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I have lost count how many of my predictions regarding the ‘23 Gophers have been wrong, but the latest was my post following last Saturday’s debacle at Rutgers, when I predicted that this team would no longer be rated in the Top 25 nationally this week, or likely ever again this season.

But somehow, with an overall record of 6 & 8, we are #24. I agree that those voting for this poll shouldn’t penalize good teams for losses at Florida, Stanford or Nebraska, but keeping the Gophs at #24 after losses to Maryland and Rutgers is mystifying. 

Michigan is apparently worse. As we have seen in most matches this season, the Gophers started slow in Set 1 (our powerful outside hitters had only 7 kills). never trailing but squeaking out a 26-24 win. Our hitters came alive in Set 2, (14 kills), jumping out to a 16-8 lead, and coasting to a decisive 25-11 win. And the Gopher momentum carried on into Set 3, taking a 9-3 lead and finishing Michigan off 25-16.

Shaffmaster was back, and apparently healthy, so that helped. I had Grote with 11 kills, Landfair with 10, and Wooker with 9. Shaffmaster only had 3 kills, and 1 block, but her block and 2 of her kills came in Set 1, when the Gophers needed them most.

Some GopherVBallRocks readers, including wife Maureen, really hate service errors. I have consistently defended the strategy of aggressive serving, even though this raises the rate of service errors. But I have also made the point that the timing & score matters; serve aggressively when behind, the further behind, the more aggressive, to try to capture momentum, but conservatively when ahead or on a “run;” when you have the momentum, don’t give it away. In tonight’s Set 1, leading 24-23, Skylar Gray came in to serve, and missed it. Wrong time for that. And I think this was the third time in recent weeks that Gray has missed a serve in a similar situation. Whatever, Coach Cook used Palabiyik in that role in Sets 2 & 3. 

The only explanation I can offer, for the Gophers remaining in the Top 25, with a 6 & 8 record, is that the poll-voters are looking at the individuals on the roster – versus the team’s performance. We have 5 outstanding players (alphabetically): Grote, Landfair, Murr, Shaffmaster & Wooker, anyone of which, or even all 5 together, would potentially not be over their heads in this year’s Final Four. But an elite team has to have an at least competitive serve-receive. This team does not have a competitive serve-receive; and without one, it doesn’t matter how good those 5 are.

BUT, if they can beat Northwestern at the PAV on Sunday, to reach 8 & 8, the Gophers should remain in the Top 25 for at least one more week.

Not the good ones, unfortunately. Not the historic streak of beating mediocre teams at an impressive rate, or this season’s streak of splitting the weekends, certainly not the streak of competing for the Big 10 Title, or  being ranked in the top 25 nationally. And likely, unless some sort of miracle occurs, not the streak of participating in the NCAAs in 23 of the past 24 years. (McCutcheon’s 2014 squad failed to make the Tournament.)

The streaks that continued this evening in Piscataway were the recent streak of losing to teams an elite team would beat, the streak of under-performing, and the streak of futility in delivering hittable balls to our Talented Outside Hitters. Rutgers in 4 sets, 20-25, 22-25, 25-16, 14-25.

Some readers might be skeptical of my reference to “Talented Outside Hitters,” but I continue to believe that the trio of Landfair, Wooker and Grote, solely in terms of their offensive skills, are probably the best trio of Outside Hitters in the country. They don’t look like it – because we can’t get them the ball. Melani Shaffmaster is no Samantha Seliger-Swenson, but she’s pretty good, and fully capable of turning good first passes into good second passes – when she gets one – which has been rare all season, and rarer yet tonight vs the Scarlet Knights.

Shaffmaster, who sat out last night’s match, and Set 1 tonight, due to illness, and shared setting duties with McGhie in Set 2, recorded 23 assists (i.e., she delivered a set which her hitter “killed) for the match, McGhie added 13, Murr 3, and the rest of the team another 6, for a total of 45. But we must have had roughly 180 to 200 first pass opportunities, and less than half of those reached the desired part of the court.

Part of this, of course, falls on Landfair, Wooker and Grote, and  their own deficiencies as passers. No team at the D1 level (that I know of) expects their Middles to regularly receive serve or dig – that’s what Liberos are for. And you don’t need to have all 3 of your Outside Hitters to be great passers, that’s what D.S.s are for. (If only we had one). But opposing teams watch film; they know that Landfair will produce roughly one good serve-receive in three. And Grote must be worse, cause we hide her on serve-receive.

Last year, we had Jenna Wenaas, now playing leftside hitter for #8 ranked Texas. Wenaas wasn’t good enough to hit leftside for the Gophers (she really wasn’t), so McCutcheon played her rightside, where she wasn’t as good as this year’s rightside. (Grote is definitely an upgrade offensively. ) But Wenaas was an excellent passer; for my money, she was better than McGraw at serve-receive. And even then, with a serve-receive of McGraw, Wenaas and Kilkelly half the time, the 2022 Gophers were a mediocre passing team. The 2023 Gophers, with a standard serve-receive of Murr, Landfair & Wooker, are terrible. I doubt that this squad, which has remained ranked in the top 25, until the rankings get updated tomorrow night, are among the top 200 in serve-receive. And it ain’t Murr’s fault. (She misses one or two per match, but we’re asking her to do too much.)

And none of our 3 Middles could play for a top-16 team either. Davis was credited with 7 “partial” blocks tonight (I counted 3), but I suspect that’s because Rutgers isn’t great.

I shouldn’t bash the two East Coast Teams that whipped our butts this weekend, they obviously have rosters full of reasonably talented players. But Rutgers had never, in their entire history, beaten a “ranked” (i.e., top-25) team. And they didn’t tonight either; the 2023 Gophers are no top-25 team.

At least not now. It’s a long season, and maybe some miracle will occur. But given the nature of the problem, I think the unnamed Reader who predicted a 10 & 10 Big Ten finish was probably optimistic. But if you’re a true fan, like I am, keep wishing and hoping.

Since the beginning of the Trump era, wife Maureen has tried to ban the use of the word “unprecedented;”  but this was the first loss to Maryland in program history, Terps in five, 18-25, 25-22, 26-24, 20-25, 10-15. The Gophers and the Terps came into the match with identical 2 & 2 records in the Big Ten. Maryland had a much better overall record, but they hadn’t beaten anyone any good, and the Gophers extremely challenging non-conference schedule was supposed to prepare them for adversity. But it did not prepare the Gophs for the adversity of playing without star setter Melani Shaffmaster.  Shaffmaster was at the match, but, apparently due to illness during the week, did not step on the court. 

(I was unable to watch Set 1, an 18-25 loss, because, to my knowledge, it was not televised anywhere, due to the preliminary game going 4 sets, So my analysis refers to Sets 2 through 4.)

Backup setter Elise McGhie played hard, but the fall-off from Shaffmaster to McGhie was painfully obvious:

• Problem 1, the 5-10 McGhie cannot block, and the Terps knew it. The BTN announcer described several Maryland kills as “tricky,” but I don’t know what’s tricky about pounding the ball down the line over the hands of a setter/blocker who can barely reach the top of the net.
• Problem 2, McGhie’s tempo is slower than Shaffmaster, which is what it is, but it requires adjustments by the hitters. Several GopherVBallRocks readers have wondered why the Gophers don’t (usually) play a 6-2, and these slight variations are part of the reason.
• Problem 3, I had Julie Hanson with the only back-row kill of the match (we usually have half a dozen); it seemed to me that most of McGhie’s attempted back-row sets were unhittable.
• I think that McGhie’s vulnerability should have dictated a shift in serving strategy. I wanted the Gophs to serve very aggressively when McGhie was in the front row (given that an easy serve would allow the Terps to attack McGhie); and to serve conservatively when McGhie was in the back row (trusting our front row, with Grote, to outplay the Terps’ front row). (But I cannot claim that I actually observed this.)

• This is not to suggest that everything that went wrong was McGhie’s fault (she had a respectable 4 kills despite her limited height), the ongoing weaknesses we have seen with Shaffmaster on the court were all too obvious. The Gophers, especially Landfair, continued to struggle with serve-receive, forcing McGhie to chase the ball all over the court, often making her set-choice far too obvious, and therefore easier to block (the Terps had a lot of them).

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: 

• Our Outside Hitters, especially Grote, played well. Grote had 18 kills (apparently zero in (Set 1, which I didn’t see) , at a ,279 clip.
• I had Davis with 4 blocks, her best blocking-match of the season.
• Murr has 27 digs, many of them spectacular.
• Seldom used D.S. Zeynap Palabiyik contributed 2 aces. 

• TOMORROW NIGHT: Rutgers. I think the Gophers should beat Rutgers with my 15 yr-old granddaughter setting. But we shall see. 

The Gophers spotted Penn State a 3-12 lead to start Set 1 and, despite playing the Nittany Lions almost even after that, lost 14-25, 25-23, 20-25 & 25-27. The 2023 Gophers have not been a strong first-half of Set 1 kind of team (neither were most of McCutcheon’s teams), which leaves them playing from behind too often. They lost Set 1 to Highpoint, and roared back to win in 4, but Penn State is too good for the Gophers to start so slow.

Gopher fans looking for a scapegoat have a target-rich field to choose from. I had: 

• Landfair with 6 receiving errors;
• Wooker with 5 service errors; and
• Our Middles were completely outplayed, on offense and defense. Penn State knew that Davis can’t block and picked on her every chance they had (Davis’s one block came in Set 1)
• Penn State’s overall floor game was better. The Gophers made a few wonderful saves, but Penn State made a ton.
• But the pathetic start in Set 1 fell mostly on Wooker. She got stuffed on her first two swings, and lost her confidence. She finished Set 1 with 1 kill – and that was on an off-speed shot. 

But it is worth mentioning that the Gophers’ generally poor receiving (not all Landfair), and almost non-existent middle-hitting (completely missing in Set 1), left no doubt as to where the set was going, so Wooker was facing a double-block on almost every swing.

Highlights:

• Landfair, despite her receiving struggles, had 16 kills (her best match of the season), and was the Gophers only offense in Set 1.
•  Wooker recovered from a disastrous Set 1 to record 14 kills. (Readers are probably getting tired of hearing this, especially when we lose, but I thought that the Gophers’ pair of Left-side Hitters were better than those of  the Nittany Lions – if you consider the quality of the sets they were getting. 
• I had the Gophers with 10 “off-speed kills” (dinks) in the match. I’m pretty sure that’s the most in any one match in the history of GopherVBallRocks, and probably the most in the past 15 years. And 
• Shaffmaster led the Gophs to victory in Set 2, with 2 of her 4 kills, and her only block.

But winning Set2 wasn’t enough.

Forecast: A GopherVBallRocks reader, who wishes to remain unnamed, not even by initials, predicts that the Gophs will finish 10 & 10 in the Big 10, good for7th or 8th place, but not good enough to make the NCAA Tournament. I went into tonight’s match hoping for something like 14-6 and 3rd place in the Big 10, and a top-16 seed. But Penn State is one of the teams that the Gophers would have to beat for that to happen.

NEXT UP:

• Maryland, Friday Oct 6 at 7:00, on BTN &
• Rutgers, Saturday Oct 7 at 6:00 on BTN+

A chance for the Gophers to play like contenders.

Minimal drama at the PAV last night as the Maroon & Gold demolished the Maize & Blue, 25-9, 25-17, 25-18. At least so far in ‘23, we have not seemed competitive with the truly elite teams of Women’s Collegiate Volleyball, but our #13 ranked Gophs are a lot better than the hopeless Wolverines. The Gophers were swept st Nebraska, but the total score was 65-75; last night’s win was 75-43! And the Gophers subbed liberally in Set 3.

Though still failing to produce an effective middle-offense (Owoleye had 3 kills, but 1 was off an overpass),  everything else was clicking:

• As one would expect, our outside hitters led the way. The Wooker had 10 kills, Landfair 9 (at a .381 clip), the two of them basically matching the Michigan Team totals (20). Grote added 5, Hanson 2 from the back-row, and Shaffmaster got 3 (in 4 attempts). We hit .287 vs .023 for Michigan. 
• We served well. I had the Gophs with 11 Aces (officially 8, but I count serves that result in over-passes as “aces”), spread around 6 servers, vs 12 service errors – a ratio I’ll take any day. The freshman Palabiyik served for the “other” middle (Murr is only allowed to serve for one) and had 2 aces.
• We blocked okay; 9 (5 by Owoleye) vs Michigan’s 20 kills. 
• We even received well, only 2 official receiving-errors for the match – none by Landfair! Landfair had a couple of “poor” receives, but even those were off-set by 2 very-good digs off Michigan spikes. Landfair’s best back-row match of the season, by far.

TONIGHT: #15 ranked Penn State at the Pav, 8:00, BTN, should be a better test of how good the Gophers are.

Halfway through my 4th season of GopherVBallRocks, this is only the 2nd time I have been so wrong that I felt an official correction was in order. In my recent post regarding the Nebraska Match, I wrote that highly-regarded freshman Libero, Laney Choboy, who had committed to play for McCutcheon, and then switched her commitment to Nebraska, did not play vs the Gophers. I was right that she did not play Libero, but Choboy, apparently playing D.S. for the Huskers, was the server who ran 5 straight points, serving exclusively at Landfair, to give Nebraska control of Set 1.

Lincoln is always a tough place to win. The Gophs won there in the ‘22 finale, but not tonight, getting swept 23-25, 20-25, & 22-25. Hard to claim the match was close, but every set was. The Gophs led 22-21 in Set 1 and 19-18 in Set 3. The Gophs’ weakest showing was in Set 2, where they got down 6-14, but even then they rallied to within 2 at 14-16.

I assume that the stats will say that the Huskers outhit the Gophers, but that was just their middles. As usual, the Gophers had strong offense from our pins, I had Wooker with 10, Landfair with 7 and Grote with 6, plus 3 backrow kills from Hanson. Our middle offense was non-existent, I had Davis and Owoleye with 1 kill apiece, both off quicks. (Okay, Davis had 2, but 1 was off an overpass.) Owoleye did rack up 6 blocks in 3 sets. Apparently, Owoleye ranked #2 in the Big 10 in blocks coming into the match, ahead of, among others, Carter Booth. 

And I assume that the stats will say that the Huskers outserved the Gophers, but does it really count when you’re serving at Landfair all night? As usual, Landfair received fairly well most of the match; I had her with 6 receiving errors (in maybe 25 to 30 attempts?), but 3 of those errors came during a mid-Set 1 run taking the Gophs from 13-13 to 13-18, and though we did have a come-back, that 0-5 run hurt our chances.

It is not just the Gopher’s serve-receive that separates them from the elite teams, it’s their floor game in general. I felt like the Gopher hitters, the pins at least, pounded just as many hard-hit balls past the blockers as their Nebraska counter-parts. But a lot, maybe half of the Gophers-hits were dug up; much less by the Gophers.

I can’t help but feel like playing without a true D.S. is part of the problem. The Gophs continue to sub Julie Hanson in where the D.S. would be, but Hanson is not a D.S.; she’s a back-row hitter. Hanson is a terrific back-row hitter, which helps offset our almost total absence of middle offense. But we need a real D.S.! I was hoping it would be Palabiyik, but she’s eligible now (she played versus Highpoint), and she’s not out there. Maybe she’s not that good?

GOPHER NOTES: Wooker continued her aggressive serving. I had her with 1 ace vs 2 errors, but her aggressiveness took the Huskers out of system several times, creating scoring opportunities fro the Maroon & Gold. Shaffmaster did not attack as often as I want her to, recording only one kill, I think. The Gophers used the 6-2 with Crowl & McGhei, but only briefly. 

HUSKER NOTES: Eagan’s Kennedi Orr likewise set briefly for the Huskers when they used a 6-2, but they mostly played a 5-1, using a talented freshman setter. Freshman Libero Laney Choboy, originally promised to the Gophers, who defected to the Huskers when McCutcheon left, did not play.  

NEXT UP: Michigan at the Pav on Friday, 6:00, BTN+ (I think there are tickets available.) And

#15 Penn State at the Pav on Sat, 8:00, BTN We need a sweep.

With a 46 win over Iowa streak on the line, the Gophers buckled down in Set 5: 25-14, 20-25, 26-16, 24-26 & 15-6?, a total differential of 109-83, to run the streak to 47. The Gophs were clearly the better team, and a win is a win, but going to a 5th set on the other team’s home court is a dangerous practice.

The worst performance of the evening was FS1, who lost the feed in the middle of Set 3, and didn’t find it again until the middle of Set 4. Consequently, my stats are incomplete, and the official Gopher Stats are not up yet (maybe they don’t have them either?) forcing me to use the Iowa stat-sheet.

Set 1: The Gophers broke their pattern of starting slow, not only winning 25-14, but hitting an impressive .464! for the set. Were the Gophs better prepared mentally? Maybe. Were the Hawkeyes poor blockers? Maybe, Were the Hawkeyes poor diggers? Definitely not; I thought they dug well.

What the Hawkeyes didn’t do in Set 1 (did they not read the scouting report?) was to serve aggressively. I had the Gophs with only 1 serve-receive-error in Set 1, and only a couple of poor ones. The other dozen or so Iowa serves were passed right where Shaffmaster wants them, and she teed ‘em up for her hitters, including Davis – who looked like a star against Iowa.

Set 2: was tied 12-12 when Iowa’s best server got aggressive. I think she had at least 4, maybe 5, aces in a run that pushed the Hawkeyes lead to 13-20 And the Gophs never recovered. Some of these serves were hard & long, at Landfair, and some were shorties just barely over the net near Owoleye – who wasn’t supposed to be part of the Gopher receive, and seemed flummoxed. (By the end of the match, Owoleye had been replaced by Minatee, and Murr was diving to get the shorties.) 

Set 3: was tied 7-7 when Murr rotated to serve. This has been the Gophs strongest rotation so far this season, partly because of Murr’s serving, but also because of a front line of Wooker, Owoleye & Grote. I think the Gophs were up 20-12 by the time Murr lost the serve, but FS1 cut out before then. I think the Gophs were again handling the Iowa serves.

Set 4: started  without FS1, so who knows? By the time they regained the feed, the Hawkeye servers were again terrorizing the Gopher receivers, eventually establishing a formidable 7-16 lead. Grote had been ineffective during this run, so Coach Cook subbed in Lauren Crowl at Opposite, and Crowl immediately got a critical kill to stop the bleeding. Soon after, Wooker started jump-serving, something we did not see during the non-conference schedule. She eventually buried one into the net, but not before running 4 or 5 points, including 2 aces, and changing the tone significantly. I think, but who knows, that Wooker finished the match with 3 aces & 5 errors, which I know is a stat that some GopherVBallRocks readers do not appreciate. But Wooker’s aggressive serving rallied the Gophs to a 19-19 tie, and eventually a 24-23 lead, and a match-point opportunity. Though Iowa came back, 24-26, to force —

Set 5: was all Gophers. Landfair started it off with 2 quick kills, and the Gophers never let up, winning the match.

Landfair turned in her best performance of the young season, with 18 kills at a .405 clip, plus 4 blocks. Wooker, beside her serving, contributed 15 kills (including 4 dink-kills, atypical for Wooker) and received well all night. And Grote contributed 14 kills. But if I was awarding a “game-ball,” it goes to Shaffmaster; she had 8 kills (on 12 swings) (I love it) and she set great. Hard to tell when the Gophers struggle with their serve-receive, but when they get Shaffmaster balls she can handle, she does a very nice job of feeding her hitters.

NEXT UP: The #2 ranked Cornhuskers at Lincoln, Sunday, 6:30, BTN.

One can think of the Gopher Volleyball season as having 3 parts: 1) The non-conference season, just complete; 2) The Big 10 season, about to start; and 3) The NCAAs. It’s a little early to talk much about the NCAAs, but this is a good time to review #1 and look ahead to #2.

NON-CONFERENCE REVIEW: The Gophers started with a pre-season ranking of #7 in the country, an honor that surprised some GopherVBallRocks readers, still mourning the loss of our coach and three starters. But despite a 4 & 4 record, we enter the Big 10 season ranked #12. (3rd highest in the Big 10 (Wisconsin & Nebraska, both unbeaten, are ranked #1 & #2).. #12 might seem generous, but the 4 losses came to Florida, currently ranked #3, Stanford, ranked #4, Texas, ranked #9, & Creighton, currently ranked #11, i.e., no teams ranked lower than us. The 4 non-conference wins included Oregon, currently ranked #6,  and Baylor, currently ranked #18. Penn State, Ohio State & Purdue are ranked just behind us. 

Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that these starting-the-Big 10 rankings accurately reflect the quality of these teams, it appears that the Badgers & Cornhuskers will battle for the Big 10 Title, while our Gophs compete with Penn State, Ohio State & Purdue for third place. The Gophs first opportunity to upset the apple-cart comes Sunday, at Lincoln. As a team, the Gophs outside hitting has been very good, their middle hitting not-so-much, their serving has gotten better of late, but serve-receive remains their Achilles heel.  

INDIVIDUALLY: 

• I wasn’t certain, going into the season, who the starting Opposite would be, but transfer-acquisition (from Cal), Lydia Grote, has answered the question decisively. Putting up Samedy-like numbers, she has surpassed my wildest expectations,. In some sets, especially in First Sets, she has often been our only effective hitter. If Coach Cook was key to recruiting Grote, I’m impressed, already.
• Our transfer-acquisition (from Ohio State) Libero, the reigning Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year, Kylie Murr has been great. She has not surpassed expectations – only because expectations were so high. (I think Shaffmaster recruited Murr.)
• Our Sophomore Left-side, The Wooker, is good. Despite an off-match vs Creighton, this #1 recruit in the Class of ‘22 and All-Big 10 Freshman pick last year — despite missing a good chunk of the season with an injury, is better than ever, now a 6-rotation player and right on track for stardom. With 108 kills in 32 sets, she leads the team by a wide margin.
• Our huge senior Setter, Melanie Shaffmaster (she has a covid bonus year of eligibility, assuming she chooses to take it), a pre-season All-Big 10 pick, continues to improve year after year. This year, her digging has been better, and she has been attacking “twos” more than ever – which helps keep the defense honest. Shaffmaster’s right knee is a MAJOR CONCERN. 
• Taylor Landfair, the reigning Big 10 Player of the Year, counted on to lead the team in kills, has been disappointing, so far – and it’s not clear why. With 79 total kills, Landfair has been merely okay, keeping pace with Grote (way behind The Wooker), but with a weak hitting % of .123, due to her many errors. Her error rate seems to come from her trying too hard – which seems to come from her inability to put balls away with a normal effort. Her in-bounds spikes look good, but opponents seem able to dig them with ease. One possible explanation is that being part of the Gophers’ serve-receive (in most rotations), Landfair is often targeted by opposing servers. This is problematic in two ways: it wears her out; and I think her struggle to handle the pressure of serve-receive has affected her confidence. Then again, Landfair has had health issues in the past; there might be something with her health that we don’t know about. Whatever the reason, Landfair is not producing like she did last year. A MAJOR CONCERN. 

• Arica Davis is our one Middle returning from last year, and she has performed as expected. With 14 kills (almost all on “quicks,” Davis has been moderately effective, but not dominant. She is not effective on “slides” (where the Tapp Sisters made their impact), and Davis is not an effective blocker. At 6 ft tall, she is short for a D1 Middle Blocker, and there is not much she can do about that.
• Senior (I think, like Shaffmaster, she has a covid bonus year of eligibility if she chooses to take it) transfer-acquisition (from Georgia, via Loyola Marymount) Phoebe Owoleye seems to have more upside (6ft 2, anyway). Until recently, I thought Owoleye was the opposite of Davis, i.e., strong blocker, weak hitter. But she showed some offensive potential (quicks & slides) this past weekend.

THE BENCH

• Sophomore Julia Hanson (Prior Lake) has been a very pleasant surprise. Playing almost exclusively in the back-row, Hanson has contributed 24 kills (21 of them back-row). Given our lack of middle-offense, Hanson has helped keep our outside-only focus from being too predictable. I wish she could receive serves.
• The Gophers desperately need an effective DS, if for nothing else than to reduce the receiving pressure on Landfair. The most likely choice is freshman Zeynap Palabiyik. Palabiyik was a late arrival from Turkey, where she was considered the #1 U18 Libero in Europe, and apparently wasn’t eligible when the season started. She played recently, vs Highpoint, did not look good, and then did not see the court vs Ceighton. Let’s hope that was just jitters,
• Junior Skylar Gray (Maple Grove) would be another potential option for DS, but she has not impressed in her brief appearances so far.
• Prior to the start of the season, I thought red-shirt Sophomore Lauren Crowl (from Eagan), a 6-4 lefty with a powerful arm, was a serious candidate for starting Opposite. But Grote answered that question. For now, Crowl’s primary role is to replace Shaffmaster in the front row, when Senior Setter Elise McGhie subs in for Grote, in a change-the-look “6-2.” Both players seem adequate in this role; but I do not see an expanded role for either. McGhie also serves sometimes, neither harming nor helping the team much.
• Freshman Calissa Minatee is our 3rd Middle. Minatee has seen action when Davis or Owoleye are unavailable or struggling, and I assume she will play this role throughout the season. It would be nice to see her “claim” a starting-role by outplaying Davis or Owoleye, but no sign of that so far.
• Freshmen Opposite Sydney Schnichels (Wilmar) and Setter Chloe Ng (Vancouver B.C.) look like red-shirt candidates.

At Iowa on tonight, 6:00 on FS1. We’d better win this one.

Our Gophers got away with slow starts against High Point, and last month against TCU, but #14 ranked Creighton was too good for the Gophers to come back after spotting the Blue Jays a 9-23 lead in Set 1, a 7-20 lead in Set 3, and a 1-9 lead in Set 5. Creighton won the hard-fought match, 15-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22, and 15-9. 

I recently said it was too soon to compare Lydia Grote with Steph Samedy, but Grote put up Samedy-like numbers against Creighton, keeping the Gophers in the match with 20 kills at a .474 clip. Landfair and The Wooker had 9 and 7 kills, respectively – on the same # of sets as fed to Grote. Wooker has had some strong matches, but the wasn’t one of them; in Set 5, after 3 consecutive hitting errors, Coach Cook actually benched Wooker for Julia Hanson, Hanson wasn’t any better. 

And we’re still waiting for the real Landfair to appear. I will say, Landfair passed better against Creighton than she has in some matches.  She had 3 official serve-receive errors (about her avg for a 5-set match), but not as many “poor” receives as usual. And Landfair had her serve going, with a career-high 5 aces, vs 3 service-errors, including 4 consecutive aces in Set 3, giving the Gophers life when they barely had a pulse. Led by Landfair, the Gophs had 11 aces for the match, vs 12 service-errors. I’ll take that any day.

The big drama was Shaffmaster getting injured, early, in a tight Set 4. Shaffmaster, favoring her right knee all season, went down hard and didn’t get up. Eventually, she was helped off the court and led to the locker room. Back-up Setter Elise McGhie played the rest of Set 4. There is a reason McGhie is the back-up; she might be quicker than Shaffmaster, but her hands are not as good – and she can’t block at all. But McGhie played her heart out, and the loss of Shaffmaster seemed to inspire the whole team to hang on for the Set 4 win.

McGhie started Set 5 in the serving position. Coach Cook subbed Shaffmaster back in when our setter-position rotated to the front row (I assume that was the plan going into Set 5), but  by then we were down 1-9. Not really McGhie’s fault; more a case of poor receiving and poor hitting.

One bright note was Phoebe Awoleye getting 5 kills. Five kills in 5 sets isn’t great, but I think it was her best offensive performance of the season (Awoleye has been our best blocker so far). And 4 of the 5 were “quicks;” coming into tonight’s match, I don’t think she had 4 kills off quick-sets all season. 

Arica Davis, who didn’t play at all last weekend vs Oregon & Stanford, but was back Thursday vs Highpoint, and has been our most effective offensive Middle, matched Owoleye. But Davis can’t block at all.

I don’t want to take anything away from Creighton. This was high-quality volleyball between 2 good teams, especially the digging and out-of-system play on both sides of the court. I wouldn’t be shocked to see these two teams play again in the NCAAs. But Creighton was the better team tonight. 

NEXT UP: Conference Opener at Iowa, on Thursday, on FS1.

I expect to put up a non-conference review / Big 10 Preview before the Iowa match.