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Reader R.A. was in the first row, in a perfect position behind Opposite Crowl to be impressed by the power of her hits.  He also had a good view of the blocking by Crowl, Husemann, Booth, and Shaffmaster. Booth reminded him of Pittman, pounding shots straight down, well inside 8 ft.  Hope to see more of that this season.

Hanson was impressive also.  Glenn’s hits were more nuanced than last year, not always going for power over accuracy.  Landfair was a bit tentative in her first shots, going for dinks, but quickly found terrific power. And Davis was solid, especially on defense.

NDSU was overmatched vs the Gophers first team, but so many Gopher hits were no-doubters that would have scored on anyone.  The Gophers also made solid saves when the Bisons had good hits, but Shaffmaster was still chasing around the court too often. This is a solid starting 7, with some decent backups.                             

I attended this afternoon’s scrimmage vs NDSU at Lakeville North. I didn’t recognize any GOPHERVBALLROCKS readers (other than Maureen), but it was crowded, almost sold out (an empty seat here and there). If you were there, share your thoughts with our readers.

The Gophers swept 4 sets, 25-6, 17-16, 25-13, & 25-21. Although the scores of the 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th sets were similar to last week sweep of South Dakota, the 1^st set (25-17 last week), when both players were playing their starters, were radically different. The Bison were a lot less competitive than the Coyotes had been.

Certainly NDSU has a roster full of talented athletes, but they didn’t have the height to challenge the Gophs. I was there in time for the warm-ups; the Bison were pounding the ball down on the 28 ft line; the taller Gophers, especially Landfair, Wenaas, Booth and others, were were pounding the ball down on the 8 ft line.

I focused my attention on what I considered the two open questions: 1) Who will be this year’s two Middles? And 2) Who will be this year’s Opposite?

• I think I know the answer to #1. At least based on what I saw this afternoon, senior Ellie Husemann and freshman Carter Booth will be our starting Middles. Both dominated the (admittedly shorter) Bison when they were on the floor. Husemann appears to have become better every year. Big, strong Carter Booth dominated the net more than any Gopher Middle in years. She also has a nasty serve, but serving implies playing back row, at least briefly, and I’m uncertain how much we will see her in the back row until her passing gets a lot better.

Sophomore Anna Wolfe started today’s 1^st set and played okay; but nothing like Husemann and Booth. Sophomore Arcia Davis played the 2^nd and 4^th set and looked very good, but still not as dominant as Husemann and Booth. BTW, Davis is listed as 5-11, but when she stands next to the 6-3 Husemann or the 6-4 Wolfe, Davis seems only slightly shorter.

• Lauren Crowl remains the favorite for Opposite. She’s tall (6-4), she’s left handed, she started today’s 1^st set, and she’s the only “Opposite” listed on the roster. And she played okay. But 6-1 freshman Outside Hitter Julia Hanson played better, today, than Crowl. So in my mind, the jury is still out.

Miscellaneous Notes from today’s scrimmage:

• “Kill” is common V-Ball slang for scoring on a spike, but Taylor Landfair almost-literally killed some unfortunate Bison back-row player, the crowd gasping and wondering if she would get up.
• Natalie Glenn is a terrific athlete, and demonstrated strong digging skills again today. But given that only two left-side hitters can play in the same set, and given that Glenn is not one of our top 3 left-side hitters (and not obviously even better than Hanson) I don’t see her getting a lot of playing time at her preferred position.

UP NEXT: Thursday, 7:30, St. Thomas, at the Pav.

I was excited to learn of the Gopher’s “spring season.” I was less excited about driving 2 hours each way to watch them play South Dakota in Blue Earth. But every Saturday since Christmas we’ve had a grandkid playing volleyball, or basketball, or wrestling, or swimming, not to mention 3 weeks of “home school” during the teacher’s strike – and suddenly that’s all over, at least until baseball starts. And it wasn’t even snowing, so why not?

The match started at 2pm. doors supposed to  open at 1:30. When we arrived at 1:30, the parking lot was almost full. No line, they must have let ‘em in early. It was a standard, modern gym, with folding bleachers on either side. Only one set of bleachers was unfolded, and it was 90% full, a half-hour before the match. But we found good seats next to some locals (welcome, new blog-reader Tara). They eventually unfolded the other side, which was half-full by the time the match started.  BTW, the Gopher swept 4 sets, 25-17, 25-19, 25-12 & 25-22 from the Coyotes.

As we drove down to Blue Earth, I had lots of questions regarding our 2022 Gophers, many of which, but not all , were answered:

• Do Spring Games count? NO, these are “scrimmages:” with an almost packed house and a electronic scoreboard, and neutral refs.. But, oddly enough, no line-judges, wearing practice jerseys (the “returning” Gophs had numbers; the “new” Gophs did not), and as noted, a 4^th set though the Gophs had won the first 3. The good news, for Gophervolleyballrocks readers, is that the Gophs got to play their entire roster (I think).
• Is Landfair really healthy? YES, based on what we saw at Blue Earth HS. Landfair looked incredible, crushing the ball from the front row, crushing the ball from the back row, at least once from the Middle position, blocking a bit, even passing pretty well. Can’t tell you how long that will last, but she looked like the old “shock and awe” Landfair, at least against the over-matched Coyotes.
• Are the rest of our returning stars healthy? YES, Wenaas played like the Wenaas we know and love. not as “shock and awe” as Landfair, but every bit as effective. McGraw played like the McGraw we know and love, Shaffmaster played like the Shaffmaster we know and mostly love, and KIlkelly and Husemann played like KIlkelly and Husemann.
• Are the incoming freshmen as good as their ratings suggest? YES, # 1 overall national recruit O.H. McKenna Wucherer looks like the # 1 overall national recruit. 6-7 Middle Carter Booth looks 6-7, and blocks like 6-7 (she didn’t play in the 1^st set, more about that below) and hit okay. And O.H. Julia Hanson looked decent for a spring-freshman.
• Are we going to get any help from the transfers? POSSIBLY, I’m not ready to write them off after one spring scrimmage, but setter McGhie and Middle Davis both struggled in their Gopher debuts. McGhie, who played the 2nd set and part of the 4th is probably quicker than McMenimen, but I don’t see her challenging Shaffmaster for a starting role. Davis also played the 2nd & 4^th sets with mixed success.
• Help from the bench? POSSIBLY, Redshirt freshman Libero Skylar Gary turns out to have a nasty serve. Sophomore O.H. Natalie Glenn kept her killer-but-often out-of-bounds serve under wraps, putting the ball in play on every serve but without much on it. And otherwise playing like the Freshman Glenn, digging great, but hitting with mixed success. Sophomore Opposite Anna Wolf played the 1^st & 4^th sets, with mixed success. And Redshirt freshman Opposite Lauren Crowl played the 1^st & 4^th sets, with mixed success.
• Who will the 2022 Gopher Opposite? PROBABLY CROWL?. The only “Opposite” on the roster, Crowl is the obvious choice; she’s 6-4 and left-handed, an advantage for an Opposite. She rode the bench healthy last year, but she was presumably recruited specifically to replace Samedy – and then BigTen Player of the Year Samedy ended up playing a covid-bonus year – no wonder Crowl red-shirted.
• What are the other options? WUCHERER. Left-side is her natural position and she’s amazing! If she plays regular left-side for the Gophers, she’s a lock for Freshman of the Year and probably First-String All Big Ten. But she played Opposite in the 3^rd set – and struggled; she is definitely better on the left-side. But Landfair is back, as is Wenaas. And I’m telling you, Wucherer is too good to sit on the bench. I think Hanson played Opposite the 2^nd set (did I mention the newcomers didn’t have numbers?) with mixed success. And Hanson served well. I keep thinking Glenn, a left-handed O.H. capable of crushing the ball, for Opposite. But if Coach McCutcheon was ever going to play her at Opposite, these spring scrimmages would be the time to try it, and he didn’t today.
• And who will the 2022 Gopher Middles? PROBABLY HUSEMANN AND BOOTH. Husemann and Wolf started the match, probably out of respect for their seniority. But Booth stood out as our best Middle today. And Husemann beat out Rubright last year. Like our starting opposite, it may take a while to figure this out.
• And finally, are the Gophers loaded? ABSOLUTELY!

Chris Voelz, one of 8 women being inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame, has strong connections to Gopher Volleyball. Yesterday’s Patrick Ruesse column about Voelz, who fought hard to promote women’s sports during her tenure as U of M Women’s Athletic Director from 1988 to 2002, notes many of Voelz’s accomplishments, including:

• The building of The Jean Freeman Aquatics Center;
• The conversion of an obsolete hockey arena into THE PAV;
• The building of Ridder Hockey Arena;
• The building of Cowles Softball Stadium.
• The creation of Women’s Varsity Hockey; And
• Firing Gopher Volleyball coach Steph Schleuder (because Voelz thought BIG), and wanted to hire Mike Hebert away from Illinois, which turned the Gophers into a volleyball powerhouse, making it possible, later, to hire Coach McCutcheon.

Voelz certainly deserves to be in the MN Sports HOF, and Ruesse is the best sports writer in the Twin Cities. (“Sports” might be an unnecessary qualifier.)  But there is a bit of hyperbole in this list.

• The Aquatics Center was under construction before Voelz became Women’s Athletic Director, and it was later named for my friend Jean Freeman after Jean’s untimely death — after Voelz had left the U. (I knew Jean when she swam for the Gophers and I was playing Water Polo; and later when Jean was the Women’s Swim Coach and I was the Men’s and Women’s Polo Coach in the Aquatics Center. Jean was a wonderful person; very deserving of having the Aquatics Center named after her.):
• THE PAV, which seats 5,700, has been a wonderful home for Gopher Volleyball, Gopher Gymnastics, and Gopher Wrestling. 5,700 is occasionally inadequate to satisfy everyone wanting a ticket for Volleyball or Wrestling — but that’s okay. But Voelz also insisted that the Gopher Women’s Basketball Team play there – until a broken pipe forced a team led by Lindsey Whalen and Janel McCarville into Williams Arena — where they drew 11,000. So much for Voelz thinking big.
• The building of His & Hers Hockey Arenas was the second stupidest facilities decision ever made by the Gopher Athletic Dept. (Number 1: TCF Stadium)
• The Gophers already had a strong Women’s Club Hockey program, and there was this Title IX thing, so going varsity was not exactly a stroke of genius.

But this is a volleyball blog, so let’s talk volleyball.  Mike Hebert had been successful at Illinois, and he had greater success with the Gophs; greater than he’d had at Illinois, and greater than Schleuder had had with the Gophers. But Voelz did not fire Schleuder so she could hire Hebert, and MN was not able to hire McCutcheon because of Hebert’s success. This is revisionist history.

Voelz fired Schleuder because Schleuder publicly criticized Voelz for lying to her regarding the raise Voelz had promised her. (And then Voelz was able to lure Hebert (a man) away from Illinois, for more money than she had been willing to pay Schleuder (a woman); — not exactly a feminist triumph. Voelz didn’t get along with her male, AD, boss, but she didn’t get along with her female coaches either.

And Coach McCutcheon, who could have had almost any job he wanted, might not have taken the Gopher job if the Gophers were a bad team in a bad conference. But he took the Gopher job because the Gophers were decent, they play in the strongest conference in the country, and McCutcheon is married to and raising kids with a Bachman Girl. (An outstanding volleyball player in her own right.) I don’t know if being one of many heirs to a florist empire makes Mrs. McCutcheon rich, but it definitely means free baby-sitting and a ton of familial support. Collegiate volleyball coaches don’t get rich coaching anywhere, not even at Nebraska or Stanford, and coaching in the home-town of his wife’s family was a decision unrelated to Voelz replacing a pretty good woman coach with an even better man coach.

TAYLOR LANDFAIR on TAYLOR LANDFAIR

This amazing athlete was the #1 overall rated recruit in the class of 2020, and while, in the Covid-Spring of ’21 Season, she experienced the normal ups & downs expected of any freshman, she also crushed “shock & awe” kills, and dominated enough sets that I suggested she might eventually surpass Steph Samedy and Samantha Seliger-Swenson as the GOAT of Gopher Volleyball.

But Landfair pulled herself from the first match of last fall’s season, came back a month later to play sparingly, then left again and spent the rest of the season leading cheers from the bench. When no real explanation was ever provided, there was plenty of speculation by readers of this blog. It was her back, it was a mental health problem, an attitude problem.

Now, the Official Gopher website has posted an essay, “TRUST THE PROCESS,” written by Landfair, explaining what happened. You can read the entire essay at https://gophersports.com/news/2022/3/22/volleyball. But if you’re pressed for time, here are the “Cliff Notes:”

It was an abdominal problem, a strain that developed during the first match of the season, turning into a tear when she tried to return to action to soon. The experience of missing a season was hard on her mental health. But she is now 100% healthy; her attitude is very positive, having “bonded” with the Gopher bench, especially freshmen Natalie Glenn and Lauren Crowl; and her “red-shirt was approved, so she has 4 more years of eligibility!

Say what? You read that right, there is now a Gopher Spring Volleyball Season, schedule as follows:

APR 2, 2:00 PM @ BLUE EARTH H.S. vs SOUTH DAKOTA

APR 9, 2:00 PM @ LAKEVILLE NORTH H.S. vs NDSU

APR 14, 7:30 PM @ The PAV vs ST. THOMAS

APR 23, 1:30 PM @ SIMPSON COLLEGE vs KANSAS STATE

Previously, Spring Practice Season concluded with an inter-squad game, originally a private affair, more recently open to the public. Originally, formal competition vs other schools was not allowed. (private “scrimmages,” maybe?) But now (as Dylan once sang, “The times, they are a changin’”), we have a 4-match “season” against other schools, open to the public.

I’m guessing these spring matches won’t count on a team’s 2022 record, but I have been unable to confirm this. What I did find, during my failed research, was that during the Spring Volleyball Season, the NCAA will be experimenting with a couple of rules changes:        1. Nationalization of the Big Ten rule allowing teams only two replay challenges (during the first four sets) – but allowing retention if the challenge is successful ;        2. Stud earrings will be allowed; And                                                                                        3. “Double-touches” on the second touch are no longer violations (double-touches on the first touch were legalized several years ago).                                                                                             These proposed changes all make sense to me.

Whether these spring games count or not, they will provide our first look at the 2022 Gophers. Despite the loss of Super-Star Steph Samedy, Super-Sub Airi Miyabe, gutsy back-up setter Bayley McMenimen, starting middle Katie Myers, and back-up middle Shea Rubright (transferred out), the 2022 Gophers will be loaded!

We start with four returning players recently named to the 2022 USA Volleyball Women’s Collegiate National Team: Left-sides Taylor Landfair and Jenna Wenaas, setter Melani Shaffmaster, and Libero CC McGraw. (The 2022 WCNT, which will train June 19-25 at the National Team Training Center in Anaheim will include 38 of the best collegiate players in the country. Our Gophs & Florida will be the only teams represented by 4 players. Ohio State will have 2, but no other Big Ten team will have more than one. The 38 will also include Adanna Rollins, listed as “college to be determined.”)

In addition to Landfair, Wenaas, Shaffmaster, and McGraw, returning Gophers will include DH Rachael Kilkelly, Middle Ellie Husemann, promising OH Natalie Glenn, and Lauren Crowl, a 6-4 red-shirt Opposite out of Eastview. On top of that, the 2022 Gophers will include a top-ten recruiting class including consensus No. 1 overall prospect McKenna Wucherer, a 6-1 OH out of Brookfield, Wis, Carter Booth, a 6-7 Middle out of Denver, and Julia Hanson, a 6-1 OH out of Prior Lake. (All 3 were Gatorade Player of the Year in their states, and all 3 are currently on campus and practicing for the spring season.)

And while we lost Rubright, the Gophs picked up two incoming transfers: Elise McGhie, a 5-10 setter transferring from Kansas (seemingly a replacement for McMenimen), and Arcia Davis a 5-11 middle transferring from Ohio State. Five-eleven seems too short to play Middle at the collegiate level, much less in the Big Ten, and yet Davis led the 2021 Buckeyes, a Sweet-Sixteen team, in blocks, including 10 matches with five-or-more blocks, and 13-kills in a five set win over. Notre Dame. Both transfers will have 3 yrs of eligibility remaining.

As we’ve learned, depth is a valuable asset. And it will be interesting to see these 8 returning players and 5 additions compete for playing time. I haven’t seen any 2022 rankings (anyone?) but I will be shocked if the Gophers are not in the Top Ten when the first poll comes out.

OTHER GOPHER NEWS

Thus is a volleyball blog, but I can’t help but mention the impressive, recent accomplishments of some other outstanding Gopher athletes:    1 Our men’s Hockey Team won the Big Ten regular season and has qualified for the Frozen Four this weekend;                                                                                                                                                2 Springboard Diver Sarah Bacon completed her illustrious Gopher career with her Fifth NCAA National Title, 3 from the 1-meter board and 2 from the 3-meter board;                         3 While failing to repeat his 2021 NCAA Championship breaststroke sweep (he took 2^nd in this year’s 200), senior Max McHugh did repeat as the 2022 NatChamp in the 100 breast. 4 The three above are wonderful accomplishments, which everyone in Gopher Nation can take pride in. But “wonderful” and “amazing,” are inadequate to describe the Maroon & Gold accomplishments of Gable Steveson. This reigning Olympic Champion and two-time NCAA Wrestler of the Year (the only heavyweight to ever win this award twice), recently closed out his Gopher career with an 85 & 2 career record, and his second National Championship. If you never watched Steveson wrestle, in person or on TV, shame on you; I have no adjectives to describe his dominance of his sport.

Multiple readers have responded to T.R.’s proposal to replace instant replay with an Honor System, and all have been positive. [My advice is to quit while you’re ahead, but never the less] T.R. elaborates: Like you, J.T., I have always considered volleyball to be the ultimate game, a breath of fresh air in sports, the opposite of the commercialized or business-ized evolution of almost all other sports.  The adage “it’s not whether you win or lose but rather how you play the game” applies here, and the honor system could become a competitive advantage for the best teams and coaches, elevating v-ball even more by moving away from the undesirable trends in other sports, with the players themselves protecting the integrity of the game.  I enjoy the blog; Keep up the good work!

Reader T.R. hates the instant replay challenges that have become (only in the last 10 yrs or so) an increasingly dominant feature of collegiate volleyball, and wants to get rid of them. T.R., himself an experience and highly skilled V-Baller, though currently in his 70s, makes the following points:               

• Instant replay challenges destroy the “rhythm” of the game, for players and spectators alike.
• Worse yet, instant replay challenges deemphasize the role of the athletes by increasing the influence of coaches, officials and technology.
• V-Ball was no less fun to watch or play before instant replay challenges were introduced.
• Occasional mistakes by officials went uncorrected – but many still do, as the challenges are, thank God, limited in number and scope (e.g., key “forward-progress call in the recent Vikings v Rams game).
• T.R. believes that the adoption of instant replay challenges in V-Ball are a mistaken attempt to follow the lead of popular televised sports like the NFL, etc.

More than just a complainer, T.R. recommends a solution: Trust the Line Judges to call the lines, trust the up-ref to call over-the-net and the down-ref to call under-the-net, and trust the blocker to call their own net violations and “touches.” An “HONOR SYSTEM.”

T.R. thinks it is a mistake, for many reasons, to follow the lead of the NFL, which has become harder and harder to watch. Instead, T.R. would like to see volleyball follow the lead of golf, where the competitors are expected to, and do, report their own violations, even with Million$ up for grabs. T.R. believes that if leading coaches, like the Gophers’ McCutcheon, emphasized the value of integrity over the value of winning, that everyone playing or watching volleyball would follow said honor system. And everyone, players, coaches, officials and spectators, would enjoy volleyball more than they already do.

[John: First, let me say how much I appreciate T.R. sharing his thoughts about a bigger issue than who missed a serve. Second, I find it hard to disagree with any of his reasoning. (Okay, maybe that a 4 ½ hr round of golf isn’t that much fun to watch either.)

Maureen and I have friends who are natives and residents of London. A few years ago, when they were here for a visit, I took Robert with me to a Viking Game vs the Bears. (Robert expressed concern about “hooligans;” I explained only at Packer Games.) After a Viking victory, I asked Robert if he enjoyed the game. Robert’s answer was, “Yes, except for the constant “litigation.” This was several years ago; the constant “litigation” has only gotten worse.

My other beef is that when they show the instant replay on BTN or on the jumbotron at the PAV, most of the time I still can’t tell if the ball spiked out-of-bounds grazed the blocker’s fingernail or not. And I think the down-ref is studying the same video I’m looking at. I think that there was better technology available in the recent Olympics, more pixels or more frames-per-second or something, such that the instant replays were extremely clear; you could see the blocker’s pinkie move. If this technology was widely available, I might be more supportive of instant replay. Though clearly, T.R. is making a point about the culture of volleyball, not the technology.

What say you, readers of GopherVBallRocks?

Several readers expressed appreciation for the Gophers’ effort and for as getting as far as they did.

Reader M.C., suspecting that I have no life and therefore concerned about my mental health, inquires what I’ll be doing during the next 8 months?

[John: I’ve got Geezer volleyball 3 mornings a week until May, and granddaughter Leah’s 14U VB team will have tournaments every other weekend. I’ve got one grandson playing basketball and another wrestling, plus a friend with Wild tickets and another with Wolves tickets, and daughter Tessa and I will probably take in a couple of South High Girls basketball games. So I might make it.]

Reader E.L., noting my reference to having once been a competitive chess player, wonders if it is true, and if I was any good?

[John: Yes, and sort of. I was a member of two State H.S. Championship Teams at Washburn, and while never the best player on the team, I was the only unbeaten player (6-0) in the 1963 State H.S. Tournament. Later, in my early 20s, I had a strong Class B rating (1600-1800), and flirted with Class A (2 rungs below “master”) a couple times, but always got my butt kicked as soon as I broke 1880.

If there was a Big Ten Tournament (I’m glad there’s not, unnecessary), this match, in Columbus Ohio, could have been for the BIG TEN Championship. But instead it was for the national NCAA Championship, with the Badgers finally winning the title, in a back & forth match, on their 4^th trip to the Championship Match.

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, I posed the question, How good is the BIG TEN, really? My answer was, “Hard to say.” Watching BTN we are fed a steady diet of “The BIG TEN is the greatest.” But BTN is incentivized to boost their own ratings. We hear the same thing watching men’s basketball and hockey, where it isn’t true.

I thought Wisconsin was under-rated as the #4 seed, and not at all surprised that they won the title.  But Nebraska? Nebraska finished 2^nd in the BIG TEN, one game behind Wisconsin and one game ahead of Minnesota, Purdue, and Ohio State, but they looked terrible in their appearance at the PAV, and lost twice to Wisconsin during the regular season. I thought Purdue was the 2^nd best team in the BIG TEN, (if not the best). Purdue not only gave Wisconsin two of their 3 defeats, but in mid-November won at Madison on Friday Night and at the PAV on Sat night (annually, the toughest road trip in Women’s D-1 volleyball).

But you have to hand it to Nebraska Coach John Cook. Year after year, the Huskers either under-perform during the regular season, or over-perform in the playoffs. If this happens once in a while, that’s a fluke; but when it happens year-after-year, that’s a coach getting his team to peak at the right time. I’ll bet a lot of coaches in a lot of sports would like to know Cook’s secret.

SET 1: Huskers were up early and held on to win, serving extremely aggressively – a strategy driven, perhaps, by the two teams high-level familiarity with each other. I’m not certain I understand the logic, but I don’t know what else it would be. And Nebraska’s aggressive serving was a major factor in neutralizing Rettke; Hilley couldn’t feed Rettke those perfect sets iwhen she had to chase the ball.

And the Badgers had their own surprises up their sleves. Just when we think we’re finally done with the 6-8 Roettke, the Badgers come up with a 6-9 freshman, Anna Smrek. I don’t recall Smrek even playing against the Gophs in early October, she was on the bench watching Soph Jade Demps play the opposite. She played some at the PAV in November, and in the Region Final last week, but didn’t have much impact in either match. But suddenly, in the National Semi-Final against Louisville, Demps sits, Smrek plays, and dominates, even more than Rettke! Then, in the Finals against Nebraska, the Badgers start using Demps exclusively as a back-row hitter (for Loberg?) and setting her more than anyone! (The Gophers hit back-row more than almost anyone; is that where the Badgers got the idea?) ESPN announcer Karch Kiraly called this “a chess move.”

I guess this is as good a time as any to complain about Kiraly. A volleyball match can include tactics and counter-tactics, so an occasional chess analogy is tolerable. But Kiraly used the analogy at least 6 times during the match, and as a former competitive chess player, I have to say the chess analogy is not that strong. (I was the tallest player in a couple of State H.S. Tournaments, and I don’t remember that being much of an advantage.) Kiraly is no Magnus Carlson.

SET 2: Huskers up early again, but the Badgers stormed back to win 31-29, after both teams had multiple set-point opportunities in the long-overtime set.

SET 3: Nebraska did not lead early, or ever (that I recall), but they did tie it up at 23-23 before the Badgers’ Devyn Robinson put away back-to-back kills.

SET 4: Close most of the way until the Huskers took a late lead, 21-17, and the Badgers’ attempted comeback was sabotaged by consecutive missed serves.  

SET 5: And then the Huskers collapsed, spotting the Badgers to a 7-0 lead. It is hard enough to dig out of a 7-point deficit in a 25-point set, harder yet in a 15-point set. Nebraska fought their way to 12 points, but it was too little too late. Sidney Hilley, the best setter in the BIG TEN, started the early run with a play she made half-a-dozen times during the match: preventing an overpass with a spectacular one-handed set from directly above the net. And later, Hilley fed Roettke had Championship point,

COMING SOON: NEXT YEAR’S GOPHER PROSPECTS

For the third time this season, and fifth time this year, the Badgers, behind setter Sidney Hilley and middle Dana Roettke, were just too good for the Gophers.  18-25, 24-26, 23-25. The Badgers out-hit us, they out-blocked us, and they had especially out-passed us.

Karch Kirily went on and on about the coordination between Hilley and Roettke, based on them playing together for 5 years, and there is no doubt some truth to this. But it is also true that the Badger’s back-row, led by Libero Barnes and D.S. Ashburn feed Hilley perfect passes almost every time. If you watch the Gophers, by comparison, Shaffmaster is chasing the ball all over the court – resulting in a lot of mediocre sets – resulting in a lot of ineffective dinks.

Roettke does hit for a much higher percentage than Samedy. Part of that is because middle hitters are expected to hit for a higher percentage than outside hitters; but Roettke also gets much better sets. If one had stats for it, I would expect Samedy’s hitting percentage on good sets to be similar to Roettke’s.

One more petty complaint about the TV announcers: The ESPN announcers, and the BTN announcers all season, refer to the UW Fieldhouse as a “great volleyball venue.” I disagree; they have a stupid scoreboard hanging over the court. It’s high enough that you don’t usually see it on TV, but low enough that live balls hit it about once a set. Those of us accustomed to playing in high school gymnasiums are used to overhead obstructions – but it shouldn’t happen in a first-class volleyball venue.

SET 1: I didn’t get to see the first set because the Louisville/Georgia Tech Game ran long. On Thursday, you could watch the alternate game on ESPNews, but not tonight, so who knows what happened? The consolation was getting to watch the Gopher Men’s basketball team beat Michigan at Michigan. (Who saw that coming?) But I would rather have watched V-Ball (there will be plenty more basketball games).

SET 2: The Badgers jumped out to an 0-3 lead, but the Gophers tied it at 4-4 and would eventually take a 14-10 lead. The Badgers pulled even at 15-15, thanks in part to a string of poor passing by the Gophers resulting in 5 consecutive dinks, none of which worked. It stayed tied all the way to 24-24 before the Badgers won the last two points. Samedy was magnificent, putting away pretty much every decent  set that came her direction.

SET 3: Set 3 was tied at 4-4 and 9-9 before Wisconsin pulled ahead 10-13 and 13-16. The Gophers fought back behind kills by Miyabe, Samedy and Wenaas and a Shaffmaster block, to earn an 18-18 tie. But Wisconsin ended Samedy, Miyabe and Myer’s Gopher career, 22-25 – the saddest thing I’ve written all year!

Could the Gophers have gone farther with Pittman and a healthy Landfair in the lineup? Maybe, but who knows? I didn’t really think this was a Final Four team, but it was fun to watch them beat Stanford and Baylor. Better to focus on having been able to watch the Amazing Steph Samedy for the last 5 seasons. That was pretty great.

NATIONAL SEMIS: As I write this, Nebraska just beat Texas at Texas in 4 sets. This sets up a pair of Big Ten vs ACC semi-finals for next Thursday: Louisville vs Wisconsin and Pittsburgh vs Nebraska.

COMING SOON: My take on the 2022 Gophers.