The Gophers’ dreams were crushed by the Bluejays, In 3 sets, but all close, 21-25, 20-25, 27-29. The sentiment here at our house was that the Gophs played poorly, but I thought not too poorly. Creighton is pretty good., and the Gophers’ season-long flaws were exposed just enough:
- The Bluejays served aggressively, making more service errors than the Gophs, but it paid off for them. Creighton began the match serving at Palabyik, but soon found Landfair a softer target. I had Landfair with 4 receiving errors for the match, which isn’t awful given that they served at her most of the night, but two of her bad receives came during a 5-pt run in the middle of Set 3, turning an 18-14 lead into an 18-19 deficit. Oddly enough, the Gophers served at the Creighton Libero all night.
- Landfair led the Gophs in kills, I had her with 12, but I would swear she lobbed “free-balls” over the net more times than she attacked. Part of that was Landfair’s trademark reluctance to attack a poor set, but also the frequency of poor sets resulting from the Gophers overall poor serve-receiving.
- A season-long problem that I haven’t written much about is Wooker’s blocking. Wooker is a very good hitter – but a mediocre blocker. And the Bluejays’ Opposite took advantage of her early and often.
A surprising problem was Grote’s ineffectiveness. Last night, vs Utah State, Grote was the best player on the court, but Creighton was ready for her predictable cross-court attacks. (I had her with only 2 kills for the match.) Shaffmaster’s offense was a bright spot; she had 5 kills (on I think 6 attacks).
In August, when the Gophers were rated #5 in the country, I told you we were not that good. In October, when some GopherVBall readers predicted the Gophers would not even get an NCAA invite, I told you we were not that bad. Three weeks ago I suggested that the Gophs could rescue the season with a strong finish leading to the Sweet Sixteen. And one week ago, I told you that the Gophs would beat Utah State and have a 50-50 chance vs Creighton. At the end of the day, the ‘23 Gophs were good enough to beat teams like Baylor and Ohio State and Utah State – but not good enough to beat teams like Penn State, Purdue, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
I’ll post some thoughts about next year when I get over the disappointment.