Our Gophers did not do anything extraordinary in sweeping the Lipscomb Bison, 25-18, 25-15, 25-19 on their home floor. We served reasonably well (7 aces versus 5 errors), received reasonably well (5 poor receives, mostly Acevedo, out of over 50 receives), fed Hanson (16 kills) & others ( 4 apiece for Myers, Acevedo and Kenney), blocked (9 total, widely distributed), and made a couple of excellent saves including one combo gem by Acevedo and Garr. And that was enough to sweep the Nashville Bible College (Based on their advertisement). Not impressed? Consider that Lipscomb goes into the season a Coaches-Poll favorite to win the D-1 A-Sun conference – consisting of other schools you’ve never heard of.
Highlights are thin, but here’s what I got:
- Back-up Setter Georgia Lee seems to have cemented her claim to the role of Designated Server. I wasn’t impressed when I first saw her serve, but she added 2 Aces tonight to her 3 last night. She also served a nice, multiple-pt run in Set 2. So, go Georgia! Her likely competition for strongest server over the course of the season would include Acevedo, Garr, and maybe Kinney?
- Besides blocking, our Middles, collectively, had 7 kills on 16 swings. The thing to take note of is the 16 swings. So far this season, our Middles are being fed 7.33 times per set, versus 4.25 times per set for all of last season. This # might dip as we get into the grueling Big Ten schedule, but I like the trend as it takes some of the pressure off of our pins.
- As she did last night, Garr (not Thibault) wore the Libero Jersey. I doubt this was a random choice, so it might be permanent. And
- Kinney started and played Opposite ahead of Gilk and Crowl. But I feel the jury is still out on who our starting pins will be.
Quote of the night from the local ESPN+ broadcasting team: “Can you believe that this is Gopher Coach Keegan Cook’s first time in Nashville? That’s unbelievable!”
UP NEXT WEEKEND:
- South Florida @ the Pav, Friday at 6:00 (BTN+)
- #24 ranked Dayton @ the Pav, Saturday at 5:00 (BTN+)
- South Dakota State (who kicked our butts in last Spring’s exhibition season) @ the Pav, Sunday at 3:00 (BTN+)
I don’t know anything about South Florida, but Dayton & South Dakota State will be challenging.