As expected, the Gophs beat the Hawkeyes for the 48th straight time, 25-22, 25-15, 25-17. Not much excitement on or off the court. BTN-broadcast matches get a BTN announcer, and BTN+ matches are generally announced by a student or something. But tonight’s match at Iowa had no announcer, and virtually no fans – maybe 100 people? So sort of – is this a real Big Ten Match?
SET 1: The Gophers have not been a great first-set team all season, and they stayed with the script again tonight. We scored the first point, then Iowa tied it up — repeated until it was 15-15. The Gophs, with Kilkelly serving, ran 4 to go ahead 19-15, but then the Hawkeyes, serving at Kilkelly, tied it again at 19-19 and the teams traded 3 more side-outs to 22-22. Finally, behind 2 of Miyabe’s 3 kills for the set, the Gophers put it away. For a change, the offense was well-distributed; I had Wenaas with 4 kills, Miyabe and Rubright(!) with 3 each, Myers and Samedy with 2 each, and Shaffmaster got 1. The Middle slides weren’t working, but the “quicks” were.
SETS 2 was less close. The Gophers led 11-5, 14-7 and 24-14, and the scoring was once again balanced. SET 3 was tied at 5-5 before the Gophs pulled away to18-12. Either Coach McCutcheon got tired of forcing Shaffmaster distribute the ball evenly, or maybe Shaffmaster did, because Samedy had 7, SET 3 kills, and none from the Middles.
Throughout SETS 2 & 3, the Hawkeyes gave the Gophers the most trouble with soft, short serves. Soft, short serves sound like they would be easy to receive, but I remember a match at the Senior Nationals in Cleveland, where my 65 & over team got killed by a team that kept dropping soft serves on the 5-ft line. We should have been able to adjust; never did. But I expect more from the Gophers.
RECRUITS, 2022 AND BEYOND
Recruiting is a critical component of any successful college program. We got a bonus year from Samedy, Miyabe and Myers, but we won’t get another one for those 3 – they’re out of eligibility for sure in December, and have to be replaced.
The Gophers’ 2020 recruiting class, Landfair, Wenaas, and Shaffmaster (plusand a libero that never arrived on campus) was the #1-ranked 2020 recruiting class in the country, which bodes well for coming seasons, but we need to keep filling the glass.
Yesterday’s signings included:
- Carter Booth, a 6-7, first-team High School All American middle-blocker from Denver;
- Julia Hanson, a 6-1, second-team High School All American outside-hitter from Prior Lake; and
- McKenna Wucherer, also a 6-1, second-team High School All American outside-hitter from Brookfield, WI.
Booth began her H.S. varsity career at Breck, where she started as a 7th grader, and Benild-St.Margaret’s, where she started as a 8th grader, before relocating to the Denver Area. McCutcheon’s quote was “Carter has the ability, work ethic and experience to have an impact right away.” I think that means he sees her as a starter, next year, replacing Myers.
Hanson is the Strib’s Metro Player of the Year, a two-time, first-team All-Metro Player, and was the MVP of an American 17 & under team in a European tournament.
Wucherer was a 2020 U17 first-team All American and was first team all-tournament at the U18 World Championships.
I doubt that anyone can “replace” Samedy, but someone will join Wenaas and (hopefully) Landfair as the 2022 Gophers’ third outside hitter. I’m guessing it will be Hanson, Wucherer or current freshman Glenn.
FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD
Between playing Geezer volleyball and intensely following the Gophers and the Washburn 9th-grade team (plus other sports my G-kids are in, like soccer and swimming and football and wrestling) I don’t get to as many H.S. volleyball matches as I used to. But I was at the Excel Center yesterday for part of the State Tournament.
If you have never been to a State Volleyball Tournament, you should; if not this year, then next year. One admission, and a seat multiple rows up from the curtain (it’s general admission and there are plenty such seats) provides the opportunity to watch simultaneous action on two courts, featuring 24 of the best teams in MN, starting at 9 a.m. and running until approximately 9 p.m. (You don’t have to watch all-day.) When a match concludes on one court, there is a half-hour gap while the next pair of teams warm up, but usually there is a live match going on the other court. I brought the Strib along to read during “down-time,” was there roughly 6 hours, and didn’t get half the paper read.
The quality of volleyball is amazing. Even the matches in Class A (the smallest schools) consolation rounds are really good — skilled athletes playing their hearts out. The best match I saw Wednesday was Eden Prairie’s 5-set AAA quarter-final win over Forest Lake – the 5th set, to 15, ended 21-19.
And oddly enough, among all these great players, the two best players I saw were a sophomore and a freshman. The freshman was Rogers’ Anya Schmidt, a 5-9 setter/opposite (I think they were playing a 6-2). She set well and hit well (though, at 5-9, she couldn’t be a D-1 hitter; but she’s only a freshman, she might still grow), but she dominated the match with her top-spin, jump serve. Perhaps I am misled by the fact that Schmidt was serving at High School girls, but I would swear she has a more powerful serve, right now, than any Gopher — at least since Daly Santana. And Schmidt’s serve will get better, over the next 3 years, whether she grows or not.
And then there was Wayzata’ sophomore, 6-1 setter, Stella Swenson – who just happens to be the younger sister of the Gophers’ 3-time, first-team All American setter, Samantha Seliger-Swenson. Again, it’s a distinctly different level of competition, and I could be biased by my admiration of Samantha, but I thought Stella, the Strib’s All-Metro setter (the only sophomore on an all-senior team) played better than Shaffmaster has some matches this year.
The Strib listed Stella’s choice of college as “undecided,” which makes sense since she hasn’t finished her sophomore season. But surely the Gophers, the Badgers, and probably every top program in the country will want her. I think that Samantha had a good experience, not only as a Gopher, but playing for Coach McCutcheon, and I think her mom enjoyed the convenience of watching Samantha’s entire career at the PAV. Keep your fingers crossed.
NEXT UP:
Our 8th-ranked Gophers host the 9th-rated Purdue Boilermakers at the PAV, Sunday @ 3:30 on BTN.