At least not this time. It took the Gophers 5 sets to beat Iowa in Coralville back in the Big 10 Opener, but they handled the Hawkeyes with less trouble tonight at the Pav.
Set 1: The Hawkeyes stayed with the Gophers to start the match, earning Set 1 ties at 4-4, 8-8, 12-12, and 15-15, but then Landfair got hot, Gophers 25-19. Set 2: The Gophers got out ahead 6-3, but the Hawkeyes toughened up again, earning ties at 11-11 and 17-17. Then a couple of kills from Grote and one from Shaffmaster sparked the Gophers to a 25-14 win. Set 3: Wooker got hot and the Hawkeyes rolled over, Gophers 25-14.
Notes: Wooker started and played the whole match (unlike the Gophers previous match at Indiana). But Palabiyik did continue her role (which began at Indiana) as D.S.; Palabiyik even had a kill! And with Palabiyik at D.S., receiving in 3 rotations instead of Wooker, Iowa mostly served at Landfair; I had her with 5 bad receives. And Crowl subbed in for Grote in Set 3 and had a kill.
But the big news was the Gophers discovering (or rediscovering) “The Slide.” A slide is when a Middle Hitter, lined up to the Setter’s left, swings around to the right pin to hit a back-set. This play was a staple of the Gopher offense back in the days of the Tapp Sisters and Regan Pittman, but has virtually disappeared since Pittman left. By my count, the ‘23 Gophers had not earned a kill off a slide in their first 16 Big 10 matches! (During which time they had earned around 40 back-row kills.) In recent weeks, they had even given up trying to run slides. But during tonight’s second set, they converted a slide to Grote, lined up at Left-side at the time. And off that success, they ran several more, earning 2 kills by Middle Davis and 1 by Minatee. If the Gophs could incorporate successful slide into their offense on a regular basis, that would help a lot.
TOMORROW NIGHT: The Gophers host a rematch with the Buckeyes who we beat in 4 sets just 2 weeks ago in Columbus. In that match, the Gophers made a ton of receiving errors (mostly by Wooker), but our blocking (especially by Owoleye) and hitting by Landfair and Wooker overpowered the Buckeyes. We need this match.