IN FOOTBALL.
Coach McCutcheon’s 2nd place in the Big Ten volleyballers, on the other hand, had little trouble in sweeping the Illini in Champaign, 25-22, 25-16, 25-14. As the scores indicate, Illinois played the first set tough, leading the Gophs 15-11 (giving the Gophers trouble with their aggressive serving), and tying the set at 22-22, before a Rubright block finished them off.
Illinois’ disappointing first set loss seemed to take the fight out of the Fighting Illini. (Can anyone explain why they can still be the Fighting Illini, but the team in Grand Forks had to change their name?) It didn’t help the Illini that, midway through the 2nd Set, 3 consecutive, apparent, Illinois points were turned into Gopher points by McCutcheon challenges. I think it would have been tied-up, but instead the Gophers were ahead by 6. It seemed to me that the challenge-review got it right all 3 times, but it had to be hard, emotionally, on Illinois. Set 3 was never close, the Gophers leading 12-4 and 19-8 before putting the Illini out of their misery.
Led, as usual, by Samedy (15 kills), Wenaas (13) and Miyabe (9), and with help from the rest of the squad (Rubright, Myers and even Shaffmaster), the Gophers hit a sizzling .330.
I’m not being as specific as I sometimes am, because I had trouble with BTN+. I tried to tune my big-screen to BTN+ at 6:00, but all I got was a blank screen. I was able to get it on my laptop, but I missed the first few points (7-8, Illinois, when I got in). Later, my laptop froze up, causing me to miss the first few points of Set 2. And when I did get it back, I somehow had a live (I think) video feed, but a delayed audio. And then the match started on my TV. So now, I’ve got Set 1 playing (audio & video) on TV, Set 2 audio from my laptop, and Set 3 video on my laptop screen – all at the same time. And I’m reluctant to turn any of the 3 off for fear I won’t get it back. Sort of a confusing way to watch volleyball.
I did pick up some interesting data:
- The Buckeyes, whom the Gophs beat in 4 sets on Thursday, gave Nebraska their 3rd conference loss, and dropping the Huskers into a 2nd place tie with our Gophs.
- The Gophers are 11 & 0 when they win the first set.
- The Gophers have now won 8 of their last 9 matches;
- And 4 of their last 5 against teams ranked in the top 25, nationally;
It seemed plausible that the Gophers, who, 2 weeks ago, were sitting at 6 & 3 and facing 4 matches against nationally ranked teams, would lose at least one of the 4. Maybe we, or at least I, underestimated this team.
NEXT UP, a trip to Iowa City to play the Hawkeyes. I think we’ll make it 6 in a row..