Three weeks ago, the Gophers opened the Big Ten Season with a 5-set win over Michigan at the PAV. Tonight, the Gophers lost a 5-set match at Michigan, 13-25, 25-13, 26-24, 14-25, 11-15. At least in the 4 sets that were televised, this was a hard-fought match with lots of long rallies full of amazing saves on both sides of the net.
The 1st set was not televised because it was the second match of a Big Ten Network Doubleheader, and the Nebraska-Penn State match went long. But somehow, the Gophers got clobbered, as they did in the 4th set, which I watched. I don’t want to take anything away from Michigan, who played well all night. But losing a set 13-25 or 14-25 is not something that should happen to a good team.
For the match, the Gophers out-hit the Wolverines 63 to 56 and .219 to .194, but lost the match on serves and serve-receives. Michigan had 8 aces to the Gophers 1, and the Gophers had a ton of service errors in sets 2,3, & 4, despite winning two of these sets. (I don’t think that the Gophers had any service errors in Set 5 – perhaps because they had lost confidence in their serves and were not serving aggressively, resulting in a failure to put pressure on the Wolverines – perhaps costing them the set.)
And once again, the Gophers failed to produce any sustained offense from their Middles. Shaffmaster was moderately effective attacking 2nd touches, and Samedy (19 kills in the match) was again a significant weapon from the back row. Wenaas was not. Altogether, not enough of either to mount a balanced attack.
THE LANDFAIR MYSTERY CONTINUES
Three weeks ago at the PAV, Landfair did not enter the match until midway through the 4th set, won by Michigan; but she dominated the 5th set. Tonight, Landfair played the untelevised 1st, recording at least 1 kill; but then disappeared during the televised 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th set. Miyabe played well in relief of Landfair, especially in the 3rd set, where I credited her with 7 of her 12 match kills (and 7 of the Gophers 26 points), and again in the 5th set, where she added 3 more. But Miyabe, who I love, is not capable of dominating a set the way Landfair can.
Landfair spent the rest of the night on the bench, wearing a jacket (presumably to stay warm). But since she didn’t play in any of the televised sets, and I have no idea why. The Big Ten Network commentators didn’t explain, and neither does the official Gopher volleyball web-site. Did she get hurt/ reinjure her previous injury? Or did she get benched for poor play. Anyone know? Or have a theory?