Category: Uncategorized

New this year, hopefully for this year only, the NCAA Tournament includes 48 teams (vs the standard 64), and will be played entirely in Omaha (presumably in some sort of “bubble”), the early rounds in a “Convention Center,” with as many as 4 matches going on simultaneously.

The tournament begins this Wednesday, April 14, but the Gophers, as one of the top 16 seeds (actually, the #3 overall seed) get a first-round bye. So the Gophers first match will be in the second-round, on Thursday, April 15, against the winner of a first-round match between Georgia Tech and Lipscomb.

#23 ranked Georgia Tech, with a record of 13 & 4, finished the regular season 4^th among four closely grouped teams (inc Louisville, Notre Dame and Pitt) in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets are led by #13, unamimous 1^st-Team All-ACC junior outside hitter Marianna Brambilla. The Lipscomb Bison are the Champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Gopher should defeat either of these teams, though the GT/Lips winner will have a slight advantage from having already played a match in this unusual (for collegiate v-ball) venue); and advance to the Sweet Sixteen, on Sunday April 18, versus whoever emerges from among Long Island, Pitt, and Utah.

These first two rounds will be “streamed” on some ESPN streaming service (which I don’t think I have), and the Final Four, on April 22 & 24, will be broadcast on ESPN2. I have not been able to figure out the broadcast/streaming plan for the Sweet Sixteen; does anybody know?

The Gophs could not possibly have gotten a more attractive draw, in that their road to the Nat. Championship Game does not include Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn state, Ohio state, Texas, or Florida. Their path to the Final Four includes teams like Georgia Tech, Utah, Louisville, & U of Wash; and if they get that far, their opponent in the Nat Semis would likely be Kentucky, Oregon or Purdue. They may stumble against this field, but they ‘ll have only them selves to blame.

As seems to be true in competitive tennis (which I have never played), serving is an important part of competitive volleyball. The teams that serves better doesn’t always win the match, but it is certainly an advantage. It can be painful to watch “your team,” whoever that might be, miss a serve, or struggle to handle a powerful opposing server.

But aggressive serving is a double-edged sword. Aggressive serving produces aces, which are thrilling when your team serves them, but it also increases the probability of service errors, which are like a dagger in your heart when your team makes them.

I, for one, have often felt disappointed in the Gophers’ serving. The Gophers have not, it seems to me, been an aggressive serving team at any time during the McCutcheon era. Maybe that’s a matter of our personnel, but I suspect it’s a reflection of McCutcheon’s coaching philosophy; I’m guessing he doesn’t favor the risk-reward trade-off that comes with aggressive serving. Sometimes I wish he were a little less conservative.

HOW GOOD IS THE GOPHERS’ SERVING?

Let’s look at the stats: Going into the final weekend of the Big Ten season, the Gophers 83 Aces in 57 sets, for an average of 1.46 aces/sets, tying them with Michigan for 5^th best in the Big Ten. Let’s call that good, but not great.

But let’s look a little deeper. The Big Ten website does not provide Service Error data for all 14 teams, and I’m too lazy to look it up on 14 websites. But I did compare the Gophers to 3 other teams, unbeaten and league leading Wisconsin, Nebraska (virtually tied with the Gophers) and Illinois, who leads the Big Ten with 120 service aces and a 1.90 aces per set average.

• The Gophers 83 aces came with 68 service errors, for a ratio of 1.22 aces per error;
• The Illini crushed an impressive 120 aces, but this league-leading total came with 162 errors, for a ratio of 0.74 aces per error;
•  The Badgers’ 62 aces (in many fewer sets than the Gophs) came with 95 errors, for a ratio of 0.74 aces per error; and
• The Huskers (who have an aces per set ratio almost identical to the Gophers) served 84 aces and 116 errors, for a ratio of 0.72 aces per error

I can’t say for certain based on my limited research, but the Gophers appear to be an outlier in aces to errors ratio. And when you look at it this way, the Gophers might be the best serving team in the Big Ten. And even if they are merely 2^nd best, the Gophers “conservative” serving philosophy looks a lot better in this light.

MATCHING SERVICE AGGRESSION TO SERVICE RHYTHM

When I was coaching J.O. V-ball, I stressed the importance of matching service aggression to serving rhythm. The most difficult serve to make, and the worst one to miss, is your first serve. You’re cold, you have no rhythm, and missing your first serve is a killer; volleyball is a game of momentum, and missing your first serve hands the momentum to the opposing team.  I have, on occasion, experienced a team I was coaching or playing on miss 3 first-serves in a row. Never, did we win that set! So putting the ball in play has to be a server’s priority on the first set.

Increased aggression is appropriate on a second serve; you’ve got a little rhythm, and momentum is neutral. And on the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th set, I wanted my girls to crank that sucker with everything they had. By now you are in rhythm, a service error following 3 points does not transfer momentum, and you have a chance to capture the momentum.

I coached my girls to ease up a little on the 6^th serve, and on a 7^th or subsequent serves (the opposing team generally calls a time-out by now, but sometimes not), putting the ball in play once again becomes the priority. Sure, you got all the rhythm in the world, and you can probably serve an ace – but it isn’t worth the now-minimal risk of an error. You can serve underhanded to the opposing team’s best receiver, and she’ll probably shank it; that’s how powerful your momentum is.

GOPHERS RATED #3 IN THE COUNTRY 

National rankings are always mysterious and unreliable, and never as much as during a pandemic. The pandemic has affected rankings is two ways: 1) Most teams in most sports have been limited to conference-only competition, making it difficult to compare across conferences (example A, the Big Ten was supposed to be the strongest conference in the country in Men’s Basketball – until they fell on their faces in the NCAA tournament); 2) In addition to the usual injuries, we’ve seen players and teams miss matches due to covid rules. It’s great to see the Gophers rated so high, and maybe it will help with their seeding for the NCAAs, but it means less than ever this year.

I can’t begrudge Wisconsin their #1 rating; they have everyone back from last season’s (2019) team that made it to the National Championship Match, and they’re unbeaten, so they deserve their ranking. But they haven’t played hardly anyone; their only significant challenge being their one-match victory over the Gophers without our setter or libero. (To be fair, Wisconsin didn’t have their setter for that match either.)

But the latest ratings are curious: The Gophers (13 & 2) moved up from #4 to #3 based on our sweep of a not-very-good Northwestern, Nebraska (14 & 2, including a split with the Gophs) moved up from #5 to #4 based on their sweep of a not-very-good Michigan, and Kentucky (19 & 1) moved up from #3 to #2, based on their sweep of a not-very-good Alabama, all at the expense of Texas (21 & 1) who slipped to #5 based on beating 9^th ranked Baylor at Baylor, but losing at home, in 5 sets, to 24^th ranked Rice. Probably tough for Longhorn fans to swallow.

The Gophs finish their scheduled matches at home this weekend vs a not-very-good Iowa, Friday @ 5:00 on BTN+ & FSN+ (a broadcast station for those without cable), and Saturday @ 3:00 on ESPNU (I ‘ll not be able to watch this one.) The most interesting match-up of the weekend will be Penn State, who needs at least one win to get “off the bubble,” at Nebraska for a pair.

Then the NCAA pairings will be announced on Sunday. If the Pairings follow the current rankings, the Gophers could be in a position to reach the NCAA Championship Match without playing other Big Ten Teams.

As of now, this year’s tournament will include only 48 teams, 32 conference winners and 16 at-large teams. Lately, some, including Nebraska Coach John Cook and Wisconsin Coach Kelly Sheffield, have publicly complained about this, drawing comparisons to the men’s & women’s basketball tournaments, which started last weekend with the standard 64 teams.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t expect complaining to change anything, but the NCAA responded quickly to bad pub regarding inequality between the men’s & women’s basketball facilities, so who knows?

Reader M.C. writes, “Not enjoying the video quality on BTN+.  But like no commercials!” Ditto here; also miss the replays.

Also not enjoying the play-by-play on BTN or BTN+. They seem locked in to a weird system using highly annoying male play-by-play guys who have limited or no knowledge of volleyball, accompanied by female analysts who do know volleyball but grow tired of correcting their male partners. I personally know men who understand volleyball, and I assume that there are women capable of play-by-play; so WTH?!!!

After a 3 set sweep on Friday, the Gophers defeated Northwestern again on Saturday, this time in 4 sets. The Gophers lost tonight’s first set 21 -25. Hard to say if this was the Gophers coming out over-confident, or the Wildcats playing inspired on Senior Night, but the best team won this first set.

The Gophers roared back to dominate the 2^nd and 3^rd sets, wining each 25 -15. Northwestern came out strong in the 4^th set, taking an early lead, but the Gophers resumed control and finished the match with a 25 – 20 (I think) win. For the weekend, the Gophers dominated 4 of 7 sets, won two competitive sets, and lost one.

The sweep of Northwestern brings the Gopher season/Big 10 record to 15 & 2, with a pair of matches at home vs Iowa (not a top team) to finish the season. (Assuming no make-up matches, which at this point seem unlikely.) The Gophers are currently ranked #4 in the country, and if they can avoid a loss to Iowa are likely to stay at #4 going into the seedings for the NCAAs.

After a rugged schedule featuring pairs of matches at Purdue, home vs Penn State, at Nebraska, home vs Michigan, Illinois and a single match vs Wisconsin, the Gophers get to finish their scheduled season at Northwestern and home vs Iowa, both lower-rated teams. With an almost healthy squad, missing only McGraw, the Gophs started these final 4 matches with a sweep of Northwestern.

The Gophs struggled a bit in the 2^nd set (25-21) and trailed early in the 3^rd set, but hit .358 for the match compared to the Wildcats .113. Kilkelly filled in ably for McGraw, and Wenaas for Kilkelly, and the rest of the line-up played well, especially Rubright, with 9 blocks in a 3-set match. Northwestern served at Landfair every chance they had, and Taylor struggled a bit with her receives, but she made up for it with 7 kills, 4 blocks and 3 aces.

REMATCH TONIGHT, AT 6:00 ON BTN+.

The other news last night was the “postponement” of the Wisconsin at PennState matches scheduled for this weekend. They say “postponement,” but with the Badgers scheduled to play Michigan next weekend, April 3 & 4, and the NCAA Tournament Field announced on April 4, I think “cancelled” is a more accurate term. Assuming that the Badgers beat Michigan in Madison, Wisconsin will finish unbeaten – without playing Nebraska, Penn State or Ohio State, and having beaten the Gophers once, on a match where neither team had their starting setter! Talk about a record with an asterisk!

Tonight’s BTN line-up features a volleyball triple header:

4:00 Minnesota at Northwestern (rematch Sat @ 6 on BTN+)

6:00 Nebraska at Michigan (Huskers in 4 sets last night)

8:00 Wisconsin at Penn State. (rematch @ 6 on BTN)

MN @ NW: No news on the health of the Gopher squad. but Northwestern’s record does not suggest that the Gophers should have much trouble at Evanston.

NEB @ MICH: Michigan dominated the first set last night, raising hopes for an upset. But the Huskers dominated the rest of the match.  (Interesting comment from legendary Nebraska Coach John Cook during a BTN interview: Asked about his recent 600^th match victory as the Neb coach, Cook said that it should have been his 601^st, going on to speak with regret regarding his 13 & 2 Huskers recent split with Ohio State; saying nothing about his teams split with the Gophers. My take, purely speculation, of course, Cook did not feel bad about splitting with the Gophs, who he considers Nebraska’s equal, but thinks the Buckeyes are over-rated???)

WIS @ P-ST: This is a huge match for both teams, and also for the Gophers and other contenders such as Neb & O-St.

The Badgers are unbeaten and ranked #1 in the country – but have not been fully tested. Their toughest tests so far were last week’s win over the Gophers, a match played without either team’s starting setter, and an opening week sweep of the 11 & 5 Boilermakers, who were missing their best hitter.

And Penn State, at 9 & 5, is at risk of not being invited to the NCAA Tournament for the first time … since volleyball was invented, almost literally. The NCAA has held 39 National Tournaments, and Coach Russ Rose’s Nittany Lions have participated in all 39, winning 7 National Championships! But this year’s field, 64 teams in recent years, will be limited to 48 teams due to covid, and half of those “automatic qualifiers,” so only 16 “at large teams.” A double loss to Wisconsin would drop the 6^th place Nittany Lions even further from the Big Ten leaders, and possibly out of the Top-25, putting them “on the bubble” for the NCAAs.

A double win by Penn State, on the other hand, combined with a very possible Ohio State split with Purdue, would leave Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota and Nebraska (assuming they beat Michigan again) all with 2 losses – a virtual 4-way tie.

I had intended, but forgot (it was late) to mention that last night’s match was the Gophers’ first where both teams were masked. Given that every player on both teams wore masks, I assume that this was agreed upon in advance.

If you haven’t played volleyball wearing a mask, you might think it a bigger deal than it really is. My geezer volleyball group has worn masks since our season started in late September. I thought it would be terrible, and a few guys groused about it at first, but we’ve gotten used to it. It’s worse if you wear glasses, because they tend to fog up, but none of the Gopher or Badger players were wearing contacts. Probably some wear contacts, as I do for volleyball, but my mask does not affect my contacts.

My mask does jiggle out of place at times, requiring me to adjust it between points, and sometimes even during a live-ball situation, which can be distracting. But I’ve gotten used to that also. And the masks worn by the Gophers and Badgers last night  seemed more sophisticated than the generic surgical mask I’m wearing, so maybe even less problematic.

We were looking forward to a pair of matches between two of the very best teams in the country, and the BTN announcer kept insisting that’s what we were watching, but that wasn’t quite what we saw, with both teams missing their starting setters, the Gophs’ Shaffmaster & the Badgers Hilley.

We saw a competitive match between two pretty good teams, but anyone who has ever played competitive volleyball knows that your setter is the most important player on the team – and the hardest to replace. The Gophers were also missing starting libero McGraw, and middle Katie Myers who shares one starting middle position with Rubright (who did play), so, in a sense, our Gophs were missing 2.5 starters.

My first thought was that the Gophers might have a slight edge in a starting-setterless match, in that I think Hilley, a proven star, is probably better than our freshman Shaffmaster, at least at this point in time. And also because the Gophers played with Bailey McMenimen at setter for much of last season (2019), and the Badgers’s setter was less experienced.

But this was offset by the fact that McMenimen, a gutsy player playing her heart out, is too short to block, forcing the Gophers into a 6-2 scheme with McMenimen sharing the setting with grad-student transfer Hunter Atherton, seeing almost her first action in Maroon & Gold. Whereas the Badgers were able to stay with the 5-1 system their team is accustomed to. Also, we’ve won previously with Kilkelly filling in for McGraw and Wenaas back-filling for Kilkelly.

1^st SET: Wisconsin’s advantages were obvious in the opening set. The Gophers, with unfamiliar players and unfamiliar serve-receive positions, allowed 5 Wisconsin aces, and the serves they did dig up were rarely passed where our setters wanted them. And as a result the Gophers hitting percentage was pathetic. Wisconsin led 5-2, 10-4, 11-7, and 17-10 before winning 25-14. With 1 kill, Samedy was almost invisible, and I don’t remember Rubright even touching the ball.

2^nd SET: And when the Badgers opened an 8-3 lead in the 2^nd, I had visions of a 3-set sweep. But led by left side hitters Landfair and Rollins (easier for McMenimen and Atherton to find), and 3 consecutive aces by Kilkelly, the Gophers came back to take a 12-10 lead. Landfair stayed hot, McMenimen served the Gophs’ 4^th ace of the set, and the Gophs enjoyed leads of 18-14 & 22-18. The Badgers closed the deficit to 24-22 on spectacular play by libero Lauren Barnes (a former Gopher) but the Gophers hung on to win 25-22.

3^rd SET: The pattern of dominance by the better serving team continued, but with the advantage swinging back to Wisconsin. There was one particularly ugly sequence in which the Badgers were dropping short, soft serves that the Gophers couldn’t handle. I felt McMenimen set a little better than in the first set, but she seemed to be positioned too deep to cover dinks, accounting for multiple easy Badger points. Wisconsin led 7-3, 12-5, & 20-8 before winning 25-15.

4^th SET: The best set of the night. The Gophers came out with Wenaas at libero and Kilkelly back at her familiar D.S. role, and gave us hope by taking leads of 6-3 & 11-8, much of it on Landfair’s shoulders, with help from Pittman. Wisconsin came back to lead 17-14, but the Gophers tied it at 19-19. The Badgers led 23-20, but again the Gophs tied it again at 23-23. But a service error by Rollins and a Badger kill gave Wisconsin the match.

ENCOURAGING SIGNS: Down 2.5 starters, the Gophers were competitive vs the #1 team in the country, winning one set and coming within a couple of points of winning two sets. Pittman went toe-to-toe with the best middle in college v-ball, and held her own. And Landfair served notice that any team that focuses on shutting down Samedy will pay the price.

A win by the Gophers would have propelled them into first place in the Big Ten, and possible a #1 national ranking. And I would have thought re-scheduling the re-match at Wisconsin not so important. But with tonight’s loss, I’m really hoping this match can be rescheduled before the end of the regular season. Be great to see these two teams at full strength, and a great tune-up for both teams heading into the NCAAs.

UP NEXT

The Gophers travel to Northwestern (who we should beat) for matches on Friday at 4:00, on BTN, and Saturday at 6:00, on BTN+.  And, interestingly, Wisconsin travels to Penn State. Penn State is having an off year, by Penn State standards, and Wisconsin seems the better team. But Penn State is always tough at home, and if Hilley is not back in the line-up, Wisconsin could have their hands full. (The Badgers also have two matches to make up against Nebraska.)