In a seesaw, tight-all-the-way, match, our Gophers hung on to beat the Oregon, 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19 & 16-14 – a much needed win! As usual, our outside hitters dominated. I had The Wooker with 21 kills, Landfair with 17, and Grote with 9. I had Julia Hanson, really an outside hitter, with 6 kills from the back row, Middle Owoleye with 5 (4 quicks + 1 off an Oregon overpass), and 3, including the match-point, by Shaffmaster. None by Minatee, and once again, Davis did not play. I haven’t seen or heard anything, but Davis did not play vs Florida either, and given Minatee’s offensive ineffectiveness (she had a couple of blocks), I assume Davis must be injured. Anybody know anything?
Some of the issues that plagued the Gopher vs Texas & Florida, particularly their serve-receive, remain. The Gophers had only slightly more official receiving errors than the Ducks, but Shaffmaster scrambled around chasing mediocre first-passes a lot more often Oregon’s setter. And it seemed to me (I’m watching this on a low-def PAC-12 broadcast), that Landfair was the Ducks favorite target. I have no idea how much Palabiyik will help, when she is finally available, but I am anxious to see her try. Anybody know anything?
Other than our serve-receive, I thought our digging was good – Oregon didn’t burn us with dinks as much as some teams have. Oregon’s was too. And both teams enjoyed success with back-row hitting. In addition to Hanson, the Gophs got back-row kills from Landfair and Grote, and the Ducks were effective from middle-back. The total score was 110 to 104, and Set 5 went into overtime; but in the end, the Gophers’ .323 hitting % was enough better than the Ducks’ .262 to secure the victory.
TOMORROW NIGHT: STANFORD AT STANFORD
(See my note, earlier today, on how to watch.)