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Eighth-Ranked PENN STATE appears to be a very good team as always, and tomorrow’s rematch (6:30 on BTN, and maybe 96.7 FM) is by no means a sure win for the Gophs, but once again, Samedy was unstoppable when the set was on the line.

Penn State led by 2 pts late in the 1^st set, but the Gophers came back to tie it up. Samedy had kills at 24-24 and again at 25-25. Landfair got a kill at 26-26 and the Gophs held on to win 29-27.

Penn State again led by 2 pts late in the 2nd set, but Samedy got 4 kills with the Gophs behind by one or two. Then the Gophers pulled even and won the set 25-23 on a kill by Landfair.

The 3^rd set was another come-from-behinder, but this time by Penn State. The Gophs led the whole time up to a 20-17 lead, then Penn State ran 6 pts. The Gophs got to within 23-24, but Penn State took the set 23-25. The Nittany Lions middle hitters gave the Gophers trouble all night, but especially in this 3^rd set – even against the Gophers’ triple-block! And Lanfair looked tentative.

The Gophers lost the first pt of the 4^th set, but then took control, on Rubright kills, for leads of 10-7, 14-9, and 20-17 before winning 25-19. Landfair bounced back with a strong set, and with Samedy struggling a bit, Pittman took over at the end.

Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Reader M.C. reports (from this morning’s Strib) that McGraw has been practicing with the team and may play this weekend. B.W.?

Reader D.M. writes: I am enjoying your analysis and opinions on my favorite sport. Love to watch this team play. I think if they improve their serve-receive, they could be unstoppable.

In their biggest test of the season so far, he Gophers host unbeaten and 8^th-ranked Penn State at the PAV this weekend. (One story in the StarTribune says the games will be played Fri & Sat, but) I think the games are Saturday at 7:00 and Sunday at 6:30 (I’ve also seen 8:30), both on BTN.

The Nittany Lions, ranked slightly below the Gophers, missed the first two weeks of the season due to Covid, so they might be less battle-tested than the Gophers. But they seem well-balanced and they won back-to-back matches against Illinois last weekend. Before getting too confident, good to remember that Coach Rose’s Lions have won 17 Big Ten, and 7 National Championships, so we can assume this Junior-heavy team is well coached. The Gophs demonstrated last weekend that they have the ability to bounce back strong when their backs are against the wall, but it might be more difficult against Penn State.

I’ve heard nothing about the status of C.C. McGraw for this weekend (if you have, let us know), but as Reader B.W. pointed out, the Gophers didn’t miss a beat when McGraw came out last weekend.

Reader M.S. writes: Loved your detailed comparison between SSS and Shaffmaster; excellent breakdown of each one’s talents and vulnerabilities. I got turned on to the Gopher Vball only recently, SSS’s last couple yrs. (She was a phenom!) So I’m learning a lot on this blog, about D-1 volleyball and Gopher VB history.

I agree that Shaffmaster probably won’t attain SSS’s level, but it would be sweet to see her try. Do you think Shaffmaster’s relatively lackluster start (compared to our expectations) is because she’s a freshman trying to figure out her teammates?  Or is that not really a consideration at this level of play?  

Regarding the depth on this team, I’d hate to be in McCutcheon’s shoes trying to figure out a way to keep all that talent happy on the bench.

JOHN: Maybe it’s the delayed start to this 2020 season, but I know I’m guilty of expecting too much to soon from this freshman class, even if they were incredibly highly rated. Shaffmaster is THE setter of this 5^th-rated Gopher squad that just won back-to-back matches at 13^th-rated Purdue, looking absolutely brilliant during the closing runs of each of the 5^th sets. So “lackluster” might be overly harsh. Probably more fair to judge her next December – after the conclusion of two full seasons.

I think most V-ball insiders would agree that the connections between setters and their middle-hitters are more challenging than those with left-side hitters. With left-sides, you just put the ball high and near the pin and let the left-sides find it; but a quick-set to a middle, or even a “slide,” requires precision timing. Left-sides have time to adjust; middles don’t. Shaffmaster enrolled at the U about this time last year, and had should have had a couple of months in the gym (without coaches, I think) and then another couple of months (August & December) with the coaches. But it’s not the same as live action. None of which explains how she and Pittman went 4 for 4 (really 5 for 5) in Saturday’s 5^th set.

Professional women’s indoor volleyball has been previously attempted in the U.S., but never caught on, and so American women, including those with their eyes on the U.S. Olympic Team, have been forced to compete overseas, primarily in Europe. Now a new organization, ATHLETES UNLIMITED has started up, and has organized for five weeks (Feb 27 to Mar 29) of “action-packed competition” in a Dallas bubble.

According to Patrick Reusse’s column in this morning’s Strib, 44 of the world’s top players athletes will participate, including 8 former Gophers: Tori Dixon, Lauren Gibbemeyer, Erica Handley, Molly Lohman, Taylor Morgan, Dalianliz Rosada, Samantha Seliger-Swenson, and Page Tapp.

The 44 will be divided, weekly, into 4 teams, drafted by team captains selected by the previous week’s performance. The scoring of individual sets will be the standard system we’re familiar with, but there will be a new (and complicated) system for awarding individual “points,” leading to cash bonuses. Sounds wild.

I see, this morning, that Melani Shaffmaster was named Big 10 “Setter of the Week” for her work in the Gophers back-to-back 5-set, come-back victories over Purdue. (Steph Samedy was named “Player of the Week,” not the first time and surely not the last.)

Other than noting that she is our setter, presumably for the next 4 or even 5 seasons, I skipped over Shaffmaster’s performance in Sunday’s analysis of the Gophers Week 3 performance. In part because I’m still trying to get my head around Shaffmaster’s impact on her team.

One thought is that the Gophers were lucky to win both matches, and this team that played Purdue “even” will not be good enough to beat Penn State here at the Pav this coming weekend, or Nebraska at Nebraska the following weekend, and how will they even compete in home-and-home matches vs Wisconsin in mid-March? The other thought is that the Gopher team that finished Saturday’s 4^th set on a 7-0 run, and 5^th set on an 8-2 run – without any errors by Purdue — will win the National Championship!

And if it was Shaffmaster’s fault that Pittman had barely any kills though the Gophers’ first 21 sets (and it seemed like it was) and/or Shaffmaster’s fault that Samedy couldn’t put a ball away during Saturday’s 2^nd, 3^rd and most of 4^th set, then we have to also give Shaffmaster the credit for the virtually perfect setting that allowed the Gophs to completely dominate Friday and Saturday’s critical 5^th sets..

When I learned, over a year ago, that the Gophers had recruited a setter who was the 7^th rated recruit (overall, not just among setters) in the country, I dreamed (unrealistically, as dreams tend to be) that Shaffmaster would be another Samantha Seliger-Swenson.

Lindsey Berg had a great career setting for the Gophs around the turn of the century (3X all Big10), and has had an even more impressive post-collegiate career including USA Volleyball Female Player of the Year in 2008 & 2011, and leading the USA to a Silver Medal in the London Olympics, among other accomplishments. (Berg is still playing pro ball in Turkey at 40.)

But SSS was a 3-time All-American, a Big 10 Player of the Year, who led the Gophs to a 4-year record of 114 wins and 20 losses, covering the entire court, feeding all her hitters with variety-of-tempo passes.  (I would not be surprised to see SSS playing a major role on the USA 2024 Olympic Team.) For my money, Samantha Seliger-Swenson is the G.G.V.B.O.A.T. (Greatest Gopher Volleyball Player of all Time.) 

Walking in as a freshman and being compared to SSS is unfair to Shaffmaster. It is already clear that Melani Shaffmaster is NOT the second coming of SSS. And never will be. Shaffmaster is a different player, with a different skill-set. But that’s okay. Being different doesn’t mean that Shaffmaster won’t be able to lead the Gophers to the same, or even greater, success that SSS did.

Fair or not, let’s compare the two:

• SSS had hands like silk. She must have been called for a few carries on her way to 5,674 assists as a Gopher, but I was there for every game she played at the Pav and I don’t remember any. Shaffmaster has been called at least a dozen times already (if the Gophers track this, they don’t publish it), and probably got away with at least that many more.
• One of the reasons SSS (almost) never carried was her quickness. (We get new Geezers at Geezer-Ball every year, most of whom don’t know how to set, so they try to imitate Dave or Mark who are real setters. But I explain to them that Dave or Mark cheat. They move their feet! Hell, even I can set clean if I’m squared-up under the ball.) A volleyball court is 900 square feet, and SSS covered 1,000 sq.ft. of it. Shaffmaster is a bigger gal; her anticipation should improve with experience, but she will never be as quick as SSS.
• As a result, SSS owned the court. And except for when she dug up dinks, the 2^nd touch was always SSS’s. And anyone who tried to “help” her got told off. Shaffmaster needs help; which the veterans Samedy, Pittman, Rollins, Kilkelly and especially McGraw have provided.
• And speaking of digging up dinks, SSS was great at that too. This is an area where the Gophers have struggled early in the Shaffmaster era. Shaffmaster needs to get better at digging up dinks, and the rest of the team needs to get better at helping her.
• SSS was a wizard at spreading the ball to all of her hitters, including high-tempo feeds to Taylor Morgan and “slides” to the Tapp sisters, often when and where the opposing team least expected it. And Shaffmaster’s lack of distribution and deception, more than the occasional whistle or the need for help, has been her greatest weakness so far. In her first 21 sets played (i.e., all but the very last one), pretty much everyone in the building knew where the ball was going before it left Shaffmaster’s hands. The good news is that, unlike quickness, which is hard to coach, Shaffmaster will get better at this with the proper coaching – which she is very likely to receive. And the Gopher middles will adjust to Shaffmaster too.

But the comparison is not all one-sided; Shaffmaster brings the promise of tools Seliger-Swenson didn’t/doesn’t have.

• Shaffmaster is listed at 6-3; SSS at 5-11. But I never believed (watching in person) that SSS was a full 5-11, whereas Shaffmaster seems taller than 6-3. At least on TV, she seems as tall as her teammates who are listed at 6-5. Is it possible she’s still growing?
• SSS was credited with 186 kills during her Gopher career (approximately 1 kill per 3 sets played). I’m guessing at least half of them were off over-passes or other mistakes by the opposing team, or desperation “tool” shots. And the other half came from SSS’s bag of tricks, making it look like she was setting one of her hitters, but instead sneaking the two-ball over the net to an uncovered spot. Shaffmaster is tall and STRONG! Most of her 21 kills (very nearly 1 kill per set played) have come on raw power. So while SSS was better at utilizing all of her team’s weapons than Shaffmaster is at this point, Shaffmaster has a whole ‘nother weapon that SSS never had. At first, it seemed to me that Shaffmaster was “going to the well” too often with this. But maybe that’s because I’m thinking of our setter attacking a 2^nd-touch as dependent on catching the other team by surprise. Shaffmaster is so strong that she’s less dependent on deception.
• SSS was a courageous blocker, but at 5-11, never super effective, 223 blocks in just under 500 sets played. Shaffmaster hasn’t been better – yet, only 9 blocks in 22 sets played, roughly half as many as Samedy who blocks at the same position. But maybe that’s just a freshman getting comfortable. It seems like Shaffmaster has the potential to become a very effective blocker, maybe not effective enough to lead the team in blocks, but maybe enough to compensate for her struggle to cover dinks.  

Love to hear what others think.

READER T.R. writes: Nice job JT!  Gopher Volleyball is the best show in town – And no coverage of the in Mpls or St. Paul papers!

READER G.U. writes: My wife hadn’t watched more than a few minutes of volleyball in her life before watching Friday’s match, but she wants me to buy BTN+ so we can watch every week.

JOHN: So buy it for her for Valentines Day, you cheapskate.

READER P.H. writes: I sent the link for GopherVBallRocks to my sister in Ely and she loves it!

JOHN: Good for you and good for her. If Sister in Ely wants to send me her email address, I can add her to the emailblast so that she’ll receive notification of new posts.

READER B.W writes: Really shocked at the number of aces served by Purdue on Friday. Seemed like the Gophers’ serve receive got stronger after they switched Kilkelly to libero.  

JOHN: Interesting observation. I still don’t know anything about McGraw’s absence from the line-up, which began mid-match on Friday. I had assumed that she had injured herself on the last point of the third set, but you’re making me wonder if maybe McGraw wasn’t 100% before that. I wasn’t sold on Kilkelly her first few matches as a freshman last year, but as the season went on I liked her game more and more. I agree that she played well as libero for the last two sets Friday and the entire match on Saturday. And I almost didn’t notice Wenaas as D.S. – which probably means she was doing the job right.

READER P.H. asks: You write about Myers having a .257 kill rate, Pittman having a .347, and the team hitting .650 in the 5^th set on Saturday. What do these percentages mean?

JOHN: In our data-driven world, it has become popular to measure the effectiveness with which a team or player attacks the ball, using the following formula:

              Hitting Rate = # of Kills* – # of errors**

                                               # of hitting attempts

[* “Kills” are defined as balls the other team cannot return, e.g., a ball that hits the floor without being touched, including a dink, and balls that are smashed off an opposing player and out of bounds. Balls that are passed effectively and then mishandled on the 2^nd touch do not count as kills. ** Errors are defined as hitting the ball into the net, or out of bounds, or some sort of violation like touching the net.]

For example: Samedy leads the team with 91 kills, but she also has made 25 errors, and she has been given 232 sets to swing at. And 91 minus 25 is 66, and 66 divided by 232 is 0.234, so we say that Samedy is hitting .234. Rollins has 68 kills and 19 errors in 163 attempts, so she’s hitting .301. And Pittman has 34 kills and 9 errors in 72 attempts, so she’s hitting .347.

I think it is reasonable to compare volleyball hitting rates to baseball hitting rates; anything over .300 for an entire season is pretty good, and anything under .220 is not so good. But as is true in all sports, statistics don’t tell the whole story. A significant percentage of Samedy’s attacks are from the back row, which involves a higher degree of difficulty (think homers vs singles), and many of her kills come when the Gophers are in a slump (she’s like a “stopper” in your pitching rotation).

That said, the Gophers’ performance in Saturday’s 5^th set was amazing. They had 14 kills and one error in 20 tries, for a team rate of .650. Also amazing was that the Gophers 15 points came on 14 kills and 1 block. We had no aces and Purdue made no errors, so 100% of our points in this critical 5^th set came from aggressive play at the net! I don’t think anyone keeps track of this statistic, but maybe they should start.

Now that I’ve had time to catch my breath, let’s talk about this pair of 5-set wins at Purdue, with particular attention to where the Gophers stand, line-up wise, headed into next weekend’s match-up vs Penn State. Position by position:

LIBERO/D.S.: Star Libero C.C. McGraw dove for a dig on the set-point of Friday’s 3^rd set, did not come out for the 4^th set, and was later seen leaving the building, presumably injured. In this era of confidentiality, there is no news (that I can find) detailing McGraw’s injury. (IF YOU HAVE ANY, LET THE REST OF US IN.) At this point, I am assuming that McGraw will not play next weekend against Penn State.

Sophomore D.S. Rachel Kilkelly quickly slipped on her libero jersey and played the rest of Friday and all of Saturday’s match. And in the absence of no-show (at least for now) recruit Cami Appiani, freshman left-side hitter Jenna Wenaas stepped into the role of D.S. At 6-1, Wenaas is bigger than the stereotype D.S., but has been a “6-rotation player” her whole career to this point. They both played well, if not spectacularly, and I assume that these two will continue in these roles until McGraw returns.

SETTER: Shaffmaster is, and will continue to be, our setter. (Look for a separate post re my thoughts re Shaffmaster’s performance and potential.)

RIGHT-SIDE HITTER (OPPOSITE): All-American Steph Samedy is our best player. A “6-rotation player,” Samedy serves, blocks (17 in 22 sets), digs, passes and hits – a team leading 91 kills in 22 sets. She pounds the ball from front-row or back row. Her sharp-angle “cut-shot” is devastating and when the defense tries to take that away, she goes down the line effectively. And she’s effective swinging left-side or middle when called upon. (She does not dink effectively, but nobody’s perfect.)

After a 20-kill/20-dig night on Friday, Samedy struggled a bit on Saturday, and the team, who depends on her, struggled also. But when the chips were down, Samedy sparked the comeback to win the match.

I am a big fan of Airi Miyabe, and thought we might see this very talented senior contributing at the left-side or middle positions. But at this point it appears that Miyabe’s role this year is to back up Samedy at right-side. Not a particularly demanding role, but on occasion, like last night when Samedy and the Gophers were struggling, Coach McCutcheon does not hesitate to sub Miyabe in for a few points. I think the primary purpose is to give the hard-working Samedy a breather, but Miyabe brings an energy level that helps also.

LEFT-SIDE HITTER: The Gophers have 3 very talented left-side hitters, Jr. Adanna Rollins, Fr. Taylor Landfair, and Fr. Jenna Wenaas, competing for two, slightly different, left-side positions. (Like most D-1 programs, the Gophs employ one “6-rotation” left-side hitter, who never leaves the court, and one “3-rotation” left-side hitter, who is replaced in the back row by the D.S.)

As predicted here, Rollins, who has been the Gophers’ “6-rotation” left-side hitter since her freshman year, continues, at least for now, as our “6-rotation” left-side hitter. Rollins serves well (5 Aces so far, vs 4 serving errors), she blocks okay (9 in 22 sets), she rivals Samedy at covering dinks, and she hits effectively – 68 kills vs 19 errors, for a solid .301 kill rate. She has power, but lacking overpowering power, she relies on a variety of angles. Like many “6-rotation” left-sides, she is a frequent target for opposing servers, and she handles this pressure well, most of the time.

Also as predicted here, Landfair emerged from pre-season practices as our “3-rotation” left-side hitter. Though I hadn’t seen either of them play, my prediction was based on the fact that Landfair was the #1-rated recruit in the country – versus Wenaas, who was merely was the #3-rated recruit in the country. Landfair has been inconsistent, as one expects a freshman to be. And, an obvious target for opposing servers, even as the Gophers try to “hide” her in a “left-side stack,” Landfair’s been shaky when they find her – so not a likely candidate for the “6-rotation” position (at least not anytime soon).

But at 6-5, with a major vertical, she has unbelievable power. One of the BTN announcers described her “unusually physical for an outside hitter.” No kidding! Landfair has fewer kills (62 vs 68) than Rollins, and more errors (25 vs 19), but a Landfair swing has to be more intimidating (to opposing teams) than a Rollins swing. Like a 2^nd-deck blast by Miguel Sano vs a 2^nd-row homer by Joe Mauer – same result on the scoreboard, but not the same “awe-factor.” I think Landfair will evolve into a great blocker eventually, and she already might be the best dinker of the Gopher hitters (Miyabe is good also.)

Wenaas is in a tough spot, for now. She got a chance to play left-side hitter a little in an earlier match against Michigan State, but I didn’t get enough of a sample to form an opinion. For now she’s the back-up to Rollins and Landfair; what a luxury to have talent like Wenaas on your bench. Back in the day, freshmen expected to spend a while on the bench; but in the modern era, the #3-rated recruit in the country surely expects to start. At least the shift of Kilkelly to libero gets Wenaas into the line-up; hopefully that, and winning, will keep her motivated.

MIDDLES: The Gophers use two middles, one serves and one doesn’t, but other than during her serve, neither plays back-row. Their primary responsibilities are blocking and hitting. All-American Regan Pittman fills one of these spots (and serves). Pittman is a five-tool player: she serves well (a team-leading 9 Aces vs only 3 errors), blocks well (a team-leading 22), hits well (34 kills in only 72 swings, and a strong .347 kill-rate), and has great hands, digging and setting when she gets the opportunity. I also think of Pittman (via TV, so …) as the Gophers’ emotional leader.

And yet, I get the sense that Pittman, who played next to Samantha Seliger-Swenson her freshman & sophomore seasons, is struggling to adjust to the her freshman setter. In a practical sense, a setter can only feed her middles when she receives a first pass that she can handle with confidence. That was virtually every pass for SSS, but not so many, so far, for Shaffmaster.

Our All-American Pittman was even benched/rested briefly during yesterday’s 4^th set. But she came back like a champion in the 5^th set, co-leading the power-explosion with Samedy. Pittman

The Gophers hit an astounding .650 in the 5^th set; Samedy with 5 kills in six swings while Pittman went 4 for 4. Almost 5 for 5. At 14-8, Pittman pounded a kill for what seemed to be match point, but it didn’t count due to some violation — maybe Pittman touched the net — on BTN+, who can tell? No problem, at 14-9, Shaffmaster put the set in the same spot and Pittman pounded another one. (Let’s hope this trend continues.)

Pittman’s dominance leaves three big, talented athletes competing to fill the shoes of graduated, fan-favorite Taylor Morgan, including 6-3 sophomore Ellie Husemann (from Eagan), 6-2 transfer junior Katie Myers (last year’s 3^rd most blocks in the bIg 10), and highly-recruited 6-5 sophomore Shea Rubright.

As predicted here, Myers experience and proven blocking ability won her the starting role in the season opener. And Myers was reasonably effective, with 13 kills, a .257 kill rate, and a team-leading 20 blocks through four matches (vs Michigan State & Rutgers). Myers also got the call to sub for Pittman when she was briefly benched yesterday.

But when the Gophers fell behind 2 sets to 1 in Friday’s match at Purdue, Coach McCutcheon went to his bench for Rubright. I didn’t notice much immediate impact by Rubright during Friday’s 4^th & 5^th sets (2 kills, 1 block) – but the Gophers turned the 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory, which was apparently enough for McCutcheon to keep her in the line-up for Saturday.

And Rubright came out swinging in Saturday’s set one; Samedy played well also, but I felt Rubright was the dominant player on the court. She cooled off after that, likely drawing greater attention from the Purdue defense, and was part of the mid-match malaise that affected the whole team, but McCutcheon kept her in the line-up. Rubright finished the match with 9 kills and 5 blocks, giving her 11 kills & 6 blocks for the weekend (and season). Even more impressive, her 11 kills (vs 1 error) came on only 19 sets, giving her an amazing .526 kill-rate (Pittman is 2^nd, among starting hitters, at .347), more than double Myers kill-rate.

The coaching staff has the opportunity to observe these athletes in practice, so they may have different thoughts re Rubright vs Myers than those of us watching on TV. But Rubright seems more productive on offense, and Myers maybe more reliable on defense, so perhaps McCutcheon’s sense of what the greater need is, versus a given opponent, might be the determining factor as to who gets the start as the season progresses..

Friday at Purdue, the Gophers split the first two sets and lost the 3^rd, before coming back to win the 4^th set and dominate the 5^th. And they did it again Saturday – in even more dramatic fashion!

Playing as they left off Friday, without libero CC McGraw, the Gophers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the 1^st set on the back of Sophomore Middle SHEA RUBRIGHT, who didn’t even play in the Gophs’ first four matches. After establishing a 19-11 lead, the Gophers traded side-outs with the Boilermakers for a 25-17 win.

And then the wheels fell off. Purdue won the 2^nd and 3^rd sets by identical 25-18 scores, and took a 21-18 lead in the 4^th set, putting the home team within 4 pts of a 4-set victory. This was not a case of Purdue playing great, or a case of the Gophers playing especially poorly. During this 54-68 slump, the Gophers just couldn’t find a hitter who could put the ball away with any consistency. Samedy, Pittman, Rubright, Rollins and Landfair all got a kill now and then, but were blocked approximately as often, maybe hitting under .100 for this extensive portion of the match. The points were often long, but unspectacularly so. Samedy and Pittman were each even benched, briefly, with super-sub Miyabe relieving Samedy, and Myers, who had been benched in favor of Rubright on Friday, relieving Pittman.

Then suddenly, when it looked all but hopeless, Minnesota was back. Purdue didn’t noticeably choke, they just got over-powered by a seemingly invincible Gopher steam-roller. After a timeout, the Gophers, led by Landfair and a revitalized Smaedy, dominated the end of the 4^th set with a 7-0 run. And after starting the 5^th set 7-7, Samedy and Pittman blew Purdue away with an 8-2 run, for the weekend sweep.

What happened is hard to say. Watching in-person, I might have a theory; but watching on BTN+ I can only speculate:

• Are the Gophers so much better than Purdue that they, except Rubright, weren’t really focused — until their backs were against the wall?
• Did the benching of Samedy & Pittman and/or something McCutcheon said during the timeout get the Gophers fired up?
• Were Samedy & Pittman tired and then re-energized by a short rest?
• Did Shaffmaster finally start putting the ball in better spots for her hitters?
• All of the above?
• None of the above/

I don’t know.

I do know that even down 2 sets to one and trailing 21-8 in the 4^th set, the Gophers did not look (from what I could see on BTN+) at all worried. They looked like a team that was confident about pulling the match out of the fire. Which is exactly what they did!

The Gophers dropped the 1^st set at Purdue (25-20), and the 3^rd set (26-24). But, led as usual by Samedy, recovered both times, winning the 2^nd set (25-23), the 4^th set (25-21) and dominating the 5^th set (15-7). Wife Maureen, perhaps not quite as tuned-in to the fine points of D-1 V-Ball, but every bit as much of a fan (she stands up for game point, in the living room) was both tense and distraught, “What is wrong with us tonight?”

The easy answer is – Purdue is a very good team; 13^th ranked this year, and a “Sweet 16” team last year. Yes, they lost 3-0 at Madison, but they were without their best player, Grace Cleveland, at Madison. Cleveland was back in the line-up tonight and gave the Gophers fits.

The other news of the evening was the loss of Gopher star libero C.C.McGraw. Purdue won the 3^rd set on a service ace that McGraw dove for but didn’t get. She did not come out for the 4^th set, and was later shown leaving the building in the company of someone from the coaching staff. I assume she was headed for a local hospital, related to some sort of injury acquired on her last play. I’m doubtful we’ll see her tomorrow.

In McGraw’s absence, talented Defensive Specialist Rachel Kilkelly moved to libero, and freshman Left-side hitter Jenna Wenaas came in to play D.S. At 6-1 and powerfully built, Wenaas looks an odd choice for a D.S.. But Wenaas, though previously unable to crack the Goph’s starting line-up, was after all the 3^rd ranked recruit in the country. A high school star, I’m assuming Wenaas was accustomed to playing 6 rotations, so she is hardly unfamiliar with back-row play.

And sophomore Shea Rubright, herself a highly-rated recruit last year, replaced Katie Myers as one of the Middles in sets 4 & 5. Not sure if Myers also got hurt, or if Coach McCutcheon was unhappy with her play. Either way, Kilkelly, Wenaas & Rubright all contributed to the Gophers’ set 4 – 5 comeback, underscoring reader D.S.’s comment about the Gopher’s depth.

Wenaas playing D.S also raises a question I’ve been planning to address.  In an earlier piece gushing about this year’s #1-in-the-country freshman class, I mentioned Shaffmaster, Landfair, Wenaas and Cami Appiani, a libero out of San Diego. But Appiani is not on the current roster. It appears that by the time she graduated H.S. last spring, American V-Ball had been shut down due to the pandemic, so Appiani spent her summer playing in Europe. I haven’t been able to figure out where she is now. Still in Europe, maybe? Playing for another U.S. college team?  Still planning to join the Gophs next fall? If anyone reading this knows where she is and what her plans are, please let us know.

I have more to say about the Gophers performance tonight – but I’ll save it until we see how they do in tomorrow’s rematch. (4:00, BTN+)