The #4 ranked Nebraska Huskers has won 13 consecutive matches at home, but the Gophers took them down tonight in 4 sets – on yet another huge night by Samedy, with help from Pittman.
The Gophers dominated the 1st set, establishing leads of 6-1, 10-4, 15-8 and 22-10 before finishing the Huskers off 25-15, with offense from Samedy, Landfair (mostly dinks, clearly the Gophers best dinker) and Pittman. Plus 2 aces and several great digs from McGraw. And the Gophers also took a 5-1 lead in the 2nd set. At that point, I started to wonder if Nebraska was over-rated.
But then the Gophers offense disappeared (Nebraska deserves credit for this). Samedy continued to get a kill now and then, but nobody else could, and Rollins and Landfair were pitiful. But it wasn’t all Rollins and Landfair’s fault; our serve-receive was terrible, and Shaffmaster wasn’t giving our hitters much of a chance. Coach McCutcheon tried the double-switch, benching Shaffmaster in favor of McMenimen, and Samedy in favor of Miyabe. Miyabe got a sideout breaking a Husker run, but the Huskers went on to take the set 25-20.
The Gophers jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the 3rd set, but the Huskers came back to lead 15-12. Landfair, who played so well last weekend vs Penn State, couldn’t get a kill from her dinks or her power, her blocking was pathetic, and she was eventually benched for Wenaas, who got 1 kill and 1 error. Rollins was a little better. During a Nebraska 8 pt run, the Huskers got consecutive service aces that hit the net and dribbled over, and Shaffmaster got whistled for 2 carries. McCutcheon benched Rubright (who was unproductive all night) in favor of Husemann (her first action the season). But after Nebraska took a 22-19, Samedy took over! And led the Gophers to a 26-24 win.
As they did in every set all night, he Gophers started strong again in the 4th set, taking a 4-1 lead. But Nebraska came back, and the lead switched several times, Nebraska leading 7-5, and the Gophs leading 13-9. At one point, McCutcheon subbed McMenimen in – directly for Shaffmaster (no double switch involving Miyabe for Samedy this time). And after several ties, Nebraska took a 22-21 lead , before the Gophers finished it off 25-23. Samedy continued to produce, and Landfair got a couple of kills, but more than anything, the difference at the end was Pittman’s blocking (she had a career night, 14 total, maybe) that sealed the match.
INTERESTING CHALLENGE: Nebraska won an interesting challenge on their way to wining the 2nd set win. A Nebraska back-row attack appeared to be blocked by Rubright, then dug up by Nebraska, but the ref blew the whistle for 4 touches, ruling that the Nebraska attack hadn’t cleared the net – so point Gophs (and no “block” for Rubright). But the video replay showed the ball hitting the tape as it was being blocked by Rubright, so it could have gone over, if not for Rubright. The refs then reversed the call – to a replay, as the ball was still live when the whistle blew. I thought it was an excellent call; a ball with top-spin can hit the tape and go over. I think this premature whistle is a common mistake that refs make all too often. I say let the volley continue unless you’re certain,
UP NEXT: a rematch vs the Huskers at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning – might have to miss church for this one.