It took our Gophs about an hour to sweep 3 sets from Maryland, 25-12, 25-13, 25-16. The Terrapins aren’t a bad team; they came into the Pav with a 5 & 9 Conference record. But they didn’t serve aggressively enough to keep the Gophs out of system. Either they don’t have that capability or they hadn’t read a scouting report. It is pretty well known around the league that if you allow the Gophers to play in-system, Booth and our Left-side Hitters are going to be trouble, and for the match, the Gophs hit .287 vs .043 for the Terrapins.
Wooker was not-dressed again tonight, we haven’t heard what her injury is (if you know, please share), but she sat out yet another match. This moves Wenaas to Left-side (and puts Crowl in the lineup at Opposite); and wow did Wenaas have fun in Set 1 – with 7 kills. Wenaas looked so good in Set 1 that I started wondering how Coach McCutcheon could possibly move her back to Opposite when Wooker gets healthy? But then Wenaas had zero kills in Set 2. When I was coaching 16U, my assumption would be that my red-hot hitter had said something about my setter’s boyfriend between sets, but presumably the Gophers are more mature. Whatever happened to slow Wenaas down, she got 2 more kills in Set 3 to finish with 9, plus 12 digs.
Landfair had 11 kills, and Booth had 9 kills (mostly slides, tonight) and 3 blocks, and Shaffmaster had 4 kills to go with her 30 assists. And Kilkelly had a good night serving, with 4 aces, no service errors, and served at least 15 points. (She had Landfair and Booth in the front row when she was serving.)
Crowl, who played the entire 3-set match, had 1 kill – not very productive. Davis added 5 kills and 2 blocks. I guess it’s time for me to admit that Davis is our other (with Booth) starting Middle. I liked Gros, but she’s riding the bench while Davis plays.
NEXT UP: Indiana on Sunday. The Hoosiers have a similar record to Maryland, but I think they serve very aggressively.
SIGNINGS: 2 OUT OF 3 AIN’T BAD
With the announced retirement of Coach McCutcheon, I feared the worst for Gopher recruiting. Yet, somehow, the Gophers managed to sign two of the top 2023 recruits in the country. Signing with the Gophs on Wednesday were:
- Sydney Schnichels from Willmar, considered the top recuit in Minnesota. Schnichels is a 6-4 Outside Hitter; and
- Calissa Minatee from Kansas City, the #20-ranked recruit in the country. Minatee is a 6-1 Middle Hitter.
Both are scheduled to be among the Top 24 H.S. Seniors competing in the Under Armour All American Game in December.
The Gophers lost out on Libero Laney Choboy, who switched her verbal commitment from the Gophs to Nebraska after learning of McCutcheon’s retirement. Schnichels and Minatee were both aware of the coaching change, but signed with the Gophers anyway.
I assume Choboy is very good, and we certainly need a new Libero with McGraw’s eligibility expiring. But I thought McCutcheon’s departure would hurt this year’s crop of recruits worse than 2 out of 3. If the Gophers can retain their core group of stars, Landfair, Wenaas, Shaffmaster, Wooker, Booth, etc, I think Maroon & Gold will be attractive colors for Transfer-Portal Liberos.
HIGH SCHOOL TOURNEY
I, and Reader R.S. (others, maybe?), have caught parts of the H.S. Tourney – great V-Ball as always. So far, I have seen the 4A Quarters:
- The 4-5 matchup is often the most exciting quarterfinal in any division, and Rogers/Chaska did not disappoint. Rogers looked terrible losing Set 1, 14-25, and falling behind 1-7 in Set 2, Then, magically, they came roaring back to win in 4, 25-19, 26-24, 26-24. Wonderful match!
- I did not expect #1 Seed Wayzata to have any trouble with unseeded Burnsville, but Burnsville was scrappy. Wayzata won in three, 25-20, 25-20, 25-18, but as the scores suggest, it wasn’t easy.
- Wayzata’s Gopher-bound (class of ’24) Swenson Twins, Setter Stella and Outside Hitter Olivia, didn’t seem to dominate as much as I expected. This might be a trick of my expectations – last year, not even knowing who she was, Stella blew me away. This year, I expected more.
And the 3A Semis:
- 3A is a step down in terms of player heights and team depth, but at this level, they still play very good V-Ball;
- Top seed Marshall and high seed Benilde St. Margeret’s both won in straight sets (over Grand Rapids & Kasson-Mantorville) and will meet for the Championship at 6:30 on Saturday. Both won on the strength of taller (or at least stronger) front lines than their semifinal opponents. There was one particularly interesting single-rally where Grand Rapids had 6 consecutive bump-set-spike combinations – without the ball ever penetrating (more than an inch) into the Marshall court — due to Marshall’s “wall” of blockers.
And miscellaneous
- Other HS Tourney players who stood out to me (in no particular order) included Burnsville sophomore Outside Hitter Mesalya Bennet, Rogers sophomore Setter Anya Schmidt, Stillwater junior Middle Hitter McKenzie Peters, Marshall senior Outside Hitter Leah Jones, Marshall senior Middle Hitter Randi Werdorff, BSM senior Outside Hitter Lily Eigner, BSM senior Middle Hitter Sierra Limpkin and Kasson-Mantorville junior Outside Hitter Ellie Ask. Based on my limited sample, I don’t know that any of these girls are Gopher material, but they are all talented players with a post-high-school future in V-Ball is they choose to pursue it.
- Another thing I noticed was a shift, certainly over-the-years, if not dramatically this year, in the officiating. Not too many years ago, the State H.S. Volleyball Tournament showcased referees blowing their whistles on the slightest opportunity. But on Wednesday, the refs were letting the girls play. I applaud this; it makes sense to call 14U matches tight, because those girls are learning how to play. But everyone in the State H.S. Volleyball Tournament handles the ball well enough that picky reffing is unnecessary.