Our Golden Gophers, losers to Penn State in 3 sets on Friday night, redeemed themselves this afternoon with a 4-set win over Ohio State at the PAV, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21. Years ago, when Penn St was a perennial Final Four Team and Ohio State an afterthought, this sequence would have been unsurprising. But Ohio State came into the weekend ranked #6 nationally, compared to a #14 ranking for Penn State. Driving home from the straight set-loss to Penn St, I contemplated what a repeat result would do to the Gophers’ #12 rank – probably knock them out of the Top 20, maybe out of the Top 25. But today’s win puts the Gophers in a tie with Penn State for 3rd place in the Big Ten, and probably maintains their national ranking somewhere close to #12.
As was true Friday night, every set between these two well-matched teams was close. And also as was true Friday night, the first set was the Gophers worst – the slow-start a pattern we need to break.
Before my set-by-set account, here are a couple of observations related to the entire match:
- One significant difference between the Penn St & Ohio St matches was that Penn St, served relentlessly at our D.S., Rachel Kilkelly, when she was on the court (and at Wenaas when she wasn’t) creating a rough night for Kilkelly. But Ohio St. chose to serve at Wenaas, a 6-rotation player, all afternoon, and Wenaas held up well.
- C.C. McGraw and her Buckeye counterpart (their D.S., not their Libero) were spectacular all match long. McGraw made spectacular dig after spectacular dig, and the Ohio St player kept pace. I lost count of how many balls were seemingly down for a point, only to have these remarkable, and under-appreciated players keep the play alive.
- The Gophers continue their decade-long pattern of being terrible dinkers. Other teams dink on us with frequent success, but dinks almost never work for the Gophers.
- Miyabe can’t block. And this is one of the major differences between her and the still-injured Landfair. It’s not for lack of effort; Miyabe is 6-0, and Landfair is 6-5. I’ve seen and coached some powerful hitters who weren’t very tall (like Miyabe) but I never seen a short player who was a really good blocker.
Set 1 was tied, 8-8, 15-15, & 18-18 before the Buckeyes pulled away. Samedy had 6 kills and Miyabe 5, but Wenaas had zero kills in Set 1, and as usual, the Gophers could not generate any offense from their Middles. Also frustrating to me was our inability to take advantage of Ohio St. “overpasses.” The Gophers served and hit well enough to earn 8 or 10 Ohio St overpasses, but converted only one into a point.
Set 2 started in a similar fashion, tied 6-6, before Wenaas and Myers got going. Samedy and Miyabe each had one fewer kills in Set 1 than they had in Set 2, but Wenaas’ 4 kills and Myers 3 blocks propelled the Gophers to modest leads of 10-7, 16-11, and 21-18. Then, as Ohio St closed the gap to within 1 at 21-20, a Myers’ kill (imagine that) and a Rubright block (surprise #2) gave the Gophers the set.
Set 3 was unique in a couple of respects: the Gophs jumped out to a 6-0 early lead (later to fall behind 13-12); and Samedy’s offensive production was minimal. Samedy’s first kill accounted for the Gopher’s 10th point of the set, and her second kill the 25th (and winning) point. Miyabe had 5 kills and Wenaas 4, and the diversified attack we’ve been hoping for emerged to make Samedy almost unnecessary. Shaffmaster had 3 kills (likely a record for her in a single set as a Gopher), and after trying all match, the Gophers finally got another kill from Myers! Service aces by Myers & Kilkelly didn’t hurt either.
Set 4 most closely resembled Set 2. It was tied 5-5, and 10-10. The Buckeyes took a 16-12 lead before the Gophers went on a 13-5 run behind Samedy’s 8 kills (in one set!). Myers had 2 blocks and a dink! And McGraw had 2 aces. Others contributed as well, but Samedy owned set 4.
APOLOGIES
- I might owe Adanna Rollins an apology for saying she didn’t outplay Wenaas or Miyabe on Friday night. I was right in the sense that she had 11 kills for the match compared to 15 for Wenaas & 14 for Miyabe. But I overlooked the fact that 3 of Rollins’ 11 kills came late in Set 2, when the Nittany Lions came from behind to steal a set it appeared than the Gophers were going to win.
- And when I keep mentioning how much the Gophers need a healthy Landfair back on the floor, I am probably being unfair to Airi Miyabe. Myabe had 16 kills this afternoon (2nd behind Samedy), in a 4-set win over the #6 team in the country. Miyabe has served in a reserve role during her 3 seasons as a Gopher, bringing energy and a change-of-pace. But this year, seeing extended playing time as Landfair nurses her injury, Miyabe has proven herself a very good volleyball player.
Next:
- The Gophers travel to Indiana on Wed (on BTN). The Gopher beat the Hoosiers in straight sets in the PAV last Sunday; hope we can produce a similar result on the road.
- And next Sat, the Gophers are back in the PAV to host 1st Place Nebraska (on BTN). This will be the only regular season match-up with the Huskers; a win would be huge!