setting and hitting and blocking was about equal; it was Landfair’s receiving that made the score 79 to 98 in favor of Texas.

Am I saying it was all Landfair’s fault? No, I am not. At 6-5, Landfair was the tallest person on the court; taller than our Middles, and taller than the Texas Middles. And it is hardly a secret that tall players have trouble with short serves. I was about Landfair’s height, and during my competitive (double-B) career I was often the tallest player – and my teammates wouldn’t allow me to receive serve; when I was front row, they hid me at the net, and backrow I stood behind someone. But D1 is not bar-league V-Ball; we have a coaching staff. I do not understand why our coaching staff allowed Texas to pick on Landfair all night long. TCU and Baylor did the same thing and we got away with it; but Texas was too good.

And poor passing isn’t the only problem created by Landfair’s receiving struggles. Three matches into the season, The Wooker has 44 kills and a .261 success rate, vs Landfair’s 27 kills and a .103 success rate. Is that because Wooker is a much better hitter than Landfair? I don’t think so. Landfair can’t hit when she’s lying on the floor, and she can’t get her confidence up when she knows her receiving is hurting her team.

Landfair is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, and she deserved that award. But we are asking her to do too much.

Do we not have other options? The highly regarded (reportedly the #1 U-18 Libero in Europe this summer) Zevnep Palabiyik is on the bench in street clothes – apparently related to an eligibility issue (I do not understand the details). Hopefully, The eligibility issue will get straightened out soon, and hopefully Palabiyik will take over the D.S. position, and will reduce Landfair’s serve-receive responsibilities by half.

In the meantime, we’re playing Julia Hanson in the rotation spot where a D. S. would normally play. But Hanson hides behind Landfair in the receive; we use her exclusively as a backrow hitter. She’s very good at it; she had 4 kills and a .364 success rate in tonight’s match vs Texas, which are excellent numbers for a backrow hitter (far better than Landfair or Wooker from backrow). But Hanson had zero receive attempts – because we have her hiding behind Landfair! Who was killing us. Maybe Landfair is a better receiver in practice than Hanson (this would surprise me, but I’m not there), but when an opponent is consistently serving Landfair short, we should be positioning her forward and having Hanson take the long serves.

Here’s another way to look at it. Last year, Jenna Wenaas was our best serve-receiver, even better than CC McGraw. This year Wenaas plays for Texas – and Texas doesn’t let Wenaas receive! Presumably because they have 3 better receivers on the floor in most rotations. We can’t keep letting opponents pick on Landfair.

NEXT UP: At #8 Florida, Sunday, Sept 3. ESPNU

Our Gophers swept Baylor 25-20, 25-21, 25-11. Still not knowing if the glass is half-full or half-empty, and watching the Gophs drop last night’s Set 1 to unranked TCU, I was genuinely worried about tonight’s match with #15 Baylor. (The Strib’s Jeff Day described the Gophs’ performance as “lackadaisical.” Not a term I would have used; my guess is that Day hasn’t watched enough volleyball to understand that it’s a game of momentum.)

I wouldn’t say I panicked, exactly, but giving Baylor an 0-3 lead in tonight’s Set 1 didn’t help my confidence either. But I was wrong to worry; the Gophers pulled ahead 5-4, and never trailed by more than 1 point the rest of the match. By Set 3, Baylor looked eager to get to the bus. (Wisconsin rolled over TCU as expected; not a good weekend for the Texas teams at the Pav.) “The Wooker,” with 16 kills vs TCU added 14 more vs Baylor, earning the Big 12 Challenge MVP Award. 

Other things I was wrong about:

• In my “Setting the Lineup” post from Wednesday, I told you that Crowl would be pushed by Grote, but likely emerge as our Starting Opposite. Then last night I reported that Grote took the floor for Set 1 of the season opener and dominated, with 6 kills in Set 1, and 11 for the match. (Crowl played briefly, in the 6-2, no kills.) So obviously Grote is our Starting Opposite. And Grote started tonight vs Baylor. But Grote was benched, with no kills, halfway through tonight’s Set 2, in favor of Crowl, who racked up 7 kills in a set and a half. (Grote played briefly, in the 6-2, and earned 2 kills, but this was after Baylor had thrown in the towel.) Best guess: we have two talented Opposites and, at least for now, Coach Cook will ride the hot hand.
• In my “Setting the Lineup” post from Wednesday, I told you that our Middles were weak, and last night’s match vs TCU confirmed this, 4 kills and 4 blocks combined, in 4 sets. Not good. And this story mostly continued through tonight’s first two sets. Then suddenly, in Set 3, our Middles woke up (4 kills combined, 6 for the Match), and Owoleye dominating the set with her blocking – 10 for the night, 6 in Set 3. So dominate, that #15 ranked Baylor finished the match with a Hitting % of .000. (For the uninitiated, Kills minus Errors divided by Attempts equals Hitting %; so, tormented by Awoleye, and the Gopher digging (Murr mostly, but also Wooker Shaffmaster and Landfair), Baylor had as many errors as kills.

Things I was right about: 

• Our serve-receive sucks, especially without a real D.S. (I think Palabiyik will eventually be our D.S., when her eligibility gets cleared up). Hanson has filled the D.S. position these first two matches – and played very well! But she’s not part of our serve-receive. I saw Murr becoming increasingly assertive, which is good, but both TCU and Baylor have had success serving at Landfair, and future opponents are likely to follow this strategy. It’s not that Landfair is a terrible passer, she isn’t; but when they pick on her over and over, she does make errors. And I worry that receiving errors will get in her head and affect her offense.
• In my “Half-full or Half-empty” post from a week ago, I said that “the Gophers might have the best pair of Left-Side Hitters in the country.” It is still too early to be sure, but their combined performance these first two matches have done nothing to make that analysis look bad. So far, it’s been more Wooker than Landfair, but my guess is that this will even-out over the season. And it could be that first two opponents were focussing more attention on Landfair – which will also even-out. But I will say, Landfair looks timid at times; Wooker never does.

NEXT UP: The Big, Bad, #1 Texas Longhorns, on Tuesday.