It is not clear, as I write this, that the Gophers’ 13 & 7 Big 10 record, 20 & 10 overall, tied for 6th in the Big 10, #16 in the AVCA poll, will be good enough for a top 16 seed in the NCAAs. But the Gophs did what they needed to do, beating Ohio State at the Pav 25-16, 30-32, 25-14 & 25-15. As the scores suggest, the Gophs dominated the match, except for an epic Set 2, during which the gutsy Buckeyes refused to surrender.
The Buckeyes outstanding Outside Hitter, Emily Londot, who finished the match with 13 kills and 4 aces, had half of those during a middle-of-Set 2 run that elevated the Buckeyes from an 11-5 deficit to a 17-20 lead. Julia Hanson, who finished the match with 23 kills, .400, and 3 aces, was clearly the dominant hitter of the match, but there were a couple of rotations, during Set 2, the we avoided settiing Hanson – apparently because Londot was across the net from her. (Was this Shaffmaster decision? Or a coaching decision? I couldn’t say.) Instead Shaffmaster repeatedly set Grote, who hit and hit – with limited success (9 kills, .172). Set-point opportunities went back & forth, but eventually we ran out of substitutions, requiring Acevedo to play front row instead of Wooker, and Awoleye to serve instead of McGhie, and the Buckeyes prevailed.
But during Sets 1, 3, & 4, the Gophs, led by Hanson and Shaffmaster (42 assists, 12 digs, 7 kills and 5 blocks) with help from Grote (9 kills), Wooker (9 kills), and Awoleye (6 kills & 4 blocks), were clearly the better team. Teams that play a 5-1 are generally stronger with their setter in the back-row, so they generally start with their setter as their first server. But Shaffmaster is so good in the front row (blocking and attacking) that the Gopers can start a set in almost any rotation. And in Sets 3 & 4, Coach Cook started Shaffmaster front-left, to change the Hanson- Londot match-up, making Grote our first server. This was a spectacular success: Grote, serving behind a Hanson-Awoleye-Shaffmaster front-row, ran 7 points to start Set 3, and 6 points to start Set 4, and Ohio State never got closer than 5 points in either Set, (Good tactical coaching.)
Ohio State tried all-night to attack our serve-recieve of Thibault, Acevedo and Hanson (plus Palabiyik, who they tried to avoid) , but we held up reasonably well, especially as the match went on. At one point, with Palabiyik in the center and Hanson near the left edge of the court, a Buckeye served hard between Hanson and the boundary, and as Hanson moved to attempt a receive, Palabiyik dove in front of her to handle it instead. (Kind of what my teammates did for me back when I played double-B.)
NEXT UP: The brackets for the NCAA Tournament will be announced late afternoon on Sunday. There is a chance that the Gophers’ 6th in the Big 10, #16 in the AVCA poll finish, plus signature wins over Texas & Wisconsin, could earn the Gophs a top 16 seed, which generally means hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. But this is not guaranteed; keep your fingers crossed.