And we would have if we had played just a little better. We lost in 4 sets, 20-25, 20-25, 25-16, 23-25, a total score of 88-91, so pretty close. Then again, we weren’t looking for a moral victory.
As expected, our main weakness was serve-receive, especially in Sets 1 & 2. If you watch a match at Madison on BTN, you have to put up with Grace Loberg doing the color. I don’t want to be too hard on Loberg, she’s only 10 mths removed from playing for the Badgers, so naturally she’s a little biased. But she raves and raves about how smart the Badger hitters, mostly her last-year’s teammates, are.
In reality, the Gophers hitters are clearly better than the Badger hitters. Sara Franklin is terrific, but Landfair is better. Julia Orzol is a good volleyball player, but she wouldn’t start for the Gophers. And last Spring, during the exposition season, I predicted that Minnesota’s 6-7 Freshman Middle Booth would dominate Wisconsin’s 6-9 Sophomore Middle Smrek – as she did tonight. Naya Gros started and played okay in Set 1, and was replaced by Arica Davis. And Davis dominated.
Our hitters weren’t effective enough in Sets 1 & 2 because our serve-receiving was pathetic, leaving Shaffmaster at most one option, leading consistently to double-blocks. In Set 3, and late in Set 4, the Gopher passing was significantly better, giving Shaffmaster at least two options, sometimes four, leading to no double-blocks, leading to significantly more effective hitting.
The most frequent culprit of the poor passing was Landfair. Opponents have been serving at Landfair all season. I thought she received quite well Wednesday night against Michigan State, but Wisconsin serves harder than MSU. I wish I could tell you what adjustments the Gophers made that led to better receiving in Set 3, but dependent on BTN’s camera work, I don’t know.
Even in the loss, Booth had a great match. I had her with 7 kills & 7 blocks.. But that’s just the blocks for points; Booth must have had 30 “partial-blocks,” repeatedly sending Badger attacks back into the badger’s court – where they were dug up. There were times that the Badger hitters looked liked they were hitting into an impenetrable wall like you might while warming up. The 5-11 Davis is not nearly the blocker Booth is, but she hit great, picking up 8 kills in 3 sets.
WHERE FROM HERE?
At 8 & 4, 3 losses more than the 3 teams tied for first, the Gophers are out of contention for the Big Ten Title. Wisconsin will probably be #2 when the ratings come out on Monday, and the Gophers losing to them 88-91 at Madison suggests that the Gophs could have a plausible chance at a Final Four IF they could get better at serve-receive. But while 5 of their next 8 matches, at home against Michigan, Maryland and Indiana, and on the road against Illinois & Maryland, should be winnable. The other 3, on the road at Penn State, Ohio State and Nebraska, are going to be tough. The Gophers will probably need to win 6 of the 8 to get a Top 16 seed, without which reaching the Final Four will be difficult.