Northwestern came into the PAV with a record of 7 & 6, but at least tonight was the least competitive team we’ve seen so far, including the 3 from the Summit League. Gophs in three, 25-14, 25-11 & 25-9, a total score of 75-34. The Gophers hit .413 for the match, vs minus .036 for the Cats.
Georgia Lee subbed in late in Set 2, Lee, Gilk & Blazkova played all of Set 3, and before it was over, Madi Kraft & Olivia Swenson saw action. Every healthy player played – so not Minatee or Acevedo, who are still being held out. Given that we took Set 3 by a wider margin than earlier sets, it might have been that the Wildcats also played their bench in Set 3 – but I am not familiar with their roster.
Either it was my imagination that Wooker was not 100% vs Oregon (I don’t think she was), or she is recovered. Because she started left-front tonight (she didn’t vs Oregon) and played the entire match when other starters did not. I had her with a team-leading 10 kills, including one from back-row (none vs Oregon), plus 2 blocks and 3 aces.
I mention that Gilk played in Set 3. Gilk has been a starter for most of the season, but was benched during the Oregon match, and didn’t start tonight. Gilk had one convincing kill in Set 3, plus another strong hit that was saved by the Cats. Maybe those two swings will help restore Gilk’s confidence.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the Freshman Crossen. She started and played Sets 1 & 2 at Opposite, and played Set 3 at Leftside. (I think she’ll be playing Leftside next year.) She had 6 kills and served great. Only one ace, but Crossen was the server on a 7-point run in Set 1, and a 5-point run in Set 2. (Wooker, Hoecke & Stella were the front-row on both runs.) Garr also served well, 4 aces vs 1 error.
And speaking of Hoecke, our freshman Middle continues to impress: 7 kills, including 3 quicks, 3 slides & an overpass, plus 3 blocks. Garr served well, 4 aces vs 1 error. Kinney was fine, 5 kills, as was Taylor 3 kills and one block; neither playing in Set 3.
READERS WRITE:
Reader CB wonders, “What is so hard about serving? Server holds the ball, nobody defending her, has practiced it a thousand times. Why should that be the thing she can’t do under pressure? Our players perform better during live action when there’s no time to think about it. It must be mental; do the Gophers need a psychologist?”
JOHN: CB is not the first reader to raise this issue. There is a mental aspect to serving. When I coached club ball, I told my players, “It’s just you and the ball. Don’t think about anything else — because nothing else exists.”
Any 2nd-string 16 yr-old VB player can get 95+% of their serves “in” – if that’s the goal. But in modern D-1 VB, the last thing a serving team wants is a serve that’s merely “in,” because that allows the receiving team to run the offense they want. The goal is to prevent this. This is called taking them “out of system.” You do this with hard serves, top-spins, “floaters” that dance like a knuckle-ball, serves that “paint the lines,” and combinations thereof. On top of that, every D1 team has an assistant coach whose during-the-match duty is to tell servers where to serve, i.e., at the receiver who has been struggling
Obviously, the more aggressive the serve, the higher the risk of error. And there are situational differences related to momentum: This might seem counter-intuitive, but I wanted my servers aggressive when we were trailing significantly late in the set. The odds are against us, but a couple of aces could change that, so serve aggressive. But if your teammates just made 2 service-errors in a row, just lob it over — don’t give our opponent the momentum.
My general rule, when I was coaching, was get your first serve in; you haven’t served for a while, so be a little cautious. Second serve, a little more aggressive. By the third serve, you have your rhythm down, so crush it. By the sixth serve, ease up. We’ve got so much momentum that our opponent will make errors without our help. Let them.
Anyway, there’s more to it than just get it in.