Our #13 ranked Gophers looked good in their Home Opener, crushing the unranked, ACC Hurricanes, 25-15, 25-16 & 25-14. That’s 75-45 for the match, so not close at all. It was 12-12 in the middle of Set 2, but the Gophers, with Wooker serving and a front line of Kinney, Hoecke and Stella, went on an 8 point run to eliminate doubt.
I messed up and missed the first set. Originally, the “Historic” Dial Classic was supposed to be a 4-team event, with the Gophers playing the 2nd of two Friday Matches at 7:00. Then one team dropped out, with our Gophs playing Friday’s only match at 6:00, and I missed the schedule change. A similar thing happened two weeks ago in Sioux Falls, which was supposed to be a 6-team tournament before one team dropped out. That deal did not impact the Gophers, but it caused Creighton to play 3 matches in 3 days, and Purdue to only get one match in. Non-conference scheduling must be done by teenagers on cell-phones.
But enough about my screw-up, the Gophs were dominant, hitting .373 for the match vs Miami’s .047. As usual, most of our offense came from our pins; Kinney with 9 kills, Wooker and Gilk with 8 each. And Hoecke added 5 (mostly on slides, I think).
You may recall that Wilk was benched against Auburn, following a poor performance against Florida. Crossen played instead of Gilk and looked pretty good against Auburn, so I wasn’t sure who would get the start tonight vs Miami. And I guess I’m not certain who will start on Sunday vs St. Thomas. But I’ve been projecting Gilk as our starting Opposite, and I continue to think so. She certainly had her groove back tonight, with 8 kills on 15 swings (.467). At least her hitting groove, –she had 3 service errors. Wooker hit a modest .318, but found her serving groove with 6 aces vs 2 errors – excellent serving.
The other presumed starter benched for the previous match vs Auburn was Taylor. Taylor was also back in tonight’s lineup, and as usual she led the Gophers with 4 blocks. But her offense remains a work-in-progress, 3 kills and .268. .268 is respectable for a pin, where anything over .300 is good. But Setters and Liberos feed pins off of bad first passes, when the defense is expecting a set to the pin. Liberos never set Middles, and Setters only feed Middles off of excellent first passes – when the defense can’t key solely on the Middle. We want our Middles to hit .400 or better – Hoecke hit .455 tonight.
And at least two of Taylor’s attempts tonight didn’t even get over the net. She and Stella just aren’t connecting. At least not yet. This could be Stella’s fault, but when the freshman Hoecke hits .455 and the sophomore Taylor hits .268, I think the problem lies with Taylor. Hoecke’s offense looks very polished, especially for a freshman, Taylor’s much less so.
Minatee, who I expect to be physically ready for the Big Ten Opener, isn’t much of a blocker – but when healthy she’s been an offensive threat. And Blazkova can play too. 3 matches left in the non-conference schedule, and I don’t think the question of who our “regular” Middles will be has been resolved.
St. Thomas on Sunday, 1:00, at the PAV (BTN+)
WE NEED THE SWEEP!
Next weekend, the Gophers will finish their non-conference schedule back in Sioux Falls, against South Dakota on Friday and South Dakota State on Saturday. I think SDState is the stronger opponent. Both matches will be broadcast on something called “MIDCO Sports Plus.” Not sure how many GopherVBRocks readers will be able to access MIDCO Sports Plus, but I, and reader A.A., will be there in person to report on it.