The Gophers are good, ranked #8 in the country coming in — but they aren’t good enough to beat another good team (Purdue came in ranked #9) without playing their best. Purdue won in 4 sets, 25-18, 14-25, 25-16, 25-22. The Gophers have started slow all season (I think they are unbeaten when they win the first set) — FRUSTRATING. Purdue won the first point of the match, then served to Miyabe. Miyabe bumped it high, but to the wrong spot, near the intersection of the left sideline and the 10 ft line. Shaffmaster, not as quick as I would like, couldn’t get there –and no one helped her! Only 1 point, but an inexcusable mistake for a D-1 volleyball team, an an indication that they didn’t have their heads in the game.
SET 1: Purdue was almost flawless. I remember one error by Purdue the whole set. There might have been 2 or 3, but they were close to perfect. Are the Boilermakers that good? Or did the Gophers fail to put any pressure on them? Probably a combination of the two. Purdue jumped out to a 3-0 lead, which grew to 13-5, and traded side-outs the rest of the set for an easy win. The Gophers hit .028 for the set.
SET 2: A complete reverse – hard to believe these were the same two teams. The Gophers led 5-1, 10-4 before a long run (in the rotation with McGraw serving and Samedy and Wenaas are at the corners) making it 18-8. From there the Gophers coasted to an easy win. The Boilermakers did everything they could do to help; they hit the ball long, they hit it wide, and they missed serves.
SET 3: The Gophers started strong, leading 8-4, and then the roof fell in as Purdue went on a 17-5 run to take a 21-13 lead. The Gophers fell apart, Wenaas and McGraw shanked serve-receives, Myers missed serves, we even got called for an over-lap, another inexcusable mistake, Purdue blocked like demons, and the Gophers were clearly rattled.
SET 4: After 3 lopsided sets, the 4th was the most competitive, tied most of the way until the score stood 20-20. The Gophers edged ahead 22-20 and appeared to take a 23-20 lead on a (Wenaas? I think) blast ruled a touch. Set 4 was in the Gophers hands, and I felt confident about Set 5. But Purdue challenged the touch, and won the challenge to change the Gophers’ lead to 22-21. And then ran 3 more to take the match.
A REVEALING DETAIL:
Samedy, who finished the match with 23 kills, had 6 in Set 1, which we lost, 6 in Set 3, which we lost, and 8 in Set 4, which we lost; but only 3 in Set 2, which we won. We can’t blame Samedy for being brilliant in Sets, 1, 3 & 4; the problem is that she wasn’t getting any help. And as great as Samedy is, she can’t beat a team as strong as Purdue all by herself. In Set 2: Wenaas had 5 of her 10 kills (plus a block), Miyabe had 2 of her 6, Myers had 2 of her 4 (plus 2 blocks and a beautiful assist on one of Miyabe’s kills), and McGraw had 2 aces. That’s the sort of balance necessary to beat a good team.
I started today’s blog expressing my frustration over the Gophers habit of starting slow. Are they not warmed-up? Is the problem psychological? Possibly; but here’s another theory. I think Coach McCutcheon knows he needs a balanced attack, and directs Shaffmaster to look for it right away in Set 1. But it just isn’t there. Eventually, Shaffmaster (and McGraw and Kilkelly) shifts gears to feeding Samedy – who adds to her astonishing career stats – but it’s too little, too late. The Gophers might play stronger in first sets if we just fed every ball to Samedy right away – but I think that McCutcheon thinks, that this is not a path to playoff success. So we keep looking for offensive diversity.
ONE ENCOURAGING SIGN:
One slightly diverse flavor, dating back a couple of seasons, is Samedy hitting from the back row. But that’s still Samedy. Starting at the beginning of this season, we were also setting Wenaas from the back row. At first it seemed pointless, the first third of the season she was hitting close to .000 from the back row. But now, in the 2nd third of the season, Wenaas is starting to score from the back row. I think that at least 4, maybe 5, of her 10 kills against Purdue came from the back row – 2 of them back row dinks! (And while I’m on the topic of Wenaas, her passing is really excellent – maybe as good as McGraw’s and probably better than Kilkelly’s. I’m coming to understand why she was so highly rated coming out of high school.)
But we need more options. Miyabe has looked great in a set here and there, but she hasn’t established herself as a reliable option. Shaffmaster has also contributed as a hitter, and I’d like to see more of it. I think she had 2 kills today, on 5 attempts; I’d like to see her attack at least 2 balls per set.
And then there’s Landfair. She hasn’t played in a month, and maybe she never will this season, maybe never ever. But she seems to be getting closer:
- 4 weeks ago, she wasn’t even warming up;
- 2 weeks ago, she was participating in some of the warmup, but not the hitting drill;
- 1 week ago, she was participating in the hitting drill, but only for the timing, never hitting the ball hard;
- Today, she was participating in the hitting drill, and hitting the ball medium hard, 80% maybe.
Landfair isn’t going to help us at 80%, but it’s at least encouraging.
NEXT UP:
- Last-Place Rutgers at the Pav on Friday, 7:00 on BTN+, and
- The First-Place Badgers at the Pav on Sunday, 4:00 on BTN.