Heading to Palo Alto, after last week’s beatdown by Florida, to play the #5 & #6 teams in the country, I was hoping for a respectable split. Then, after Friday night’s thrilling 5-set win over Oregon, I held out hope for a sweep. And after a spirited comeback in Set 1 (the Gophs were down 9-17, then rallied to get within 3 before losing 21-25); and then a dominant performance in Set 2 (25-19) to even the match, my hopes grew. But no such luck; in Sets 3 & 4, Stanford took early leads and cruised easily to a pair of 16-25 wins.
At least I think it was easy; I didn’t even get to watch it. Saturday’s match was advertised as being broadcast on the PAC 12 network. But not live, apparently, because when I tuned in they were showing Oregon crushing a west-coast equivalent of Eastern Michigan in football. So I was stuck watching the live-stat-feed off the Gopher Volleyball website. Not really much fun, nor particularly informative. But I watched it for you. And then, finishing this blog after midnight, I was unable to log in to my blog-site. (Overnight maintenance, maybe? No problem this morning.)
I can tell you that our trio of outside hitters, The Wooker, 12 kills, Landfair, 8 kills, and Grote, 8 kills, were outhit by Stanford’s outside hitters, who posted 17, 16, & 8. Does that mean that Stanford’s trio is better than ours, who I have suggested in the best trio in the country? Maybe. But I can’t say because I have no idea what quality of sets each trio was fed.
I can tell, from Stanford’s 8 service-aces, and 15 service-errors, that the Cardinal served aggressively throughout the match. And given how poor our serve-receiving has been (you don’t suppose they had scouted the Gophers?), the 8 aces were probably the tip of the iceberg of our on-going struggle to receive.
I don’t like making excuses for the Gophers, but:
- Back-to-back matches, vs very good teams, on the West Coast, is a tough assignment, and we did get the split.
- Injuries are part of the game, and our primary weapons seem healthy, but the Gophs are not quite 100%. > Arica Davis, our most prolific Middle-Hitter, did not play this weekend. (Presumably an injury of some sort.) > Shaffmaster has been limping on a bad right knee since the season started. (This could be a season-long phenomena.) > And Palabiyik is still on the bench, reportedly awaiting eligibility clearance. (We don’t know how much help she can provide – but she can’t hurt.)
And speaking of Shaffmaster, I’ve been begging, for 3 years, for her to attack more often, like at least twice per set – even if she is only successful half the time. Tonight, along with 32 “assists” and 14 “digs’ (fairly standard numbers), Shaffmaster tried 9 attacks, producing 6 kills – with no errors. That’s what I’m talking about.
NEXT UP:
The Gophs will finish off their non-conference schedule next weekend, with THE DIET COKE CLASSIC (personally, I’ve become a Coke Zero guy) at the PAV, featuring #16 ranked Creighton and that always dangerous High Point squad. (Can anyone tell me, without looking it up, where High Point is and what conference they represent?) We’re 3 & 3 now; 5 & 3 wouldn’t look too bad.