Just as we beat South Dakota U in 4 sets yesterday, our Gophers beat South Dakota State in 4 sets this afternoon, 25-22, 25-14, 20-25 and 25-14. There were 4 matches at the Sanford Pentagon this weekend, each matching a Big Ten Team, our #14 ranked Gophers and the unbeaten but unranked Washington Huskies, vs Summit League Teams from South Dakota.
The Big Ten Teams won all 4 matches. But the Huskies won all 6 sets they played, and our Gophs lost 2 of the 8 sets we played. The difference was/is inconsequential in some sense, but disconcerting. Washington is unranked because they haven’t played anyone good during their non-conference season, but I was very impressed by their digging – it’s tough to get a ball down against the Huskies.
Wooker carried the Gophers all weekend, as she has throughout the non-conference season: 25 kills last night, and another 25 kills today – 50 kills in 2 days. It’s possible someone else might have stepped up and the Gophs would have won both matches without Wooker’s amazing performance – but probably not.
Set 1: With Blazkova starting at a Middle and Kinney at a Leftside, the Gophs led most of the set, including at 17-12 and 24-19. But SDSU pulled within 24-22 – and almost closer when a Wooker blast sailed long. Wooker insisted a SDSU blocker had touched it and Coach Cook challenged. Wooker and Cook were right, and the call was overturned for set-point.
Set 2: With Blazkova again at Middle and now Crossen at Leftside, the Gophers crushed, with Wooker, Hoecke, and Crossen blasting kill after kill, and strong blocking by Blazkova.
Set 3: With Taylor at Middle and Crossen still at Leftside, the Jackrabbits led wire-to-wire. That makes it sound like Taylor and Crossen were the problem – but Taylor played her best set of the weekend, and Crossen looked good. We, including Wooker, made a lot of service-errors.
Set 4: Back to a line-up with Blazkova and Kinney, it was tied 8-8 when Wooker, Kinney, and Gilk blasted the Gophs to leads of 13-8 and 23-17. And once again, set-point came off a Wooker kill.
SERVING: Garr had 4 Aces vs only 1 service-error, but Wooker had the reverse, 1 Ace vs 4 errors. And the rest of the team had zero aces vs 10 errors. Our serving cost us today’s Set 3, and we’re not going to win many Big Ten matches serving like that!
NEXT UP:
Big Ten opener at Illinois, Thursday, 7:00, on Big Ten +.
It sounds crazy to say that our first conference match is a “must-win,” but Illinois looks like a bottom-half of the conference team, and we have to sweep the bottom half.
And look for my Non-Conference Wrap-Up / Big Ten Preview early next week.
SAY NO TO GO TICKETS
I did not expect this weekend’s matches in Sioux Falls to sell out – and I was correct, at no time was the Pentagon more than half full. I could easily have purchased tickets at the door. But if I was wrong, AA and I would have driven a long way for nothing. So I chose to purchase tickets a week in advance. The Gophers weren’t any help, advising me to contact the venue where the matches would be played – The Denny Sanford Pentagon.
I went to the Pentagon’s website and foolishly clicked on the “buy tickets” item at the top of the page – which took me to GO TICKETS. GO TICKETS said there were only a few tickets left, and most of the seats were surprisingly expensive – as it turned out, 5 TIMES the at-the-door price. So I bought cheap seats, merely 2 ½ times the at-the-door price – figuring maybe we could sneak into the decent seats.
I paid for them on-line and immediately received a confirmation telling me the tickets had been transferred to my phone. But they didn’t arrive. I waited a couple of days, but they still didn’t arrive, so I tried to contact GO TICKETS. Good luck with that – no phone # and an on-line chat that just goes in circles.
Two days before the first match, I tried again to reach the Pentagon. Also not easy, but a day before the match I finally got through to a live person at the Box Office. Box Office Guy explained that GO TICKETS was a scam and expressed surprise that I had been so foolish.
Box Office Guy explained that, once on the “buy tickets” page, I should have scrolled down to the bottom where the Pentagon’s direct line was. He went on to explain that most people purchasing tickets through GO TICKETS, for sporting events, concerts, etc., never get them. And people who do get tickets don’t get the tickets they thought they were getting. Not to mention the ridiculous price mark-ups. Plus there were plenty of good seats left – at a reasonable price.
I am working with my credit card company to get my money back from GO TICKETS. Lesson learned.