Regarding Friday night’s loss at Madison:
Reader R.A. writes, “Since Gophs are poor at serve-receive and passing, running Shaffmaster all over the court, they have no chance vs a good team like Wisconsin. I don’t see any fix for that .”
[John: I agree that our Gophs were not competitive in Madison on Friday. But somehow the Terps, who were not competitive at the PAV, beat the Badgers in Maryland. So there’s hope when the Badgers come to the PAV.]
Reader G.U. writes, “ ‘Drubbed was a gross understatement. Last night’s match was hard to watch. And to make it worse it was against them stinkin’ Badgers. Shaffmaster has skills setting, but should never be allowed to play the back row as her defense is not D1 caliber. Hugh was out-coached in this one, as the WIS gals were always in perfect position to defend against most of our attacks.”
[John: McCutcheon’s Gophers play a 5-1, as do most high-level teams. And in a 5-1, our setter, Shaffmaster, plays all 6 rotations. The alternative, used by a few teams, and by the Gophs when desperate, is a 6-2. In a 6-2, our Shaffmaster plays only back row, and when her position rotates to the front row, Shaffmaster subs out for a hitter, typically Miyabe, and at the same time, Samedy subs out for a setter, McMeninmen – who also sets from the back row. Our problem is that when you’re using a rack-row setter, said setter has primary responsibility for covering dinks. We got spoiled by Seliger-Swenson, who was great at covering dinks; unfortunately Shaffmaster is not. (And in my opinion, McMeninmen is worse.) Shaffmaster is not likely to get much quicker – but hopefully she can learn to “read” the opposing hitters better, so as to anticipate the dinks.]
Regarding Saturday night’s white-knuckle win at Evanston :
Reader L.A. writes, “Enjoyed your description of Maureen’s intensity. But us poor people can’t afford BTN+.”
[John: BTN+ was a bargain (about $70) this year because we got two volleyball seasons in one year.]
R.A. writes, “Whew! is right. Landfair saved the Gophers. Can you explain why she is allowed to play so little?”
[John: I’ll try: I guess she was injured for a while, but this weekend she played about as much as possible. Landfair excels as a left-side hitter, and the Gophers are clearly better when she’s there. She generally starts each set there, and slides to that position during each of the first 3 rotations. But then she must rotate to the back-row. At this point in her career, Landfair is a 3-position player, meaning that Kilkelly subs in for her when she rotates to back row. Recently, McCutcheon has allowed Landfair to serve before Kilkelly subs-in, which gives Landfair a chance to hit back-row (as Samedy often does). But Samedy is also an excellent back-row player, which is why she gets to play 6-rotations, but Landfair isn’t yet as good a passer as Kilkelly. Also, if I’m coaching against the Gophers, and I see a 6-5 girl in the back-row, we’re going to serve at her every time. And even if she receives successfully most of the time, it’s going to tire her out over the course of a 5-set match. Even Samedy, who appears to have more stamina than Landfair, gets worn-down sometimes.]