On November 10, our Gophers lost to a very good Purdue Team in 4 sets. Since then, we won in 5 sets at Indiana and have swept 3 consecutive matches at the Pav. Iowa is not very good, but Ohio State has some good players, and tonight’s opponent, the Fighting Illini, arrived at the Pav with the exact same 11 & 7 conference record as the Gophers. The Gophs played well against the Buckeyes and even better tonight vs the Illinin, Gophers 25-20, 25-21 & 25-17.
SET 1: The Gophers, who started slow in several matches early in the season, came out strong, 5-0 behind McGhie’s serving, Landfair’s dinking, and an Owoleye block. And soon pushed the lead to 13-5. Just as it looked too easy, Illinois’ excellent setter, Brooke Mosher rotated to the serve, and began to terrorize the Gophers. The only top-spin, jump-server on either team, Mosher ran 5 points, including two that clipped the net and dropped in, and one that Palabyik jumped out of the way of, only to see it hit the end-line. And Illinois maintained the momentum that Mosher earned, climbing back to a 17-17 tie. Earlier in the season, this loss of momentum might have hurt the Gophers, but tonight’s squad took the momentum back with 3 consecutive points. When Mosher rotated to the serve for the 2nd time, she crushed her first serve – and Palabyik popped it up into the rafters – and when it came down, Shaffmaster teed it up for a kill. And with Mosher’s serve out of the way, the Gophs coasted to the 25-20 win.
SET 2: Was harder fought, with ties at 3-3, 6-6, 9-9, & 13-13. Murr handled Mosher’s first serve, and when Mosher rotated to the serve for the 2nd time, she tried to put a little extra on it and hit it long. Other, less powerful Illinois servers, had greater success just serving at Landfair. There were some very long volleys in Set 2, with spectacular digging by both teams. But the Gophers were more consistent and slowly edged ahead.
SET 3: With their backs to the wall, The Illini came out strong, strong enough to take a 3-6 lead. But with Murr serving and Wooker and Davis pounding the ball, the Gophs went on a 15-6 run to take an 18-12 lead. And the Illini started thinking about the showers.
Landfair led the Gophs with 15 kills, but more impressive was Davis’s 9 kills, on 15 swings, with only 1 error – an impressive .533 clip for the match. An under-sized 5-11, Davis is helpless against big middles (like Wisconsin’s), but she often plays well against average middles, and tonight was an example of that. Davis had 3 blocks, also.
Wooker had a mere 11 kills, but they included a back-row kill and a sneaky “tool-shot” on a ball set too-tight to the net – neither plays she has made with regularity. For the match, the Gophs outhit the Illini .304 to .107.
The Gophers have won 9 straight sets, 6 against respectable teams. They were all at the Pav, which helps, but there has been something else different about these last 3 matches. Our digging has been much better, AND, for the first sustained period all year – Coach Cook has played Palabyik at D.S. D.S.s are only on the floor half the time (actually less, only 7/12ths, because Grote serves before Polabyik subs-in for her) and they are often inconspicuous. Plus Palabyik’s court-time takes away from Hanson’s back-row offense. But every touch Palabyik gets is a back-row touch that Wooker doesn’t have to take; I think Palabyik’s presence is part of the reason the Gophs are playing better.
WHERE WE STAND
Around the time of the Gopher’s disastrous east coast trip, where we lost to Maryland & Rutgers (with Shaffmaster injured), some GopherVBallRocks readers predicted that the Gophs would finish the Big Ten season at 10 & 10, or worse, and miss the NCAAs. But I predicted, amidst the gloom and doom, that the Gophs would finish 12 & 8 and be invited to the NCAAs.
The current win streak has pushed our record to 12 & 7, and (at least for now) sole possession of 5th place in the conference. Tomorrow night’s opponent, at the Pav, is #1 Ranked Nebraska – who won’t be in a good mood after losing their first match of the season this afternoon at Madison. I think the Gophers are capable of winning this final regular season match – but it’s unlikely. Never the less, I believe that tonight’s victory guarantees an NCAA slot when the pairings are announced Sunday evening.