At least tonight; Gophs over Buckeyes in 4 sets, 25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 25-18. Tonight’s win rekindling hopes for an NCAA bid.
SET 1 stayed close most of the way, with ties at 4-4, 8-8, 11-11, 14-14, & 17-17 before the Gophs pulled away. The Gophs first 3 points came from blocks and we added 3 more, 6 total, for the set.
SET 2 started out in a similar manner, with ties at 8-8, before Ohio State started serving at Wooker, winning 12 of the next 13 points. I had Wooker with 11 serve-receive errors for the match (and that’s being kind). Plus the Buckeye Middles completely dominated the Gopher Middles. And the Gophs had zero blocks in Set 2. Late in the set, the Gophs went to a 6-2 (McGhie & Crowl), but it was too little too late.
SET 3 started out like Set 2, with poor receiving and a 7-11 deficit; I did not, at this point, feel at all confident. But then the Gophers, fueled by dominant hitting by Wooker (16 kills for the match) and Landfair (14 kills for the match), surged to a 19-15 lead (a 12-4 run). It was see-saw the rest of the way. At 24-19, the Gophs had 5 set-points, losing 3 — before closing the set with a Wooker kill.
SET 4, the Gophers started slow again, trailing 2-7 and 8-12 before Elise McGhie came in to serve (for Grote?), and ran 7 points (behind Wooker) to put the Gophs ahead. The Buckeyes fought back, but never led again.
NEXT UP: Sunday, 1:00, at Northwestern (who beat the Gophers at the Pav, in 5 sets, a month ago). IF the Gophers can sweep the weekend, we can start talking NCAAs.
GopherVBallRocks is back.
When I started GopherVBallRocks 4½ years ago, I learned that I need a “host,” and somehow (don’t remember) I ended up with Bluehost. I’ve been mostly satisfied, until a week ago, when I needed technical support. (I might have used technical support before, without significant difficulty.)
Anyway, Bluehost goes off-line periodically for system maintenance, and often they do this late on a Friday or Saturday evening – exactly when I am trying to post – which occasionally delays my post until the following morning – a minor problem. But following last Thursday’s “system maintenance,” I was unable to log in, and forced to seek assistance.
What followed was 7 attempts, over 7 days, to get back in. Here are a couple of things I learned: 1) The on-line “chat” (with a robot, maybe) is completely useless and highly frustrating; 2) The phone support involves long wait-times; 2a) Shorter around 7 or 8 am than in the evening: 3) The folks you end up speaking to are English as a 2nd language types, some difficult to understand, but uniformly polite; 4) Polite does not necessarily translate into helpful; 5) Bluehost allows only five log-in attempts during an unknown block of time, so once you tried five times, you’re beyond help; 5a) Unless you stumble on to a guy that knows how to “override” this feature. 6) One tends to grow testy with people who ask you, “Is it back up yet?”
In the end, I don’t think I did anything different – I just got lucky. Later that day, I got a cold-call offering to help me re-design the visual impact of GopherVBallRocks (I know it needs it) for a mere $165/mth. This would, it was explained, “increase engagement.” I passed.