Author: jktrpp

Michigan is a good team, at #24, seemingly better than unranked Northwestern and playing at home, so I was nervous. But the Gophs dominated the Wolverines 25-12, 25-22, 25-13. The Gophs outhit the Wolverines .378 to .053, and out-blocked them 13-2. I think the Gophers have more talent than Michigan (almost anyone, really), but they don’t always exploit it the way they did tonight.

I couldn’t watch Set 1, or the first few points of Set 2 (see BTN doubleheader), but piecing together the announcers’ comments, the stats available on the official Gopher website (not everything I’d like), and the 1.8 sets I got to watch, the story was Landfair, Landfair, and more Landfair – hitting front row, hitting back row, and serving. She only had 1 ace, but she apparently had a long service-run in Set 1 (behind a front row of Wooker, Booth, and Shaffmaster) to set the tone for the match.

And our Middle duo of Gros & Booth, in only their second start together, put up a combined 12 kills and 11 blocks. As I said following their Middle-inspired win over Iowa, effective Middles are exactly what the Gophers need to realize their potential.

And while I’m repeating earlier thoughts, I wanted to mention again how good Shaffmaster is at contesting her own team’s overpasses. Serve-receive is the Gophers Achilles’ Heel, and far too many of our receives come down on the wrong side (our opponents’ side) of the net, i.e., an “overpass.” Generally, an overpass is an easy point for the other team, as it is very difficult to transition from thinking offense to playing defense, but Shaffmaster is so good at transitioning from setter to blocker (not an easy play) that she often gets at least a piece of a block, keeping the point alive.

So the Gophs are 3 & 2 in the Big Ten,with a chance to go 4 & 2 if we take care of business in East Lansing on Sunday afternoon. Pretty important to do that; the Gophs cannot keeping playing .500 ball and expect to compete for the Big Ten Title.

BTN DOUBLEHEADER

Prior to the Gopher/Michigan match, I had the chance to watch Penn St., who our Gophs play only once (at College Station), vs Ohio St, who the Gophs will play home and home. Penn St. came in with a 13 & 2 overall record and ranked #13; Ohio St.  had an overall record of 7 & 5 (same as the Gophs) and ranked #6. I thought, “I hope this doesn’t go 5 sets and keep BTN from broadcasting the Gophers first set – and of course that’s what happened. Ohio State eventually prevailed in 5 sets.

I hadn’t seen much of the Buckeyes, but I saw the Nittany Lions beat Stanford and Oregon in the BigTen/Pac 12 Challenge at the Pav. My impressions of them then: The Nittany Lions Outside Hitters were shorter than I expected, maybe a bit stockier, and incredibly powerful! I was also impressed by Penn St.’s digging and overall passing. 

Penn St.’s lack of height was less obvious on TV, but the power was there — the Lion Pins crush the ball. But the digging I saw at the Pav was missing in Sets 1 & 2, won easily by Ohio St. Penn St. serves more aggressively than Ohio St., which helped Penn St. win Sets 3 & 4. Ohio St responded by shifting from 3 receivers to 2 receivers for Set 5, which they won.

We get Ohio State at the Pav on Wednesday.

R.A. writes: I want to correct my impression of Wooker from the preseason exhibition matches, where she was running all over the court, I thought ineffectively.  She has become the brightest spot in the lineup, the player most likely to put power behind her shots.  She is predictable at times — she will learn — plus some of those shots still result in kills.  I’m disappointed to see her leave when McGhie serves.  I presume that means Wooker needs to work on serves and back-row defense, but again, she’s a freshman and will learn.  She deserves her #1 ranking.

John: “We are all re-thinking our early impressions as the season unfolds. Possibly, McCutcheon wants to ease his freshmen into the line-up, without putting too many expectations on them; or he really likes McGhie and thinks she has earned the opportunity?”

It took 4 sets to get the win, 25-19, 25-22, 24-26, 25-17.

I don’t want to be that guy who wants my team to crush every opponent, and I don’t want to disparage Iowa, though they seem a weak link in the powerful Big Ten. But losing this afternoon’s 3^rd set was a reminder of how we lost to Northwestern.

The Gophs appeared intense in Set 1, jumping out to leads of 8-5, 13-9, and 20-13 before coasting to the 25-19 win. I recorded 2 “bad” serve-receive and 1 “ugly” serve-receives. (I’ve switched my categorizations of Gopher serve-receives to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.)

They looked less intense in Set 2, taking a 9-6 lead, falling behind at 13-15, tying it up at 19-19, before winning 25-22. I recorded 2 bad and 2 ugly receives.

In Set 3, they looked to me, from row 14, like a team thinking, “We are so much better than this opponent that we can’t lose.” Our Gophs promptly fell behind 4-9, & 8-13. We pulled ahead at 17-14, and then fell apart to lose 24-26. I recorded 7 bad receives, and 2 uglies. Obviously, not every point surrender is due to insufficient intensity; other teams make good plays and other teams get lucky. (Like the Vikings did in London this morning.) But it is my perception that the Gophers are susceptible to over-confidence.

In Set 4, perhaps shaken up by losing a set to what appears to be the worst team in the Big Ten, the Gophs came out blazing, taking leads of 8-2, 14-8, and 20-9, before coasting home. I recorded 4 bad receives and 1 ugly.

Reader D.S. reports that Coach McCutcheon has publicly said that he expects his teams to develop internal leadership, rather than to depend on the coaching staff. Okay, seems plausible – but they’d better develop some soon.

BACK TO SERVE RECEIVE: It is not at all unusual for the tallest player in a volleyball team’s serve-receive, to be weak link in said serv-receive (I have been), and Taylor Landfair, at 6-5, towers over our other serve-recievers. The Gophs typically employ a 3-person receive, always including McGraw and Wennas, plus either Landfair or Kilkelly. Don’t get me wrong, Landfair is a superb, all-around volleyball player, and a decent passer; but when the choice is Landfair, McGraw or Wennas, Landfair is clearly the weak link. And besides being the weak link, opposing teams want to wear Landfair out by making her dig, so they target her as much as possible.

One reason McCutcheon wants to keep Landfair on the court during her back-row rotations is that she is our only credible back-row attacker. We are now into the third season of feeding back-row sets to Wenaas, and I doubt that her back-row hitting percentage is a plus-number.

One option is to keep everything the same, hoping that Landfair’s passing will improve from good to great, and that Wenaas will become effective on her back-row attacks. But I see another option. I haven’t seen enough of Wooker recieving to feel certain that she is a strong receiver; I don’t see her every in practice like the coaching staff does. But she is clearly a very talented all-around player; and it seems likely that Wooker, 4 inches shorter than Landfair, would be a stronger receiver.

Playing Wooker back-row instead of Landfair would likely take away one of the Gophs offensive weapons (Landfair hitting back-row). But Landfair hitting back-row would become less important if we could start counting on offense from our Middles and our Opposite, And that’s exactly what is developing.

• In the Gophs first ten matches, we got significant offensive productivity from the Right-side only once, Julie Hanson’s 14-kills against Texas (a match not televised in this market). We got next to nothing from Hanson, Crowl or Wenaas in the other nine.
• But in our last 2 matches (admittedly, against Northwestern and Iowa), Wenaas has become an offensive threat. She had 12 kills against Northwestern (I think 10 from the Right-side), and 10 this afternoon against Iowa (9 Right-side). Exactly what the Gophers need.
• And the Gophers suddenly, today, discovered the “slide-attack,” which Regan Pittman and the Tapp Sisters excelled at, but which had gone missing so far this season.
• By my count, The Gopher Middles combined scored 2 “slide-kills” in 4 sets vs Wash St., 2 in 3 sets vs Purdue, 1 in 3 sets vs Wisconsin, and 2 in 5 sets vs Northwestern; in other words, a total of 7 “slide-kills” spread over our last 15 sets.
• But  this afternoon, Booth and Gros combined for 11 “slide-kills” in 4 sets. Sure, it was Iowa, but it’s like being in a gun-fight and discovering another gun in your pocket that you didn’t know you had. Again, exactly what the Gophers need.

And yes, I said Gros, as in Naya Gros, who started and tallied a total of 12 kills and 5 blocks – looking like she belonged in the starting line-up, and Carter Booth (5 kills & 9 blocks). Ellie Husemann, who had consistently been one of our starting Middles through the first 11 matches, was on the bench, not displaying any obvious injuries.

Last season, the Gopher carried 4 Middles (for 2 spots on the court), and by the end of the season Husemann established herself as a “starter,” along with Katie Myers. But, honestly, it was more a lack of productivity by the other 2, than spectacular productivity by Husemann. And that had sort of been true to start this season: Booth and Gros had both been erratic (Davis less than that) vs the steady but unspectacular Husemann. But Gros and Booth were both productive. today. I’m guessing they will get the starts on Friday at Ann Arbor, and will continue to start ahead of Husemann as long as they produce.

BTW: Landfair, while struggling a bit with her serve-receives, racked up 25 kills. I had her with 19 Left-side power kills, 3 back-row power kills, and 3 dink-kills. Landfair remains the only remotely effective dinker on the team; Wenaas keeps trying, as do Wooker and Shaffmaster, but all with rare success. Of course Landfair’s dinking success has less to do with her dinking-touch than with the fear she puts into the hearts of the opposing team when she gets a good set.

Landfair remains mostly reluctant to attack an imperfect set. (Wooker will, occasionally with success.) I can’t read Landfair’s mind of course, but it’s almost as if she’s thinking, “I’ll just keep this one in play — and crush the next one.” That worked against Iowa, but “the next one” might not come along against better teams. Landfair does have 35% of the team’s season kills, and an impressive 4.57 kills per set avg.

NEXT UP:

• At Michigan (12 & 2 overall, 3 & 1 Big Ten, they beat Northwestern but nobody good) on Friday, and
• At Michigan State (10 & 5 overall, 1 & 3 Big Ten, including a loss to Rutgers) on Sunday afternoon. 

Reader R.A. agrees with CB’s comment: “I sit close enough to the court to see facial expressions.  During the loss to Pepperdine, players laughed when they made mistakes. I would prefer grimaces, followed by an effort to do better the next time.” 

JOHN: I don’t know how much I want to read into facial expressions, but if this team wants to win Championships, something has to change. This might be where they miss Seliger-Swenson and Samedy, even more than their physical skills.

C.B. writes: “I don’t know that much about volleyball, but I do know sports. And my impression is that the main problem with this team is effort.  I think that you were saying that in your anecdote about the 16 and U team that you were coaching years ago.

Against Purdue, the Gophers lost big in the first set. Then, while seeming to try harder, they were very close in the second set .  In the third, finally desperate, they pushed the score well past 25. 

Against Wisconsin, they seemed to bring intensity from the beginning.  But after wining 2 sets, they had a bit of a let down (or maybe WIS turned it up). Then, near the end of the third set, the Gophers became desperate, not wanting to go to a 4^th set.

And against Northwestern, they started with big leads in at least the 1st three sets, only to let them get away.

To win at this level, where every team has good players, the Gophers need to develop a killer instinct, and to overcome the lure of over-confidence against lower-rated competition.”

JOHN: I saw some of what C.B. writes about at the end of the 5th set vs NW. At 13-13, there was a point where the Gophers made miraculous save after miraculous save. They ended up losing that point, and soon the match, but I can’t help but think that if the Gophs had played the whole match with that intensity, the result would have been different.

C.B. was one of the top competitors I’ve ever seen – in any sport. Never dirty, but incredibly intense — even in practice. I remember chatting with him after a game, years ago, when he explained what made him so tough. “Well obviously, the goal is to physically dominate the guy you are matched up against, whoever it might be. To convince him that I am not only physically stronger (which C.B. generally was), but that I want it more than he does (which C.B. always did). If you can establish that early, he might decide it isn’t that important who wins this game.”

I told you a month ago that this was a very good team, a Final Four Team, even. And I wasn’t the only one. We were rated #7 going into the Northwestern Match (despite a 6 & 4 record); the Stanford coach said we had the most powerful offense in the country: the Strib’s Patrick Reusse wrote that only a National Championship could be considered real success for this team. Were we all wrong? It certainly appears so. I would never have imagined that we would be 6 & 5 overall, 4 & 3 at the Pav, at this point.

I don’t want to disparage the Northwestern Volleyball Team, they played their hearts out and deserved to win. Their first win! They haven’t finished over .500 in years, and they are unlikely to be this year. They don’t have a line-up full of top recruits; they don’t have one of the most respected coaches in the country; the Gophers have an International Hall of Fame Coach and more top recruits than can fit on the court at the same time.

I have written about the fact that top freshman Wooker was injured to start the season — but Wooker’s healthy and playing well (16 kills last night). Earlier yesterday, I wrote about the fact that Wooker’s insertion into the line-up has bumped Wenaas to Opposite, where she had been ineffective — but last night was Wenaas’s break-out game at Opposite, with 12 kills and 7 blocks. I have written about the fact that freshman middle Booth was struggling — but last night she had 9 kills and 8 blocks. Did Landfair, Shaffmaster and McGraw stick up the court? Nope; they played reasonably well — overall the Gophs marginally dominated the net, out-hitting NW .216 to .167, and out-blocking them 15 to 12.5.

So how could we lose? Bad passing, at least in sets 1 & 4. Daughter and former H.S. star Phoebe went with me last night, and I had her tally “good,” “mediocre,” and “failed” serve-receives – using her standards/judgement. Phoebe’s scoring: Set1, which we lost 22-25, 7 failed receives; Set2, which we won 25-21, 2 failed receives; Set3, which we won 25-17, 1 failed receive; Set4, which we lost 20-25, 7 failed receives. The differences, at least for these 4, 25-pt sets, were dramatic. Serve-receive was not the problem in Set 5, where, from 13-13, the Wildcats had the Gophs out of system continually, 13-15. But we shouldn’t be playing a 5^th set against Northwestern!

Some other minor aggravations (not as serious as our poor passing):

• Though a senior, Husemann still can’t polish off an opponent’s overpass. Booth can, and Husemann had plenty of opportunities last night, with NW making desperate digs of balls hit by Wooker & Landfair. But Husemann can’t do it.
• We were terrible on back-row attacks. Back-row attacks are a nice change of pace from over-reliance on left-side attacks – if they work. I can’t remember Wenaas ever putting away a back-row attack (despite scores of attempts over the last 3 years, last night she whiffed on one). But Landfair can be effective (she had 4 back-row kills against Wash. St.), but lately she steps on the 10-ft line. She appeared to have 3 back-row kills last night, but 2 of the 3 were violations. (This could be the setter’s fault, but I don’t think so.)
• All 6 servers made a service error last night. I’m previously on record as okay with that if our aggressive serving is giving our opponent trouble – but Kilkelly was the only one doing that.
• Coach McCutcheon is calm and encouraging on the bench. Ordinarily, I like that; I hate the P.J. Fleck / Tom Thibodeaux style of coaching. But when you’re losing to a team with half as much talent, a little intensity might be appropriate. (Once, when a 16U team I was coaching was losing to a team I thought inferior, I called a time-out and threw a tantrum about the fact that every single girl on the opposing team was wearing matching hair ties, “Are you really going to lose to a team that wears matching hair ties?” I screamed. We did not.

Several Readers had something to say about last night’s debacle, but first let me leave you a a few positive thoughts:

• It’s a long season, and the goal is to peak in late November/early December. This team that got swept by Purdue and beaten by Northwestern looks nothing like a Championship Team. But the talent is there.
• Kilkelly and McGhie served about half of the serves which resulted in points, and I thought Kilkelly did a particularly good job of forcing NW out of system.
• Wooker aggressively attacks good sets, and she aggressively attacks bad sets. (maybe that will rub off on Landfair.)

READERS WEIGH IN:

• R.A. writes “Booth was great.  NW played badly, won in five.”
• S.M. writes “Critical mistakes at Critical moments.   Consistent energy.  NW was pumped all night.  Third set Gophers looked like they did against the Badgers then they relaxed and had their hats handed to them by the hungrier team.
• G. U. writes “From my seat on the couch, it looked like the Cats played a better game.  Just proves how strong the Big 14 is in VB.  Any given Sunday!”

NEXT UP: IOWA (We cannot lose to the worst team in the Big Ten.)

How does the #7 ranked team in the country, the team that just swept defending National Champions Wisconsin in 3 sets, lose to the Northwestern Wildcats? At the Pav no less? On a night when Landfair and Wooker and Wenaas and Booth and McGraw all played well?  I’ll try to make sense of it tomorrow – but it’s late and my heads hurts just thinking about it.

The Gophers played a brutal non-conference schedule, as preparation for the always brutal Big Ten. Some school, like Purdue who kicked our butt, and Wisconsin, whose butt we kicked, played light-weight schedules. But we weren’t the only Big Ten powerhouse who played a tough schedule.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked #6 nationally, despite a 5 & 5 record, with many 1-loss and 2-loss teams not even ranked. HOW CAN THAT BE? Here’s how:

• The Buckeye losses were twice to #1 ranked Texas, to # 3 ranked Nebraska (at Nebraska in 5 sets, total score: Neb 108 – OSU 106), to #4 San Diego, and #10 Pittsburgh.
• And their wins include #2 Louisville, #11 Georgia Tech and #15 BYU.

The Buckeyes, who we play home-&-home, are going to be tough.

I wrote previously that Jenna Wenaas might be the Gophers best all-around volleyball player. She is the most clearly established “5-tool” player (i.e., serving, passing, setting, hitting & blocking). Others, like Shaffmaster, Landfair Wooker & Julie Hanson might be 5-tool players, but Wenaas demonstrates all 5 skills every match.

The highly rated Wenaas (#3 in the country) spent her freshman season with the Gophs either on the bench, behind Landfair and Rollins, or playing D.S. when Kilkelly was playing Libero – and I’m not sure she wasn’t better at D.S. than Kilkelly. Currently, she is a main-stay of the Gophers serve-receive – the one opponents avoid.

Replacing Rollins, Wenaas spent her sophomore season as a Left-side hitter. She started out in Landfair’s shadow, but when Landfair was injured, early in the season, Wenaas quickly became the Gophers premier Left-side hitter, and was named 2^nd Team All Big Ten. Wenaas started this season at a Left-side, and was, through the first 6 matches, just a kill or two behind Landfair in production per match.

Then, starting with the match vs Pepperdine, Wenaas moved to Opposite (i.e., Right-side Hitter), allowing the freshman, and now-healthy Wooker to take over as the Gophers #2 Left-side hitter. Wooker has been a huge success, just as productive as Wenaas had been, and only slightly less productive than Landfair.

But Wenaas has not been particularly productive at Opposite. She has been more productive than Hanson and Crowl, who played Opposite when Wooker was injured (Hanson did have one really strong match). But not nearly as effective as she had been at Left-side. And certainly not nearly as productive as the great Samedy had been. In fact, during these past 4 matches, Wenaas has been more productive from the Left-side, where she plays for one half-rotation (because it is too difficult to switch while receiving serve) than she has been for her 5 half-rotations at Opposite.

Daughter, and Reader (and former H.S.Star Left-side hitter) Phoebe feels this line-up shift is unfair to Wenaas. But we know that the Gophers are stronger with Landfair and Wooker at Left-side, and Wenaas at Right-side, than they had been with Wenaas at Left-side and Hanson and Crowl at Opposite. (At least for now, we can’t rule out Hanson and Crowl getting better.)

We don’t know how the Gophers would look with Wenaas at Left-side and Landfair or Wooker at Right-side. Nor do we know whose idea it was for Wenaas to move. Has she played Opposite in H.S. or club volleyball? Did she volunteer? Was it strictly a coaches’ decision? And how is  she feeling about it?

My guess? Wenaas is a classy team-first player who will dedicate herself to becoming a top-quality Opposite – even if it takes a while.

R.A, writes: Clearly, we are in for a thrill ride thru Big10 with outcomes as diverse as PUR and WIS.  I love your serve-receive breakdown.  I may try to record future matches on BIG to go back to tally.  Never thought to do that for home matches I attend.  After doing nothing right vs PUR, Gophs seemed to do it all right vs WIS (your serve-receive, notwithstanding).  I was most impressed how our serves consistently got WIS out of system.  Lotsa floaters and drop serves, not hard jump serves.  Serving flipped from NEG to POS.