Author: jktrpp

Reader J.D. writes:

What a great win, against the big bad Baylor Bears! 

Reader R.N. writes:

Eight of my Gopher Volleyball posse and 12 of our new best friends were perched on the edges of our seats at Scoreboard Bar and Grill in Minnetonka watching the Baylor match enfold and cheering our team on as if we were at the Pav. We all promised to return Saturday evening to enjoy the Region Final against the Badgers.
   We were treated to some very insightful commentary from Karch Kiraly.  I found myself listening carefully to the explanations of volleyball tactics and skillful execution by players that Karch provided during the match. But by the time he interviewed Samedy we were partying hard; I don’t think any of us noticed Karch’s question.
   P.S. I like your set-by-set summaries and highlighting of some critical points in the set that are more apparent in retrospect than they were in real time as the set was contested.

Reader P.W. writes:

The entire Minnesota vs. Baylor fifth set is available at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNcuYRYAuZM

In a match full of surprises, our Gophers took revenge for an early season loss to the #5-seeded Baylor Bears, 26-28, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 15-10 (total match score: Gophers 111, Bears 108). It didn’t look good when Baylor took 2 of the first 3 sets and was leading 14-10 & 22-21 in the 4^th set. And if you had told me that the Bears could neutralize Samedy (Steph, looking like the Steph we know and love had 6 kills in Set 1 — but then only 10 more scattered across the next 4 sets), I wouldn’t have expected a Gopher Victory. But the Gophers were Golden when they needed to be! (McGraw was back in action.)

SET 1: As close as it gets; a see-saw set in which the two teams were rarely separated by more than a point, and the Gophers and Bears would each serve at set-point twice before the Bears prevailed 28-26.    The Gophs looked like the Gophers we know, relying heavily on their “pins,” 6 kills for Samedy and 5 each for Wenaas and Miyabe, and the Bears relied heavily on their star, Pressley.

SET 2: Two entirely different teams; our outside hitters disappeared ( 3 kills from Miyabe and 1 each from Wenaas and Samedy), and yet the the Gophers led wire-to-wire, posting leads of 5-1, 13-7, and 19-12 before coasting to the win. Instead of outside hitters, the Gophers relied on fierce blocking (block-kills from Husemann, Shaffmaster and Samedy and at least another dozen blocks that kept points alive; and aggressive serving (aces from Myers, Shaffmaster and Wenaas). And the Bears contributed to their own demise with seven service errors.

SET 3: This time the Bears jumped out to a 1-6 lead. The Gophers pulled to within a point at 7-8 and 13-14, but never caught up. And like Set 2, minimal offense from our pins (2 kills from Samedy and 1 each from Wenaas and Miyabe). In other words, the Gophs played consecutive close sets while getting a total of 9 kills from the three outside hitters that we depend on — and got a split! How were we even competitive? Answer, continued determined blocking plus the emergence of the offensive diversity we’ve been seeking all season, 4 ! kills from Shaffmaster, 3 from Husemann, plus 1 from Myers. It was discouraging to see Samedy shut down the way she was, but encouraging to see the Gophers find other ways to score.

SET 4: The Bears were so close they could taste it, leading 9-4 early, but again sabotaged themselves with missed serve after missed serve, letting the Gophs back in the game. The Gopher aces continued (Samedy & Myers), Husemann had 2 block-kills, and Shaffmaster another kill. And the Gopher pins re-emerged, 5 kills from Miyabe (she led the Gophers for the match with 18, a career-high for Airi), 4 from Samedy (including the set-winner) (she finished with 16), and 2 from Wenaas (who finished with 13). From a 16-16 tie, the lead changed hands a couple times, including a Baylor lead at 21-22, but the Gophers took 4 of the last 5 points.

SET 5: Determined not to make it easy on my angst-ridden bride, the Gophers fell behind early, 2-5, but scratched and clawed back to a 9-7 lead. The scratching and clawing included a challenge won by Coach McCutcheon (he lost his first two). And from a 10-10 tie, the Gophers ran the string on Kilkelly’s serving. The winning run even included a scoring dink from Wenaas (her only scoring dink on about a dozen tries).

Maureen and our guests for the evening, G.H. and S.H. (they don’t get ESPNU) insist that I mention behavior, by announcer Karch Kiraly, that they found offensive. (I’m not a big Karch fan myself, but he did coach the U.S. Women to a Gold in Tokyo.) Karch’s post-match interview should have Miyabe, or Husemann or even Shaffmaster, but instead he picked Samedy and asked her why she had such a poor match. Samedy handled the question with grace, but it was not a move that endeared Karch to the crowd at my house.

NEXT UP: The Gophers 3^rd chance to beat the Badgers, Saturday, 7:00, in Madison. The Gophers will be underdogs, but upsets happen.

Reader R.A. writes: This was the best, most complete match the Gophs played all season, and at a perfect time. They were solid on serve receives and passes (mostly).  Kilkelly, subbing for CC, played her best match, diving for short shots and coming up with good passes. The attack was balanced, with Samedy, Wenaas and Miyabi all scoring in double figures. Plus more productive middles, Husemann had 4.  Stanford serves were good, but Kilkelly, Miyabi and Wenaas handled them well.

[John: The Gophers looked great, and R.A. says, this is exactly when we want them to look great. Maybe they found the key to peaking at the right time, or maybe they were inspired by Samedy and Miyabe’s last match at the PAV, or maybe Stanford was overrated. Hard to say. I agree that the Kilkelly, Miyabi and Wenaas receiving combo was excellent last night, but where we miss McGraw even more is as the alternative setter, where McGraw is under-appreciated but excels. Someone in the stands last night said McGraw is out for the season, but there was nothing about her in this morning’s Strib. I hope she is back for Baylor.]

Reader B.J. writes: The Cardinal name, which was adopted after dropping “Indians” in the 70s, remains controversial. “Cardinal” was one of their colors, but it also means “the tallest tree in the forest,” hence the lone pine tree in the school insignia. Stanford has no real mascot. The pine tree was thought up by some guy in the band and has kind of stuck. The student body once voted to use the nickname “Robber Barons,” referring to founder Leland Stanford. But for some reason the school refused to use it.  

[John: I don’t know what color the cardinals in California are, but the male of the pair that nest in my yard every summer, is bright red. Not the dull, almost maroon that the school’s teams wear.]

No broadcast either. I appreciate readers like R.A., C.B., K.T. & M.G. who came up with suggestions for watching or at least listening to tonight’s match versus the Stanford ???. I thought it was “The Cardinal,” singular, but they don’t wear real red and their logo features a pine tree, so ???

Anyway, the Gophers had surprisingly little trouble, winning 25-20, 25-18, 25-17; set-point in all 3 sets coming on Stanford errors. We lost the first point in one of the sets, but otherwise never trailed at any point in the match. This was not the Stanford Team that won 3 National Championships in 4 years (2016, 2018, 2019) behind Kathryn Plummer.

Watching BTN, one hears constant reports that the Big Ten is the strongest Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Wrestling, etc, conference in the country, but when the playoffs come around it often turns out not quite true. But the Gophers needed 5 sets to beat 9^th place Michigan at the Pav, and not only will all 5 seeded Big Ten Teams be joining the Gophers in the Sweet Sixteen, but so will unseeded Illinois, who knocked off the #7 overall seed Kentucky. So maybe the Big Ten is pretty strong. 

One example of Stanford’s inferiority to most Big Ten Teams is that the Gophers, normally terrible at dinking, averaging about 1 point per match, scored 6 points in 3 sets against Stanford. Maybe we suddenly got better at dinking?

As usual, our “pins” accounted for most of our offense. The official stats aren’t up yet, but I had Samedy with 16 kills (including 3 dinks), Wenaas with 13 kills (including 3 dinks), and Miyabe with 10 kills (no dinks that I can recall). But the rest contributed also, I had Husemann with 3 kills and 2 blocks, Myers with a kill, a block, and an ace, and Shaffmaster with 2 kills and 2 aces.

And the Gophers, missing McGraw, who was rated the 2^nd best libero in the Big Ten, and playing MIyabe in all 6 rotations, alongside Kilkelly and Wenaas in the receive, had surprisingly little trouble handling Stanford’s serves. Can we really be that good?

Hard to find much wrong with the Gophers performance tonight. But I’ll try. I’ve mentioned this before, but we are terrible at putting away our opponents overpasses. It seems to me that a strong front line ought to hit at least .750 on overpasses (I’d swear the Tapp Sisters used to hit about .900), but this year’s Gophers are lucky to hit .100 on overpasses.

But as predicted here, the Gophers are once again a Sweet Sixteen Team. And on our way to play the #5 seed Baylor, who beat us in 4-sets (also at Madison) back in August. If the Gophers play as well as they did tonight, we’ve got a chance.

Driving to the PAV I was thinking that the Coyote players must be mostly girls the Gophers and Huskers didn’t want. I mean who would turn down an offer from the Gophers or Huskers to play in South Dakota?

But when the Gophers warmed up without C.C.McGraw (she did not appear later either, does anyone know?), I started to worry a bit. And then they introduced the Coyote starters – almost all seniors, and I started to worry more. But when the often slow-starting Gophers jumped out to an 8-2 lead in Set 1, I stopped worrying.

I give the Coyotes credit for grit, they fought back to within 1 point at 9-8 and 14-13 in Set 1, and Set 2 was tied at 17-17. But then Samedy crushed one from the back row and I thought, “Hmmm, they don’t see that in the Summit League.” Gophers in 3 sets, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17.

Mainly, the Coyotes couldn’t handle the Gophers’ serves, allowing the Gophers 10 aces in a 3-set match, surely a season high. And Ellie Husemann had 8 blocks, one short of her season high. As usual, Samedy led with 13 kills, 6 in Set 3.

The primary source of drama was McGraw’s absence, which sets off a downward spiral:

• Kilkelly filled in at Libero (she’s not quite as good at serve receive); requiring
• Miyabe to play all 6 rotations, and of course the Coyotes targeted Miyabe, and her serve receives are not quite as good as Kilkelly’s; resulting in more balls that Shaffmaster couldn’t reach; and
• When Shaffmaster couldn’t reach the first pass it is normally McGraw who makes the set; but
• McGraw wasn’t there.

At 4-4 in Set 3, Miyabe limped off the court and was replaced in the back row by freshman Natalie Glenn, who has played hardly at all this season. I didn’t see what happened to Miyabe, so I figured she was out for the match and probably tomorrow night also. But a few points later (the Gophers took an 11-8 lead with Glenn in the game), Miyabe was back on the court. Apparently, something on her knee-brace broke.

The best point of the night was set-point in Set 2. The Coyotes had pulled to within 24-22, and served a tough serve at Miyabe. Miyabe coughed up an over-pass ( a too frequent occurrence), and the Coyote Middle went up to crush it. But Shaffmaster stuffed her for set-point. To the uninitiated, a joust over a ball at the net might look like a 50-50 proposition, and given that Shaffmaster was almost as tall as the Coyote Middle, why shouldn’t she win the joust. But an over-pass is not a 50-50 proposition; the hitter on the other side of the net has the ball coming to her, a major advantage. Players block stuff-the-overpass attempts now and then, but it’s always a great play!

TOMORROW NIGHT: A VERY TOUGH MATCH

Stanford, winners in 4 sets this afternoon over Iowa State. The Gophers beat Stanford on a neutral court in early September, so we ought to beat them tomorrow night at the PAV – even without Landfair.

But if we are also playing without McGraw, this could be tough!

The Gophs are the 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will host 1^st & 2^nd Round matches next Friday and Saturday, including a Friday matches between Iowa State & Stanford at 4:30 on , and the Gophers and South Dakota.at 7:00 (or 30 min after the conclusion of the 4:30 match). The winners of Friday’s matches will meet at the PAV at 7:00 on Saturday. I am unclear about the television arrangements, but probably ESPN2 or ESPNU or not at all. Probably not BTN or BTN+.

Saturday’s winner will advance to the Madison Regional to play in the Sweet Sixteen vs the team emerging from Baylor, Texas A & M CC, N. Colorado and Washington State. And the winner of that would most likely play the Badgers.

HOW GOOD IS THIS TEAM? AND HOW FAR CAN THEY GO?

This is a very good team. It might, despite obvious flaws, be the best Gopher Volleyball Team ever. And the rationale for this claim is obvious, Steph Samedy is the G.O.A.T. – the Greatest (Gopher volleyballer) Of All Time. She seems a shoe-in for Big Ten Player of the Year, and a strong candidate for National Player of the Year. Coach McCutcheon insists that she is the best Opposite in the country, and she might be the best Opposite to ever play Women’s Collegiate Volleyball.

Samedy’s hitting percentage, .261, is modest because, one, everybody in the building knows she’s getting the ball, and two, she gets a lot of mediocre sets. But she has proven that she can lead this team to victory over good teams despite the defensive attention she gets.

The absence of one over-powering, go-to hitter the team can depend on was a significant flaw in some of our recent Final Four teams. In my mind, Samedy makes this team even money in a fantasy match against one of the teams with Seliger-Swenson, the Tapp Sisters, Wilhite and Alexis Hart.

I fully expect this year’s Gophers to reach the Sweet Sixteen, if we beat Stanford in Oregon (early Sept) we ought to be able to beat them at the PAV. But there are reasons to doubt that this is a Final Four team. The biggest of which is that every team in the country is loaded with outstanding 5^th-year seniors, playing collegiate careers extended by Covid. Wisconsin certainly is, and so is Baylor, the #5 seed. They don’t have Samedy, but the Bears and the Badgers have plenty of weapons.

And there is also our lack of offensive production from our Middles. Even the Middles of a bottom-six team like Maryland out-scored our Middles. Some of this can be blamed on our serve-receive (Shaffmaster is still chasing the ball around the court), some of it is Shaffmaster herself (never goona be Seliger-Swenson), and we just don’t have great Middles. Over the course of this season, McCutcheon has tried 3 different Middles, he’s tried running slides, he has diversified the offense with Samedy and Wenaas hitting from the back row, and he has even tried out a middle-set tactic.

At this point, we have to accept that this is a team with limited offensive options. And also without our potentially second-best outside hitter, Taylor Landfair (whatever her injury might be), even if she was miraculously cleared to play, there is no chance she would be 100%. So we go into the NCAA Tournament with an offense totally dependent on Samedy, Wenaas and Miyabe.

Samedy has proven that she can carry the team on her back, even against a good team, and Wenaas and Miyabe are good enough for the Gophers to beat a good team when Samedy is merely good. But this is a single-elimination tournament with a field full of teams as good or better than the Gophs, two of them in our region. Turning the tables on Baylor (they beat us in Madison back in August) and Wisconsin who beat us in Madison and at the PAV to advance to the Final Four will require a lot of luck. But stranger things have happened; keep your fingers crossed.

RETRACTION: Maureen insists that she does read GopherVBallRocks and is offended that I suggested otherwise.

It was tense at our house for a while, because it wasn’t as easy as Maureen expected (she never reads my blog), but the Gophers finished their regular season with a 4-set win at Maryland, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-18.

The relatively slow start, losing Set 1 and struggling to win Set 2, has multiple potential explanations:

• Maryland isn’t a great team (7 & 12 coming in), but they beat Wisconsin on their home court, and this was their final match of the season, so one could imagine the seniors were fired up.
• The Gophers have not been a good first-set team all year.
• The Gophers played and won a tough 4-set match at Penn State last night. Two matches 23 hours apart, in different states, isn’t easy, even against an inferior opponent. 

I cannot provide much detail on SET-1, because I was trying to watch the end of the football game at the same time, which is even harder using BTN+, because you can’t just flip channels. But I think the score was close all the way, as was true of SET-2, and like Set 2, which the Gophers were lucky to win, could have gone either way.

SET-3 looked liked trouble when the Gophs fell behind 13-17, but then the Gophs went on an 11-2 run, to build a 24-19 lead. McGraw, and later Shaffmaster served a lot of those points, and Wenaas came on (she led the Gophs with 17 kills) strong.

But the set also featured an interesting tactic, which I don’t recall seeing from McCutcheon before. High-level volleyball teams almost always position their front-row setters on the right-side, to feed the power shoulders of their generally right-handed middle-hitters and right-handed left-side hitters. But as we know, the Gophers generate almost zero offense from their Middles.

So, in the middle of Set-3 (this might have happened earlier and I didn’t notice on BTN+) the Gophers moved Shaffmaster to a middle position, and their “Middles,” Myers and Husemann, to right-side hitters. This didn’t exactly turn Myers or Husemann into another Steph Samedy, but they did generate a little offense from the right-side. This tactic also allows a stronger outside block against opponents left-side hitters, which Myers took advantage of to record a team-leading 8 blocks.. And it worked, turning the tide of the match.

Whether it was the Gophers being tired or the Terrapins being pumped, the Gophers’s 11-2 run late in Set 3 burst the bubble. SET-4 was less about the Gophers playing great, and more about the Terrapins looking ragged and dispirited.

FINAL STANDINGS

The Gophers weekend sweep elevates them into a three-way tie for 3^rd place (with Purdue and Ohio State) 2 games behind Wisconsin and 1 behind Nebraska. A respectable finish in the rugged Big Ten.

[Speaking of Purdue and Nebraska, within the last month, Nebraska lost to the Gophers in 3 sets, and to the Badgers (in 4 sets, I think); and the following weekend Purdue beat the Badgers in Madison and swept the Gophs at the PAV. So I was fairly sure that Purdue was the stronger team. And then tonight, the Huskers destroyed the Boilermakers in West Lafayette.]

NCAAs:

The brackets for the 2021 NCAA Volleyball Tournament will be announced Sunday night (7:30 p.m. Central) on ESPNU. Expect the Gophers to be a top-16 seed, which should mean they will host first & second round matches at the PAV.

PITTMAN MYSTERY SOLVED

Reader C.B. turned son-in-law M.C. on to GopherVBallRocks, and reviewing past postings, M.C. was intrigued by the question, What’s up with Pittman? Why is she practically the only senior in the Big Ten NOT taking advantage of her Covid-bonus year of eligibility? M.C. a better sleuth than I, found this report https://www.brainerddispatch.com/sports/volleyball/7162200-Volleyball-Pittman-hopes-her-life-is-an-inspirational-example-for-young-females

 in an Aug issue of the Brainerd Dispatch. Pro-fishing, maybe?

Not pro-fishing, actually. I encourage you to read the whole article – but I know some of you lead busy lives, so here is a synopsis: Turns out, Regan wanted there to be more in her life than volleyball. Pittman is humble about her accomplishments (3 time All-American), but knows her resume is one reason people will listen to her, so she started the Stand Tall Volleyball Academy to teach her powerful, personal, message through volleyball. “I was bullied in middle school and high school, and I want to help other kids go through these moments. If volleyball doesn’t work for you because you’re not 6-5, find something else. Choir, whatever.”

Pittman’s skills camps and leadership clinics can be booked through her website Standtallvolleyball.com. 

State College is a tough place to win, especially against a Nittany Lion team that swept the Gophers in 3 sets at the PAV, but the Gophs won in 4 sets, 27-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18. It was closer than the box score indicates. The Gophs took a 19-12 lead in Set 1, but a Penn State run tied the set at 19-19, and it was 21-21, 23-23 & 25-25 before the Gophers escaped with the win. Samedy had 11 kills, and Miyabe added 7. A single kill from Myers was the only hint of Middle Offense.

The Gophers never led in Set 2, even trailing 17-13, until clawing their way back with a 12-4 run. Penn State slowed Samedy and Miyabe down, 5 kills and 2 kills, but the Gopher scoring started with aces from Samedy and Myers, and finished with blocks by Myers, Husemann & Wenaas. A single kill from Husemann was the only hint of Middle Offense.

The Gophers never led in Set 3 either, but after falling behind 8-12, they came back to tie the set at 12-12, 15-15, 18-18 & 22-22, before losing. Husemann had one of her best sets of the season with 2 kills, a block and an assist on a Samedy kill. Miyabe, who had been so effective in Set 1, was off her game, and was replaced for one full rotation by Glenn. (Glenn had one kill and one error in maybe 4 swings.)

The Gophers never trailed in Set 4, and after an 8-8 tie began to dominate, leading 13-10 & 20-14 on their way to victory. Their final run included back-to-back serves by Wenaas that hit the tape and dropped on the Penn State side of the net. Wenaas also contributed 4 kills in Set 4, her most productive set.

The Penn State Middles out-hit and out-blocked Gophers, but it wasn’t enough to off-set Samedy’s 25 kills (and 13 digs). And by my count, the Gophers once again had zero kills on dinks.

The BTN announcer suggested that Samedy is a shoe-in to repeat as Big Ten Player of the Year, and campaigned for Samedy as National Player of the Year. She gets my vote – or would if I had one.

[But this same announcer drove me nuts constantly babbling about hitters swinging for “High Hands,” i.e., deliberately trying to smash the ball out-of-bounds off the fingertips of the opposing blockers. Big Ten Volleyball is clearly a higher level of competition than I have ever participated in, so maybe this is actually more common than I’m just not aware of — but I am skeptical. I think that this would be like a pitcher trying to induce a pop-up. I think, mostly, they are blasting away with the expectation that if they can hit the ball really hard, any number of good things might happen – and sometimes the ball goes out-of-bounds off the fingertips of the opposing blockers.]

NEXT: The Gopher finish their Big Ten Season tomorrow night at Maryland, 6:00 on BTN+. Maryland is 7 & 12 in the Big Ten, but one of League-leading Wisconsin’s 3 losses came at Maryland, so lets hope our 14 & 5 Gophers don’t take Maryland for granted.

Several readers enjoyed the memories I shared of the Mussleman Era.

Several readers agree with my adoration of Samedy. R.N compared her athleticism to Michael Jordan’s.

Reader R.A. was critical of McCutcheon’s decision to sub McMenimen in to serve for Myers at a crucial point in the 4th set, “Bad decision may well have sealed Gophs’ fate. With match point at 25-24, McMenimen came in to serve her mediocre serve.  No way she would ace it, and she’s a back row liability. We lost that set, and ultimately a match we could have won.  Why?”

[John: I also wondered about the decision to sub a conservative server, McMenimen, in for the most aggressive of the starters, Myers, at match point. McMenimen did exactly what she was supposed to do, serve over the net. And the Badgers crushed the return. Myers had 3 Aces in the match, and an ace at that point would have won the set. But Myers also had 3 service errors in the match, and R.A. hates service errors.Reader D. S. commented that they could have subbed in Glenn, an even more aggressive server than Myers, at any of the match-point serves. It seemed like McCutcheon was playing it safe. If it had worked. no one would be second-guessing him; but it didn’t.]

It almost doesn’t get any better. Coach Zimmer’s Vikings beat the Packers on a chip-shot field goal as time expired, and a couple hours later, Coach McCutcheon’s Gophers served at match-point three times, late in the 4^th set. But the Gophs couldn’t quite put it away, and the Badgers came back to win in 5 sets, 24-26, 25-19, 25-27, 28-26, 15-12.

SET 1: The Gophers started slow, as they often do, falling behind 0-6 and 4-12, before closing the gap on a run that included 2 aces by Katie Myers. After finally earning a 20-20 tie, the Gophers again fell behind 22-24, before a final run that included 2 aces by Steph Samedy to win the set.

I feel like the Gophers’ consistently slow starts are caused by McCutcheon’s desperate search for a balanced offense – which unfortunately is almost never available, The Gophs inability to generate any hint of offense from their middles (at any point during the match) was compounded, in set 1, by Airi Miyabe’s matching ineffectiveness. Miyabe came out tentative and seemed completely over-matched by the Wisconsin players across the net. It is shocking that the Gophs could steal Set 1 with only 2 hitters (Samedy & Jen Wenaas).

SET 2: The momentum we should have had from the thrilling come-from-behind-win vanished during the break, and the Gophers started slow again, trailing 2-7, and never getting any closer than 3 points.

SET 3: “Slow start by Gophers” is an understatement for the beginning of Set 3; the Gophers were down 1-9 by the time the ladies in front of me returned from the restroom. The Gophers chipped away and chipped away, but at 19-23, it felt too-little, too-late. Then surprisingly, Miyabe came to life, getting 3 kills in an 8-5 run to win Set 3.

SET 4: A complete reverse of sets 1 & 3. For a change, it was the Gophers who came out strong, on effective hitting from all 3 “pins,” Samedy, Miyabe & Wenaas, taking leads of 6-2 and 11-7 (our only leads of the match), before the persistent Badgers pulled back to an 18-18 tie. The Gophers got to match-point at 24-23, 25-24, & 26-25 – we could taste the victory. But the Badgers wouldn’t quit.

SET 5 was, in a sense, the least dramatic. The Badgers eased ahead by 1, then later by two, and eventually by 3. A bitter loss – to a very good team.

Samedy finished the match, her final performance at the PAV (barring possible post-season, NCAA action, keep your fingers crossed), with 31 kills and 20 digs. Wenaas, who was solid all night, finished with 20 kills and 15 digs. And Ellie Husemann, replacing Rubright in the lineup contributed 9 blocks! (No offense, unfortunately.)

FANTASTIC VOLLEYBALL

Maybe as good a collegiate women’s match as we have ever seen or will ever see. I say this for several reasons:

• A 5-set match, between two strong teams, with 3 of the 5 sets going into overtime, and all 3 of the overtime sets won by teams that had trailed by at least 6 points.
• Both teams were led by 5^th-year seniors who had already been stars for 4 years, and were then granted a 5^th year of eligibility due to covid. (Unlikely to be repeated.)
• And the Senior Night performance of the AMAZING Steph Samedy. Wisconsin’s Dana Roettke and Sidney Hilley are both tremendous volleyball players with profession careers awaiting, and their team beat the Gophers home-&-home and will likely win the Big Ten.

But if the folks who get to pick the Big Ten Player of the Year saw this match, there is little doubt that Samedy will win again (as she did last season). She might well win National Player of the Year (I haven’t seen everybody, but can’t be many like her).

Maybe a third of Samedy’s 30 kills came off of perfect sets, and when Samedy gets perfect sets, she hits 1.000! Wisconsin was, on occasion, putting up triple-blocks of 6-6, 6-8, and 6-9, but the 6-3 Samedy was pounding the ball right over the top of them and down to the floor before the Badgers’ strong defensive players Barnes and Ashburn had a chance to dig them.

Somebody will play right-side hitter fro the Gophers next year, probably somebody good. But we will never see another Steph Samedy.

NEXT UP, A RUGGED FINAL WEEKEND:

• Friday at Penn State, 7:00, on BTN. Penn St. beat our Gophs in 3 sets at the PAV.
• Saturday at Maryland, 6:00 on BTN+. Maryland sits 9^th in the Big Ten, BUT one of Wisconsin’s 3 losses was at Maryland, and the 2^nd match of back-to-back road matches can be hard on a team with so little depth as the Gophs.
• Selection Sunday – when we find out where and against whom the Gophers will begin their NCAA effort.