My two cents worth: Assuming Stella Swenson is as good as John suggests (fast, agile, cagey, and does not require a perfect pass to make slick sets), moving Shaffmaster to Middle makes more sense than a 6-2. A 6-2 requires two fast, cagey, agile setters (like Nebraska, where Landfair will thrive on great sets). Why would we play big, slow, Shaffmaster as a back row only setter? I think Shaffmaster could quickly become the savvy middle needed to make Golden Gopher Volleyball really good. She could probably even run the slide.
JOHN: I understand your thinking, T.R., and I don’t entirely disagree – especially your point about Shaffmaster being more effective as a front-row setter, where she can attack a couple of times each set, than she is as a back-row setter. But here is why I am skeptical that Cook will go this route:
1. Shaffmaster didn’t just suddenly get big and slow; she was probably big and slow since at least age 16, which is when girls stop growing. A mediocre H.S. team might not have had other strong options at setter, but Shaffmaster played for years on these high-powered Indiana traveling teams, the equivalent of Northern Lights, competing in national tournaments. I think she was even the setter on at least one National Team, U16, or U 17, or something. At some point, some coach would have had the same idea — that maybe setter isn’t Shaffmaster’s best position. (The same way quarterbacks end up as safeties.) But, for whatever reason, Shaffmaster remained a setter. This suggests, to me, that either Shaffmaster is unwilling to try another position, or she tried and wasn’t that good at it.
2. Last year, the Gophers desperately needed a skilled D.S. as part of our receive, to take the pressure off of Wooker & Landfair. And the Freshman Palabiyik was available (after a match or two). But Coach Cook didn’t start playing Palabiyik as D.S. until the season was at least half over. At the time, I thought that maybe Palabiyik just wasn’t that good, but by the end of the season, it was clear that she was a better receiver than Wooker & Landfair. My guess is that Cook is the type of coach that is hesitant to rush freshmen into the lineup.
I don’t know how Cook is going to use Stella this fall, and I doubt that we will find out before August.