Author: jktrpp

Golden Gopher  Single-game tickets will be available for (Football, Soccer, and) Volleyball next week: 9 AM on Tuesday, July 18 for Season Ticket Holders, and 9 AM on Thursday, July 20 for the General Public.

Reader R.A. (a different R.A., than our most prolific R.A.) calls our attention to the fact that the MN State H.S. League has finally approved Boys Volleyball as an official H.S. sport. (see ‘CCO story at https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/video/mshsl-approves-boys-volleyball-as-official-sport/

As a guy with 4 grandsons, ages 12, 9, 9, & 1, I can’t wait to watch their varsity careers. The older 3 are into soccer right now, but c’mon? And how much longer before the Gophers add Men’s V-Ball as a varsity sport? (They currently have a Club Team.)

NOTE: In my last post, I mentioned the upcoming exhibition match with Kansas St. on April 22, in Indianola. I assume that this match took place, but I couldn’t get there, no hint of any of our readers getting there, no broadcast or even streaming, and no coverage in the media or even on the Gopher V-ball website. So who knows? Frustrating!

OTHER NEWS:

• Coach Cook is the Head Coach of the USA U-19 team currently competing in a PanAm Tournament in Puerto Rico.
• And incoming freshman Middle Calissa Minatee is part of this U-19 squad.
• And “The Wooker” will be part of the USA U-21 team which will compete in a PanAm Tournament in Mexico later this month.

Last evening, our Gopher volleyball team hosted a squad of professional volleyball players, all former collegiate stars, representing Athletes Unlimited; this same squad scheduled to play the Badgers in Madison this evening. For a $7 admission, I was expecting to see talented athletes playing high level volleyball – and that’s what I, and roughly 3,000 other area volleyball fans, saw. No complaints, there. I was also expecting to see our undermanned Gopher get beat – and hardly any shame to that. But I didn’t. Nor was I particularly entertained.

“Spring Volleyball” matches, at least the women’s collegiate version, to my knowledge an entirely post-pandemic phenomena, are “exhibitions.” The NDSU match ten days ago, and the three I saw last spring, in a variety of venues, had all the characteristics of exhibition matches:

• Two college teams;
• Both trying to win, if substituting freely;
• In front of a free-admission audience;
• Keeping score – but without recorded stats; and
• The winner obvious, if unofficial.

But what we saw last night was more of a “scrimmage,” a chance to see some of our favorite athletes in action – but not a competitive or contested “match.” Perhaps a competitive, contested match was impossible, given that our Gophers only had one Middle, Arica Davis, available. Calissa Minatee, who played reasonably well against the height-challenged Bison last week, was present, and in uniform, but never stepped on the court despite the very-free lineup juggling. She was either injured or “in the dog-house” for some reason. I was looking forward to seeing how our height-challenged pair of Middles would fare against full-sized professionals. Instead:

• Set 1  (Gophs, 25-23) was contested with Davis and 6-3 Illinois-Grad Ali Bastianelli playing Middle for the Gophs, and former Gopher favorite Taylor (Morgan) Reid playing Middle for A.U.
• In Set 2 (A.U. 25-27), Taylor played for the Gophs and Bastianelli  for the Gophs, Also in Set 2, the Gophs played a 6-2, with Eilse McGhei and Julia Hanson sharing time with starters Melani Shaffmaster and Lauren Crowl. Notable in the Set 2 loss, was the Gophers total ineptitude at covering A,U. dinks to our middle-of-the-court “doughnut.”
• In Set 3 (technically won by the Gophers, but which Gophers?), A.U. provided both “Gopher” Middles, while McGhei, Wooker and Crowl played for A.U.
• And more mix-&-match in Set 4.

Though a very different experience than I had expected, it was, never-the-less, possible to observe the performance of individual Gophers:

• Left-side hitters Taylor Landfair and “The Wooker” were not outplayed by the professionals. If anything, they seemed to out-perform the A.U. Left-side hitters. As I’ve previously said, the ’23 Gophers should have the best pair of Left-side hitters in collegiate volleyball.
• I had Wooker with 2 service- aces against 5 errors; not exactly the ace/error ratio we want, but she served very aggressively throughout the match, which was nice to see. And
• One of the A.U. receivers Wooker was serving to was former Stanford Star Libero Morgan Hentz – who DOMINATED! Best one-match performance by a Libero I’ve ever seen. If Buckeye-transfer Kylie Murr, not yet arrived (finishing her degree, maybe?), is anywhere near as good, this team with Murr is going to be much better than the team we fielded last night.
• Meanwhile, our Gophs were making do with Skylar Gray at Libero. Gray is presumably the heir-apparent at D.S., but unless this 3^rd-yr player from Maple Grove improves dramatically between now and September, we need other options. (McGei, maybe? An incoming walk-on freshman?)
• One of our “starting-lineup” serve-receive rotations featured Crowl hitting left-side, Wooker hitting right-side (i.e., both out of position), and a 3-person receive of Landfair, Wooker and Gray. Remember last season, when our receiving was often problematic? Landfair was our weakest receiver, who opponents picked on, and Wooker and Gray weren’t considered good enough to help.
• Frankly, I expected Melani Shaffmaster to be out-played by former Badger Star Sidney Hilley, but the difference in their setting wasn’t obvious. (Hilley definitely saved more errant passes.)
• Crowl continued to look good. She’s no Sammedy, and not the 6-rotation player Wenaas was. But Crowl might prove as effective a Right-side hitter as Wenaas was.
• Davis looked good (as good as a 5-11 Middle is likely to look) and Julia Hanson played much better than she had vs NDSU.

NEXT UP: Kansas St, 1:00 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Simpson College (1/2 hr south of Des Moines)

ALSO: Congratulations to the Gopher Men’s and Women’s Hockey Teams making the Final Four; let’s hope the Men have better luck.

Our Gophers entertained NDSU this evening in their first Spring Match of 2023 played in what we used to call the “Lower 48.” And swept 4 sets, 25-15, 25-19, 25-16, 25-17, from the vertically-challenged Bison.

As one would expect, Taylor “Shock & Awe” Landfair, the #1 national recruit in the Class of 2020, and McKenna “The Wooker” Wucherer, the #1 national recruit in the Class of 2022, scored almost at will against the Packer-colored Bison. I had (there are no official stats for these Spring Matches) Landfair with 12 kills (including 3 dinks and 2 back-row kills), and Wooker with 16 kills (including 2 right-side attacks and 1 from the back-row): both in the 3 sets they played. Wooker played all 6-rotations (which she never did last year) and served strong. And I thought Shaffmaster played well.

The positive surprises included:

• Lauren Crowl looked very good hitting right-side, with 10 kills in 3 sets (including 1 from the back-row and 1 from the left-side. (There is one serve-receive position where Crowl hits left-side and Wooker hits right-side because it is too difficult to switch during the receive.) Crowl has potential competition from sophomore Julia Hanson and freshman Sydney Schnichels, but Crowl looked like the starter to me.
• Back-up setter Elise McGhie, who earned playing time as a designated server last year. McGhie continued her strong serving, and looked decent as “the other” setter in a 6-2 used in sets 3 & 4.
• Freshman Middle Calissa Minatee, who I had with 6 kills (mostly on “quicks”) and 6 blocks.
• And returning Middle Arica Davis, last years portal acquisition, who I had with 6 kills and a couple of blocks.

(Worth remembering, of course, that NDSU was under-sized, as are Minatee and Davis.)

The disappointments included:

• Sophomore Hanson and freshman Schnichels, neither of whom showed me much when on the court, and
• Skylar Gray, who handled the Libero duties.

In-Transfers not in attendance included:

• Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Libero Kylie Murr.
• Middle Phoebe Awoleye
• Opposite Lydia Grote

Maybe they aren’t allowed to participate in Spring Matches – or maybe they are still taking classes at their previous schools?

Murr will definitely be our starting Libero when she’s eligible. That drops Gray to D.S. – where she should get competition from McGhie or Hanson.

NEXT UP:  ATHLETES UNLIMITED,* April 4, 7:00 (not free)

* Athletes Unlimited is a professional team made up of former collegiate players, and Olympic candidates. The name that jumps out at me is former Champlain Park and Wis Badger setter Sydney Hilley.

With time to think about it, I could probably think of several reasons why living in Minneapolis is better than living in Fargo — but here’s one:

Tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., the Gopher volleyball team takes on NDSU in a free-admission Spring Match at the Pav. The Gophs first two Spring Matches, vs the Rainbow Wahini, in Honolulu, both went 5 sets, but tomorrow’s match should be over in time to slip to a nearby bar where, for the price of a cold beverage, one can watch the 3rd period of the Gopher men’s hockey team (also starting at 5:00 p.m., but in Fargo) vs St Cloud State. A Fargo resident who cared might be able to score a pricey ticket for the hockey game, but the volleyball match will not be televised. Count on reading about it here.

Happy to report a second, nail biting. five-set win over the very solid Rainbow Wahinis.

Gopher serving was the best I’ve seen, especially the 6 aces by Wooker and 3 by Davis. And Hanson, who contributed minimally in the front row (.061 on 33 attempts), but sealed the win in Set 5 with a match-point kill, also had 3 aces, including 2 in the decisive final set. I hate service errors, so this was pure pleasure.

Hard to confirm from stats alone, but it seemed that:

• Wooker was effective (.432 with 19 kills);
• Landfair, not so much (.188);
• Davis and Minatee were effective at Middle;
• Gray struggled again at Libero;
• And the Gophs struggled when Shaffmaster was not on the floor. (Coach Cook testing other options, perhaps.)

I’m looking forward to seeing our Gophs back at the Pav. Already got my senior ticket for Athletes Unlimited.

R.A. also reports that the

• March 25 match vs North Dakota State is at 5:00; and
• April 4 match vs Athletes Unlimited is at 7:00.

I suppose the Hawaii Trip is fun for the team (they’re missing out on our Hockey Tournament Blizzard), and maybe good for recruiting, but it’s disappointing for fans who wanted to watch — no broadcast, or even a match summary on the official website. But fortunately for GOPHERVBALLROCKS readers, Special Correspondent R.A. stayed up for the 11:00 p.m. start of the live stream of last night’s match.

R.A.’s report: The Rainbow Wahini are perennially strong, making this a good win, especially as the Gophers fought back from 1-2 after a bad Set 3 loss.  It’s not like Hawaii could claim jet lag. While only seeing live stats isn’t ideal, several things interested me about last night’s match vs Hawaii. It gradually occurred to me Coach Cook was experimenting with his personnel:

• Junior Skylar Gray (Maple Grove) played Libero, and seemed to struggle. (Reigning Big Ten Defensive Kylie Murr did not play.)
• Julia Hansen started the last three sets, got 7 kills, and seemed to get a trial as the designated server.
• Landfair only played three sets, presumably to leave court time to others, and didn’t do much with her 30 chances (.167).
• Wooker didn’t find her footing in three sets (hitting errors, serving errors, receiving errors, but came alive, to combine with Crowl, to turn things around in sets 4 & 5, and led with 15 kills.  Whew!
• Crowl was solid in limited time, with 9 kills and a .381. 
• As was Davis, 5 kills, 4 blocks, and .571.  As much as I miss Booth, it was good to see solid middle play.

Another match at 11 tonight for those willing to stay up.

ADDITIONAL SPRING MATCHES ANNOUNCED

• March 25 (time?) North Dakota State at the Pav (free)
• April 4 (presumably evening) Athletes Unlimited at the Pav (not free).
• April 22 Kansas State at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.

ANOTHER MIDDLE IN THE MIX

I had previously pleaded for the Gophs to find another Middle in the Portal, especially one with a little more height, and it looks like they did, slightly. I didn’t notice the announcement, but the roster now includes 6-2 Senior Phoebe Awoleye

Awoleye played her freshman and sophomore seasons for the University of Georgia, and her junior year at Loyola Marymount. (But counting the covid-bonus, she ought to have 2 years of eligibility left.)

• Awoleye made the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2020.
• In her 2^nd season, she racked up 171 kills, (with a .309 hitting percentage), and 122 total blocks, fifth in total blocks in the SEC.
• At LMU, her 221 kills (.379) and 114.5 blocks earned her First Team All-WCC honors. 

DAUGHTER TESSA OUT-COACHED

This isn’t V-ball related, but it’s a cute story. Tessa and son Ethan both coach their 8 yr-old sons on rival Park Board basketball teams. Naturally. both claim to be the better coach. But last Saturday, though winning, Tessa was definitely out-classed. The opposing coach was Cheryl Reeve; Tessa has yet to win a single WNBA title.

Gopher Volleybal’s “Spring Season” is kind of a new thing, at least to me. Youth-club volleyball had long been a winter-spring sport, but until recently, to my knowledge, “Spring Season” Gopher Volleyball consisted of low-key practices and inter-squad games; competitive Volleyball was strictly a Fall activity. But since covid pushed the 2020 season to the Spring of ’21, Spring Exhibition matches have become standard.

Last year, the Gophers played a 4-match Spring Season, mostly against 2^nd-tier D1 teams, 1 match at the Pav, 2 others in MN high schools (I attended all 3), and a 4^th match, vs Kansas, at a H.S. south of Des Moines.

This year, the Gophers will play a pair of matches against the University of Hawaii’s Rainbow Wahine, on Tuesday, March 7 and Wednesday, March 8, in Honolulu, both matches at 7 p.m. local time. The press release notes that this is 11 p.m. Mpls time, but there is no mention of these matches being televised or even streamed (I very much doubt that they will be), so what does Mpls time matter? Also not mentioned in the press release are additional matches back here in the frozen North; I’m hoping there will be a match or two, but maybe not.

I actually have a very good friend (not a VBaller) who was born and raised in Hawaii, and is herself a Rainbow Wahine alum; and Maureen and I have spent time with her in her hometown of Hilo. But I won’t be there this year. IF ANY GOPHERVBALLROCKS READER IS PLANNING TO BE IN HAWAAI IN EARLY MARCH (a lot of Minnesotans do), PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

COACHING STAFF SET In the meantime, new Gopher Head Coach Keegan Cook has rounded out his coaching staff with:

• Associate Head Coach Kristen Kelsay. After playing VBall for Michigan State, serving as a team captain for three years, Kelsay was an assistant coach for four years with Michigan State (2015-18) and three more with Northwestern (2019-21), where she helped sign a 2022 recruiting class ranked top-15.
• Assistant Coach Eric Barber. Barber played collegiately at UC San Diego, then spent three seasons on UCLA’s volleyball staff. “Eric Barber was one of the best kept coaching secrets on the west coast,” said Cook.
• And Volunteer Coach Kylin Muñoz. Munoz played for Cook at Washington, where  she also led the team to four NCAA appearances, including one trip to the Final Four. After graduating, Muñoz spent time with the Women’s U.S. National Team, played professionally in Germany, and has coached for several years, most recently at  Loyola Marymount.

SEND $ ?

When I started this blog 3 years ago, I said it was entirely non-commercial. It is and will continue to be; there are no ads or fees. My season tickets went up for next fall, as did the cost of BTN+, but I would purchase both whether I’m blogging about it or not.

A blog, however, requires a “blog host,” and there are fees for that. My initial contract expired, and I recently renewed with BlueHost and WordPress, for $300/yr. (No doubt someone will direct me to a cheaper site, but I’d have to learn a new system, and I already renewed.) So, if regular readers of GopherVBallRocks would care to send a modest contribution toward this expense, my address is John Trepp at 1610 E. Minnehaha Pkwy, Mpls, 55407.

Also, I have previously mentioned my interest in upgrading the graphic design of GopherVBallRocks. I believe that the tools needed come with my blog-host are adequate, so there is no additional expense involved for this. But as many of you have noticed, my tech skills are minimal; and granddaughter Peaches has not stepped up as hoped. Anyone else want to give it a shot?

READERS WRITE:

Reader R.A, writes: “I’m concerned about a Middle, but Gray as DS may be more concerning (for a reason, only 2 SETS all season!) if that leaves us too often out of system.  Murr will help with that, but remember, Landfair was targeted all season in the back row (also for a reason).  My hope is that Keegan has another rabbit in his hat for DS, perhaps even before Middle.”

The Gophers have begun practicing for the 2023 spring season, including several new additions. Most impressive of which (on paper) is Big Ten 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Kylie Murr.  During her time at Ohio Stae, the Buckeyes made the Sweet 16 three-times, including the Elite Eight in her senior season in 2022. Before OSU, Murr played with Melani Shaffmaster on a Muncie club team that won back-to-back AAU national championships.

Readers may recall that Coach McCutcheon had recruited Laney Choboy, the #1 rated Libero in the H.S. Class of ’23 to replace the graduating C.C. McGraw, but after learning of our coaching change, Choboy defected to Nebraska. Murr is a Grad-Transfer with only one year of eligibility remaining, so we may yet regret the loss of Choboy. But Murr arrives with 4 yrs of Big Ten experience plus the Defensive Player of the Year title. This suggests that Murr out-played McGraw in 2022, and I’m guessing she will out-play Choboy in 2023. (Best guess, as of now, Skylar Gray will be our D.S.)

Said Murr. “When exploring my options, I was looking to be surrounded by amazing people, a place full of tradition, and to be a part of a competitive team.” 

AND MAYBE AN OPPOSITE?

Incoming freshmen include Willmar’s 6-4 Opposite Sydney Schnichels. Schnichels, the 2022 Minnesota Ms. Baden Award winner and the No. 1 overall recruit in Minnesota, was rated #20 in the country in PrepVolleyball.com, #22 on PrepDig, and “five-star” in VBallRecruiter.

With JennaWenaas transferred to Texas, the role of starting Opposite is up for grabs. Lauren Crowl and Julia Hanson, both returning as far as we know, will be candidates for the job, so Schnichels will have to play her way into the line-up. I look forward to watching this competition during the Spring Exhibition Season.

WE’RE SET (an understatement) AT LEFTSIDE

As far as we know, Big Ten 2022 Player of the Year Taylor Landfair will be back, with potentially 3 more years of eligibility (giving us, if she is, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year),. And, as far as we know, so will Big Ten All Freshman Team McKenna Wucherer (The Wooker). And if we need help at left-side, temporarily, we’ve got Hanson.

AND SHAFFMASTER IS BACK, BUT I DON’T SEE THE MIDDLES

Carter Booth is gone, worse yet, to Wisconsin. The current roster lists two Middles;

• 5-11 Junior Arica Davis emerged from last season’s competition to become “the other” starting Middle; and
• Incoming 6-1 freshmen Calissa Minatee from Kansas City. PrepVolleyball.com ranks Minatee as the No. 56 player in the 2023 class.  

Davis and Minatee are both very good volleyball players, and I hate to sell them short. But they are, literally, short. I don’t look forward to seeing the play against the 6-7 Booth.

STILL IN FLUX?

Throughout this post, I have used terms like “as of now,” and “current.” The “Transfer Portal” is still open, and it’s a “secret portal,” so we don’t know who else might be considering the Gophers. And there are vacancies on the Gopher roster. My Wish List:

1. We don’t lose anyone else;
2. We bring in a tall, top notch Middle.

If we could add one big, top-notch Middle, and let Davis and Minatee compete for the “other” spot, I’d be happy. Think positive!

Carter Booth, the Gophers best Middle this past season, our best Middle since at least Regan Pittman, and a freshman with potential to be the best Gopher Middle ever, is leaving. Booth’s father, a former NBA player, who attended many of Carter’s matches this past season, seems to to be a major influence in her life. In her statement, Carter said she left school (for the holidays) thinking she was staying, but after a long conversation with her parents, she decided that she “owed it to herself to explore her options.”

WORSE YET: Booth is transferring to Wisconsin! Coach Sheffield said that when he saw Booth’s name in “The Portal,” he reached out to her immediately. I’ll bet he did. Besides weakening the Gophers, Booth’s transfer makes the Badgers stronger. Booth could easily become the Badgers best player.

The Transfer Portal is a reality of modern, inter-collegiate sports, not likely to go away anytime soon. And one could argue that it’s a good thing; why should a talented young athlete be locked into playing her/his entire career at one school based on a decision made when she/he was 17? Especially if the promises (implied, if not literal) regarding coaching are broken.

But The Portal is brutal on teams with coaching changes. Under the stability of McCutcheon, the Gophers had experience minimal losses, mostly of players seeking more playing time elsewhere. (Notably Adanna Rollins, likely to lose her starting role anyway, and Lauren Barnes, stuck behind McGraw.) Minimal compared to when Russ Rose retired from Penn State, and the Nittany Lions’ whole team transferred. (The N. L.’s were surprisingly competitive this past season – but a long way from Final Four material.) When McCutcheon dropped his mid-season bombshell, I was worried this could happen to the Gophs. And it still could. We haven’t heard anything about Wooker, Shaffmaster or Hanson.  Landfair announced she was staying, but she can change her mind – as Booth apparently did. I sure hope not.

Perhaps The Portal will provide Coach Cook an opportunity to replenish the roster. This past season’s Huskie Roster included a promising sophomore Middle, Sophie Summers, and a promising sophomore Libero. Lauren Bays. (I’d have rather kept the players we had.) Very discouraging!