Three of the 4 sets were close, but our Gophers prevailed 25-23, 26-28, 25-18 & 25-20.
Set 1 involved a series of mini-runs, The Gophs went up 7-3 with Acevedo serving (Hanson, Crowl & Minatee in front row), then the Jackrabbits pulled within 1 at 7-6. The Gophs again pulled ahead 12-8 behind Hanson’s serve and Acevedo’s hitting, but then the Rabbits again pulled back in it at 12-11. We pulled ahead 16-11 and traded side-outs to 24-19, but the Rabbits ran 4 to get within 24-23 before a nice kill from Acevedo (who had a great Set 1) put it away.
Set 2 started poorly at 2-5 and 3-8, during which Minatee was injured. (Her knee?) Taylor came in, looked uncomfortable, then Minatee came back, during which Myers got hot, pulling to Gophs to a 12-10 lead. Taylor came back in, and continued to look uncomfortable as the Rabbits surged ahead 14-17. The teams sort of traded sideouts until the Rabbits reached 23-19, but the Gophs weren’t quitting and fought back to send it in overtime – where they lost a tough challenge allowing the Rabbits to pull ahead 27-26. Then the Rabbits had a nice kill for the win.
Set 3 also started poorly at 2-5, but we pulled back to 7-7, Taylor continuing to look uncomfortable, then surged to a commanding 20-13 lead behind strong hitting by Acevedo and Hanson.
Set 4 was tight most of the way, with scores of 4-4, 7-7, 10-10 and 19-18 before the Gophs pulled away behind two freshmen: Stella with 3 kills (of her 4 total) and Taylor with 3 blocks (of her 4 total).
Overall, I had Acevedo as the offensive leader with 16 kills. Clearly, I had underestimated Acevedo in my preseason analysis; she certainly carried her weight today. I had Hanson with 12 kills, 4 blocks and 11 digs, including some tough ones. I had Myers with 8 kills and 6 blocks. And I had Taylor, who struggled early, ending the match with 4 kills and 4 blocks, most of them in Set 4. Also, Thibault dug well.
Stella was our first server (a typical VBall strategy) in each set, with Crowl starting Sets 1 & 2 in the front row – I think because of her blocking skills? But when Stella rotated to serve her second time, Coach Cook sent Kinney in instead of Crowl, and, noting Crowl’s lack of production, Coach skipped Crowl entirely in Sets 3 & 4. If I was coaching the Gophs, I’d make a rule that Stella can dink, but everybody else, especially Crowl would be forbidden to dink. Nobody but is any good at dinking and we send over way too many free balls.
Today was a good win over a strong team. I posted Friday that a Dayton Coach was dismissive of the Jackrabbits claim to being ranked, but the only weakness I saw was that their setter is too short, 5-7 or 5-8 maybe, to block. It used to be common for Women’s VB teams to have vertically-challenged setters, but these days, a setter on a D-1 team playing the preferred 5-1 system has to be at least 6 ft. Libero is now the only option for a girl of normal height.
NEXT UP: The Gophs finish the non-conference season with
Friday: Loyola at Loyola, 6:00 on BTN+
Sunday: Marquette at Marquette, 5:00 on FS1