Gophers over Wildcats in five sets,, 25-14, 15-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-12, composite score, our #24 ranked Gophers 105, unranked Northwestern 100.
In Maureen’s absence. daughter (and former H.S. VBall star) Phoebe was with me today, her first time at the Pav this season. Phoebe does not follow GopherVBallRocks (go figure?), so on the way there she quizzed me about the squad. I told her, as I written here, that the Gophs have 5 very good players, but a terrible serve-receive. I also told her they start slow in Set 1.
Set 1: The Wildcats apparently do not read GopherVBallRock either, so they served lollipops; no aces, no receiving errors by the Gophs (causing Phoebe to disbelieve me), leading to total domination at the net by Landfair, Wooker & Grote.
Set 2 began in a similar manner, leading to a “comfortable 14-10 lead for the Gophs. Then, after gaining a side-out, the ‘Cat’s outstanding, 6-5, (same height as Landfair but significantly broader of shoulder), grad-transfer (from Santa Clara) leftside hitter Julia Sangiacomo, rotated to serve, and picked mercilessly on Landfair and Wooker, to run out the set!
Many of us in Section 110 were less shocked by the Gophers’ serve-receive failures than by Coach Cook’s failure to respond. (Grote was on the bench in this rotation, so after several Northwestern points, Cook subbed Grote back in for Hanson; but Hanson hides behind our Murr/Landfair/Wooker receiving corps, and Hnason did also – a completely irrelevant substitution.) More about this below.
Set 3 began with promise; the Gophs jumped out to a 9-1 lead, with Davis and Owoleye contributing. Even better, when the Wildcats got a couple sideouts and Sangiacomo rotated to serve, she missed it; Gophs up 13-5; and an easy victory to eliminate the bad taste of Set 1. Until the rest of the Wildcats started serving aggressively at Landfair & Wooker. The ‘Cats won 16 of the next 21 points for a 18-21 lead. The Gophs recovered enough to reach OT, but lost 25-27. The mood in Section 110 was grim.
At least initially, Set 4 provided little hope as the Gophs fell behind 4-7, 6-10, and 10-13. Then, with Shaffmaster serving and Grote back in the front row, the Gophers came alive, turning the 10-13 deficit into a 15-13 lead. The back half of Set 4 included some thrillingly-long points, and surprisingly effective net-play by Davis & Owoleye, but the two teams basically traded sideouts until the Gophs won 25-22.
The Gophers started strong in Set 5 (as they had in Sets 1 & 3), taking leads of 6-2 & 8-4. But Northwestern, unwilling to quit, roared back to reach a 10-10 tie. We were up 12-11, with Landfair serving, but Sangiacomo, who by then had 24 kills for the match, was just one sideout from rotating to serve. We got 1, to lead 13-11, but then Northwestern got the sideout (13-12) and handed the ball to Sangiacomo. Who served out, 14-12 Gophs. Then Shaffmaster got a block (Shaffmaster had a critical block late in Set 4 also), for match point.
The offense was balanced. Landfair had 15 kills, Grote 14 (along with 5 aces, a couple at critical times), Wooker 10, Davis 5 (in only 8 attempts), Owoleye 4, Shaffmaster & Hanson 2 each. Hanson’s kills both came in Set 1, the Gophers’ best set; but I don’t believe she saw the court in Sets 4 & 5.
Which brings me back to coaching. Maybe Grote digs better than Hanson, and she did get 4 back-row kills in 3 sets, versus Hanson’s 2 in 2 sets. But since neither Grote or Hanson is allowed to touch a serve, this seems irrelevant to the Gophers real problem.
The other surprising coaching move was to have Palabiyik sub-in for Wooker, and then back out again for Wooker to receive. I find this weird in two ways: 1) For the season, Wooker, the team’s only real-aggressive server, has 9 kills and 50 errors; Palabiyik has 6 kills and 6 errors. Obviously, Palabiyik’s kill-to-error ratio is better than Wooker’s; but Wooker’s aggressive serving does take opponents out of system (when she get it in), and at least a couple of Palabiyik’s errors have come at the worst possible times. And, 2) Wooker’s more important weakness is her serve-receive. We haven’t seen enough of Palabiyik’s receiving to know whether she is better than Wooker or not, but Palabiyik is here to play Libero (next year maybe), so she should be.
More mysterious yet is why Cook allowed Sangiacomo to serve 13 consecutive points in Set 2 without making adjustments. When I played bar-league vball, and when Phoebe played H.S. vball, both teams followed the same rule: two failed receives in a row and we changed the personnel. Sub someone in if necessary, or let Hanson or Grote or maybe Davis receive? Do something!
GopherVBallRocks reader D.S. has a theory: Landfair & Wooker, both outstanding hitters (when they get a good set) each have 2 more years of potential eligibility to play for the Gophers. But, in the Portal Era, these talented players could play anywhere they want. and like most great players, they want to stay on the court for all 6 rotations. And if Cook doesn’t let them receive, maybe they’re wearing a different uniform next year? I don’t know; but it’s as good a theory as any.
I am not at all certain that the Gophers deserve a top-25 ranking, but they went into the weekend at #24, and since they went 2 & 0 for the weekend, I predict they will hold on another week.
NEXT UP:
- Rutgers, who we just lost to in 4 sets in Piscataway, on Friday, 7:00, at the Pav, BTN+; and
- Michigan State, a squad with a 4 & 4 Big Ten record (identical to the Gophs’) on Sunday, 2:00, at the Pav, BTN+.
We need to win both!