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Now that I’ve had time to catch my breath, let’s talk about this pair of 5-set wins at Purdue, with particular attention to where the Gophers stand, line-up wise, headed into next weekend’s match-up vs Penn State. Position by position:

LIBERO/D.S.: Star Libero C.C. McGraw dove for a dig on the set-point of Friday’s 3^rd set, did not come out for the 4^th set, and was later seen leaving the building, presumably injured. In this era of confidentiality, there is no news (that I can find) detailing McGraw’s injury. (IF YOU HAVE ANY, LET THE REST OF US IN.) At this point, I am assuming that McGraw will not play next weekend against Penn State.

Sophomore D.S. Rachel Kilkelly quickly slipped on her libero jersey and played the rest of Friday and all of Saturday’s match. And in the absence of no-show (at least for now) recruit Cami Appiani, freshman left-side hitter Jenna Wenaas stepped into the role of D.S. At 6-1, Wenaas is bigger than the stereotype D.S., but has been a “6-rotation player” her whole career to this point. They both played well, if not spectacularly, and I assume that these two will continue in these roles until McGraw returns.

SETTER: Shaffmaster is, and will continue to be, our setter. (Look for a separate post re my thoughts re Shaffmaster’s performance and potential.)

RIGHT-SIDE HITTER (OPPOSITE): All-American Steph Samedy is our best player. A “6-rotation player,” Samedy serves, blocks (17 in 22 sets), digs, passes and hits – a team leading 91 kills in 22 sets. She pounds the ball from front-row or back row. Her sharp-angle “cut-shot” is devastating and when the defense tries to take that away, she goes down the line effectively. And she’s effective swinging left-side or middle when called upon. (She does not dink effectively, but nobody’s perfect.)

After a 20-kill/20-dig night on Friday, Samedy struggled a bit on Saturday, and the team, who depends on her, struggled also. But when the chips were down, Samedy sparked the comeback to win the match.

I am a big fan of Airi Miyabe, and thought we might see this very talented senior contributing at the left-side or middle positions. But at this point it appears that Miyabe’s role this year is to back up Samedy at right-side. Not a particularly demanding role, but on occasion, like last night when Samedy and the Gophers were struggling, Coach McCutcheon does not hesitate to sub Miyabe in for a few points. I think the primary purpose is to give the hard-working Samedy a breather, but Miyabe brings an energy level that helps also.

LEFT-SIDE HITTER: The Gophers have 3 very talented left-side hitters, Jr. Adanna Rollins, Fr. Taylor Landfair, and Fr. Jenna Wenaas, competing for two, slightly different, left-side positions. (Like most D-1 programs, the Gophs employ one “6-rotation” left-side hitter, who never leaves the court, and one “3-rotation” left-side hitter, who is replaced in the back row by the D.S.)

As predicted here, Rollins, who has been the Gophers’ “6-rotation” left-side hitter since her freshman year, continues, at least for now, as our “6-rotation” left-side hitter. Rollins serves well (5 Aces so far, vs 4 serving errors), she blocks okay (9 in 22 sets), she rivals Samedy at covering dinks, and she hits effectively – 68 kills vs 19 errors, for a solid .301 kill rate. She has power, but lacking overpowering power, she relies on a variety of angles. Like many “6-rotation” left-sides, she is a frequent target for opposing servers, and she handles this pressure well, most of the time.

Also as predicted here, Landfair emerged from pre-season practices as our “3-rotation” left-side hitter. Though I hadn’t seen either of them play, my prediction was based on the fact that Landfair was the #1-rated recruit in the country – versus Wenaas, who was merely was the #3-rated recruit in the country. Landfair has been inconsistent, as one expects a freshman to be. And, an obvious target for opposing servers, even as the Gophers try to “hide” her in a “left-side stack,” Landfair’s been shaky when they find her – so not a likely candidate for the “6-rotation” position (at least not anytime soon).

But at 6-5, with a major vertical, she has unbelievable power. One of the BTN announcers described her “unusually physical for an outside hitter.” No kidding! Landfair has fewer kills (62 vs 68) than Rollins, and more errors (25 vs 19), but a Landfair swing has to be more intimidating (to opposing teams) than a Rollins swing. Like a 2^nd-deck blast by Miguel Sano vs a 2^nd-row homer by Joe Mauer – same result on the scoreboard, but not the same “awe-factor.” I think Landfair will evolve into a great blocker eventually, and she already might be the best dinker of the Gopher hitters (Miyabe is good also.)

Wenaas is in a tough spot, for now. She got a chance to play left-side hitter a little in an earlier match against Michigan State, but I didn’t get enough of a sample to form an opinion. For now she’s the back-up to Rollins and Landfair; what a luxury to have talent like Wenaas on your bench. Back in the day, freshmen expected to spend a while on the bench; but in the modern era, the #3-rated recruit in the country surely expects to start. At least the shift of Kilkelly to libero gets Wenaas into the line-up; hopefully that, and winning, will keep her motivated.

MIDDLES: The Gophers use two middles, one serves and one doesn’t, but other than during her serve, neither plays back-row. Their primary responsibilities are blocking and hitting. All-American Regan Pittman fills one of these spots (and serves). Pittman is a five-tool player: she serves well (a team-leading 9 Aces vs only 3 errors), blocks well (a team-leading 22), hits well (34 kills in only 72 swings, and a strong .347 kill-rate), and has great hands, digging and setting when she gets the opportunity. I also think of Pittman (via TV, so …) as the Gophers’ emotional leader.

And yet, I get the sense that Pittman, who played next to Samantha Seliger-Swenson her freshman & sophomore seasons, is struggling to adjust to the her freshman setter. In a practical sense, a setter can only feed her middles when she receives a first pass that she can handle with confidence. That was virtually every pass for SSS, but not so many, so far, for Shaffmaster.

Our All-American Pittman was even benched/rested briefly during yesterday’s 4^th set. But she came back like a champion in the 5^th set, co-leading the power-explosion with Samedy. Pittman

The Gophers hit an astounding .650 in the 5^th set; Samedy with 5 kills in six swings while Pittman went 4 for 4. Almost 5 for 5. At 14-8, Pittman pounded a kill for what seemed to be match point, but it didn’t count due to some violation — maybe Pittman touched the net — on BTN+, who can tell? No problem, at 14-9, Shaffmaster put the set in the same spot and Pittman pounded another one. (Let’s hope this trend continues.)

Pittman’s dominance leaves three big, talented athletes competing to fill the shoes of graduated, fan-favorite Taylor Morgan, including 6-3 sophomore Ellie Husemann (from Eagan), 6-2 transfer junior Katie Myers (last year’s 3^rd most blocks in the bIg 10), and highly-recruited 6-5 sophomore Shea Rubright.

As predicted here, Myers experience and proven blocking ability won her the starting role in the season opener. And Myers was reasonably effective, with 13 kills, a .257 kill rate, and a team-leading 20 blocks through four matches (vs Michigan State & Rutgers). Myers also got the call to sub for Pittman when she was briefly benched yesterday.

But when the Gophers fell behind 2 sets to 1 in Friday’s match at Purdue, Coach McCutcheon went to his bench for Rubright. I didn’t notice much immediate impact by Rubright during Friday’s 4^th & 5^th sets (2 kills, 1 block) – but the Gophers turned the 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory, which was apparently enough for McCutcheon to keep her in the line-up for Saturday.

And Rubright came out swinging in Saturday’s set one; Samedy played well also, but I felt Rubright was the dominant player on the court. She cooled off after that, likely drawing greater attention from the Purdue defense, and was part of the mid-match malaise that affected the whole team, but McCutcheon kept her in the line-up. Rubright finished the match with 9 kills and 5 blocks, giving her 11 kills & 6 blocks for the weekend (and season). Even more impressive, her 11 kills (vs 1 error) came on only 19 sets, giving her an amazing .526 kill-rate (Pittman is 2^nd, among starting hitters, at .347), more than double Myers kill-rate.

The coaching staff has the opportunity to observe these athletes in practice, so they may have different thoughts re Rubright vs Myers than those of us watching on TV. But Rubright seems more productive on offense, and Myers maybe more reliable on defense, so perhaps McCutcheon’s sense of what the greater need is, versus a given opponent, might be the determining factor as to who gets the start as the season progresses..

Friday at Purdue, the Gophers split the first two sets and lost the 3^rd, before coming back to win the 4^th set and dominate the 5^th. And they did it again Saturday – in even more dramatic fashion!

Playing as they left off Friday, without libero CC McGraw, the Gophers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the 1^st set on the back of Sophomore Middle SHEA RUBRIGHT, who didn’t even play in the Gophs’ first four matches. After establishing a 19-11 lead, the Gophers traded side-outs with the Boilermakers for a 25-17 win.

And then the wheels fell off. Purdue won the 2^nd and 3^rd sets by identical 25-18 scores, and took a 21-18 lead in the 4^th set, putting the home team within 4 pts of a 4-set victory. This was not a case of Purdue playing great, or a case of the Gophers playing especially poorly. During this 54-68 slump, the Gophers just couldn’t find a hitter who could put the ball away with any consistency. Samedy, Pittman, Rubright, Rollins and Landfair all got a kill now and then, but were blocked approximately as often, maybe hitting under .100 for this extensive portion of the match. The points were often long, but unspectacularly so. Samedy and Pittman were each even benched, briefly, with super-sub Miyabe relieving Samedy, and Myers, who had been benched in favor of Rubright on Friday, relieving Pittman.

Then suddenly, when it looked all but hopeless, Minnesota was back. Purdue didn’t noticeably choke, they just got over-powered by a seemingly invincible Gopher steam-roller. After a timeout, the Gophers, led by Landfair and a revitalized Smaedy, dominated the end of the 4^th set with a 7-0 run. And after starting the 5^th set 7-7, Samedy and Pittman blew Purdue away with an 8-2 run, for the weekend sweep.

What happened is hard to say. Watching in-person, I might have a theory; but watching on BTN+ I can only speculate:

• Are the Gophers so much better than Purdue that they, except Rubright, weren’t really focused — until their backs were against the wall?
• Did the benching of Samedy & Pittman and/or something McCutcheon said during the timeout get the Gophers fired up?
• Were Samedy & Pittman tired and then re-energized by a short rest?
• Did Shaffmaster finally start putting the ball in better spots for her hitters?
• All of the above?
• None of the above/

I don’t know.

I do know that even down 2 sets to one and trailing 21-8 in the 4^th set, the Gophers did not look (from what I could see on BTN+) at all worried. They looked like a team that was confident about pulling the match out of the fire. Which is exactly what they did!

The Gophers dropped the 1^st set at Purdue (25-20), and the 3^rd set (26-24). But, led as usual by Samedy, recovered both times, winning the 2^nd set (25-23), the 4^th set (25-21) and dominating the 5^th set (15-7). Wife Maureen, perhaps not quite as tuned-in to the fine points of D-1 V-Ball, but every bit as much of a fan (she stands up for game point, in the living room) was both tense and distraught, “What is wrong with us tonight?”

The easy answer is – Purdue is a very good team; 13^th ranked this year, and a “Sweet 16” team last year. Yes, they lost 3-0 at Madison, but they were without their best player, Grace Cleveland, at Madison. Cleveland was back in the line-up tonight and gave the Gophers fits.

The other news of the evening was the loss of Gopher star libero C.C.McGraw. Purdue won the 3^rd set on a service ace that McGraw dove for but didn’t get. She did not come out for the 4^th set, and was later shown leaving the building in the company of someone from the coaching staff. I assume she was headed for a local hospital, related to some sort of injury acquired on her last play. I’m doubtful we’ll see her tomorrow.

In McGraw’s absence, talented Defensive Specialist Rachel Kilkelly moved to libero, and freshman Left-side hitter Jenna Wenaas came in to play D.S. At 6-1 and powerfully built, Wenaas looks an odd choice for a D.S.. But Wenaas, though previously unable to crack the Goph’s starting line-up, was after all the 3^rd ranked recruit in the country. A high school star, I’m assuming Wenaas was accustomed to playing 6 rotations, so she is hardly unfamiliar with back-row play.

And sophomore Shea Rubright, herself a highly-rated recruit last year, replaced Katie Myers as one of the Middles in sets 4 & 5. Not sure if Myers also got hurt, or if Coach McCutcheon was unhappy with her play. Either way, Kilkelly, Wenaas & Rubright all contributed to the Gophers’ set 4 – 5 comeback, underscoring reader D.S.’s comment about the Gopher’s depth.

Wenaas playing D.S also raises a question I’ve been planning to address.  In an earlier piece gushing about this year’s #1-in-the-country freshman class, I mentioned Shaffmaster, Landfair, Wenaas and Cami Appiani, a libero out of San Diego. But Appiani is not on the current roster. It appears that by the time she graduated H.S. last spring, American V-Ball had been shut down due to the pandemic, so Appiani spent her summer playing in Europe. I haven’t been able to figure out where she is now. Still in Europe, maybe? Playing for another U.S. college team?  Still planning to join the Gophs next fall? If anyone reading this knows where she is and what her plans are, please let us know.

I have more to say about the Gophers performance tonight – but I’ll save it until we see how they do in tomorrow’s rematch. (4:00, BTN+)

A successful trip to Maryland for our Gophers, running their match record (which is what counts) to 4 & 0, and their set record (bragging rights only) to 12 & 0. Absent non-conference competition, it’s hard to know how good Maryland is, but the Terps went 5 sets in both matches at Ohio State the previous weekend, so they can’t be that bad.

The 3^rd set of the weekend (on Friday) was the most dramatic. After dropping the first two sets, the fired up Terps led the inconsistent Gophs for most of the 3^rd set on the way to a 23 – 19 lead. After a timeout, the Gophs won the side-out and then, with Kilkelly serving, ran 5 more points (6 counting the side-out) to save the set 25 -23. Rollins got the set-winning block.

The 4^th set of the weekend (1st on Saturday) was the second most dramatic. The Gophs had a comfortable lead for most of the set, but pissed the lead away late, to create a 22 – 22 tie, before winning 25 -23. Rollins got the set-winning kill.

Overall, I give the Gophers an A-. The A for sweeping 6 sets against a decent team, and the minus for the inconsistency that led to a 23 – 19 deficit in that 3^rd set. (Plus, I’m saving A and A+ for matches against stronger teams.)

INDIVIDUAL PLAY:

Rollins, McGraw, Kilkelly all played well, I give them a collective A-. (Wenaas, Miyabe and McMenimen did not play.)

Samedy continues to demonstrate, set after set, why she is an All-American and the leader of this team; I give her an A+.  Samedy crushed the ball from the front row, she crushed the ball from the back row, she blocks, and she digs. And when the team struggles and is in danger of dropping a set, Shaffmaster and anyone else handling a two-ball looks for Samedy, and Samedy puts it away.

Pittman is also a legitimate All-American, who also does everything well. She blocks, 2^nd on the team with 11, she serves aces, leads the team with 7, she hits, 8 kills in 9 swings for the weekend, and she even sets. (I have no doubt Pittman would play setter if McCutcheon let her.) And not to take anything away from Samedy, I sense that Pittman is the emotional “heart” of this talented squad. I give Pittman an A for the weekend. The problem is that the connection between Shaffmaster and Pittman is still shaky. Pittman got 8 kills in 9 swings this weekend, but I think 6 of the 8 kills were on “overpasses,” i.e., sets from the other team; not from Shaffmaster. (Consistently, during the McCutcheon era, the Gophers have been exceptional at putting away overpasses.) The “connection” problem is likely more on Shaffmaster’s end, but Pittman’s a senior and Shaffmaster’s a freshman, so there’s that.

Landfair: My personal fan-hope for this second week-end, was to get freshman Taylor Landfair, the #1 rated recruit in the country, going. (I shared last week my thought that Landfair has the potential to become Gopher V-ball’s G.O.A.T.) Last week, Landfair started tentatively, blocking well but not hitting efficiently, and eventually got benched. And she came out tentative again during Friday’s 1^st set. But she came on strong as the weekend progressed, tying Samedy with 20 kills for the weekend. And she didn’t match Samedy only in statistics, she matched Samedy in raw, how-could-anyone-dig-that power. I give Landfair an A-.

Shaffmaster, to me, plays like the talented, highly-rated, freshman that she is; which is to say, showing both great potential and noticeable flaws.  I guess I’d give her a B+ for the weekend. On the positive side, Shaffmaster (last week’s Big 10 Freshman of the Week) played every point in a 6-set sweep, running her total assists to 99 in her first two weekends of collegiate play, and she has a remarkable 15 kills (more than the combined total for Gopher setters last year) and a team-leading kill rate. Though not our primary weapon, this is significant in that Shaffmaster’s potential to attack the 2-ball will make it much harder for opposing teams to focus on other Gopher Hitters. And her blocking improved over the first weekend. On the negative side, Shaffmaster doesn’t have the quickness of a Seliger-Swenson (admittedly an un-fair expectation) and she hasn’t found her middle-hitters yet. Hopefully, the latter will come as the season evolves.

Myers came to Gophers with a stronger rep for blocking than hitting, and so far, that’s who she is. After 4 matches, she leads the team in blocks (19 in 12 sets), but ranks 6^th (in a 5-1 system) in kills. I give her a B+. Hopefully, her “connection” with Shaffmaster will improve, but it’s not like the Gophs are short of offensive weapons.

UP NEXT: The schedule gets much tougher from here (at least until mid-March). This week the Gophers travel to #13 ranked Purdue, (Friday at 6:00 – BTN, and Saturday at 4:00 – BTN+), for their toughest test so far.  (Let’s hope the Gopher Women V-ballers represent better than the Men’s B-ballers did yesterday.) Followed on successive weekends by Penn State here at the Pav, and Nebraska at Nebraska.

Different coaches, across all sports, have differing philosophies regarding substitution. The Twins Rocco Baldelli, at one end of the spectrum, is clearly an advocate for liberal use of his bench, presumably with the twin goals of not over-working his starters, and keeping his bench “ready” for when they are needed. At the other end of the spectrum are former T-Wolves coach Thibadeaux and the late Gophers’ coach Bill Mussleman. Tibs wanted his best players on the court as much as possible, and Mussleman was clear that actually fouling out was the only reason for a substitution.

Coach McCutcheon seems on the Thibadeaux –Mussleman end of the spectrum. I understand that he is trying to integrate 3 new players into his “Starting 8,” and is eager to maximize their time together in a competitive environment. But I worry about Wenaas, Miyabe and Rubright getting the experience they’ll need if called on later, and Maryland seemed like a chance to give them some.

The Gophers play at Maryland this Friday at 7:30 (BTN) and Saturday at 5:00 (BTN+), subject to change as always. I did figure out how to get BTN+ on my TV, as did at least some other readers of this blog. I’m no techie, but if you call me (612-724-7620) I can share how I and others did it.

The Terrapins are led by #9, senior left-side hitter Erica Pritchard, a pre-season All-American (an honor shared with the Gophers’ Sammedy and Pittman), but they are also excited about their highest-rated recruitment class in school history, including highly-rated setter #8 Sidney Dowler. Maryland opened their season last week at Ohio State (where the Gophers have occasionally struggled), battling but eventually losing a pair of 5-set matches.

An interesting story-line will be the return to College Park (a D.C. burb, I think) of now-Gopher Graduate Student (a junior, in terms of eligibility) Katie Myers, who led the Terps in blocks last year. I do not have any insider knowledge of Myers’ thinking (academics, maybe?), but I’m guessing that she thought that being a contributor on a potential Final Four Gopher Team sounded like more fun than being the star of good-but-not-great Terrapin Team. Let’s hope her return proves successful.

Not everyone that reads this blog plays BAJ Volleyball (“geezer ball” to the uninitiated), but many of you do. And we just got the news that our season, suspended in mid-Nov due to Covid, is back on (3 days/wk) beginning this Monday. (Masks required.)

My personal mental health / outlook on life went up a click when it was confirmed that Gopher V-ball was back on; another click last week when I got my first vaccination; a half-click when I figured out how to get BTN+; and now two more click upon learning that I get to play V-ball again – from like 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, to about 8. That’s a BIG improvement!

Reader D.S. writes: I’ve enjoyed reading the blog, John, and your insights into the 2021 Gopher VB squad. Their depth appears to be their greatest strength with excellent young players just waiting their chance to play. Two questions: 1) Where do you see Miyabe, Rubright and Husemann finding quality playing time? and 2) With Division 1 athletes given an extra year of eligibility due to Covid, do you foresee the possibility of seniors coming back next year (e.g., Pittmann ,Samedy) impacting recruitment for next year?

JOHN: Thanks, D.S., I agree with you regarding the depth.

I think Miyabe’s role (and McMenimen’s) were defined in this first match. They’ll be available if someone gets injured, but their primary role will be to “shake things up” when the team isn’t performing at the level McCutcheon expects. (What an asset!)

Rubright and Husemann are both great athletes, and I assume both arrived on campus, in the summer of 2019 — Husemann local (Eagan), and Rubright, from Yakima, WA (herself highly-recruited) expecting to be starting middles by August of 2020. There must have been some sense of disappointment to see Myers (a junior) transfer in and grab the other (besides Pittman) middle position. Maybe one of these two will end up playing an important role before the season is over, or next year. Or maybe one or both will take advantage of the dramatically loosened transfer rules. Hard to keep 14 athletes happy when the court only holds 6 at a time.

The NCAA’s extra year of eligibilty due to Covid, the chance of this year’s seniors coming back next year, and the impact of this on recruiting is a topic I am planning to address in the future. In the mean time, maybe other readers have their own thoughts???

Reader G.U. writes: I like your blog and I agree with most of your comments.  I know you are in love with the new kids playing and from watching yesterday I agree with your grading, but a couple observations:

The image in my head of top volleyball players, male and female, is long and lean. But Pittman, a terrific player, isn’t lean. And the new setter is a big gal.  Just sayin’.

JOHN: Thanks, G.S., you raise an interesting point. You know I am not lean; are you not impressed by my “credit card vertical?”

Pittman’s weight hasn’t changed significantly since she was a freshman. The first time I saw her I thought, uh-oh; she’ll need to lose some weight before she can be any good. But she didn’t or couldn’t, and she was good as a freshman, and better each year so far — GREAT hands for a big gal. Could she be better/quicker if she lost 25 lbs? Maybe, but who knows?

Shaffmaster’s not “heavy,” but at 6-3 with broad shoulders, she is big. I too am concerned about both her quickness and her endurance. Can she really play all 6 rotations for 5 sets on back to back nights versus Penn St. or Nebraska — without running out of gas?

I’ve previously mentioned Coach McCutcheon’s success with the 2012 London Olympics. McCutcheon ran a 5-1 one throughout that grueling tournament, with the Gopher’s own Lindsey Berg as his setter. Berg wasn’t skinny either, and she was 32 yrs old (and at 5-8, not able to block much). Berg and McCutcheon lost the Gold Medal Game to Brazil in 5 sets, but walked away with Olympic Silver Medals. So let’s give Shaffmaster the benefit of the doubt.

The Gopher opened their delayed 2020 season on Saturday by wining straight sets over Michigan State, 25-18, 26-24, 25-16; and repeated the feat on Sunday, beating the same Spartans (this is the new, pandemic, scheduling format) 26-24, 25-22, 25-12. The Gophs, who struggled in the 2nd set Saturday, struggled in the first 2 sets on Sunday, but remember — this Michigan State squad is tall and talented (3rd in blocks in Big 10 last season, top twenty nationally). Understandably discouraged, MSU folded in the 3rd sets of both matches, but they’re a good team. Overall, the Gopher seniors played like seniors, the freshman played like freshman (see “GRADES”), and they did what they needed to do.

Stephanie Samedy was a star from her first match as a freshman, but the team, Samedy’s freshman & sophomore years, belonged to Samantha Seliger-Swenson. With apologies to Regan Pittman, Samedy was probably the Gopher’s best player last season, but with the injuries and a “gap” setter, 2019 was a disjointed year, despite their Final Four finish.

But this first pair of matches made it clear – this is Samedy’s Team! Other Gophers contributed to the 152 points the squad racked up in a 6-set sweep of the Spartans, and Samedy made errors here and there. But every time the Gophers were at risk of losing a set, as they were in 3 of the 6 sets, they turned to Samedy. And she delivered every time!

Pittman played well, Junior left-side Adanna Rollins actually had one more kill than Samedy (24 to 23), and a higher kill-%, and transfer middle Katie Myers tied Samedy with 8 blocks. But when sets were on the line, Shaffmaster and anyone else who happen to play the 2-ball, tried to get the ball to Samedy, and Samedy rewarded their efforts.