This afternoon’s win at Ann Arbor, 25-23, 25-19 & 25-21 was the Gophers’ 3rd straight Big 10 road win (4th win overall, counting the win over Northwestern at the Pav). None of our recent opponents were ranked, but don’t underestimate the value of road-wins in the best conference in the country. Ohio State and Michigan State have poor conference records, but we needed 5 sets to beat the Buckeyes, overtime in the 3rd set to beat Michigan State, and today’s win over the Wolverines, 500 in the Big 10, was hard fought also.
Set 1: We trailed 1-4, 4-7, 8-11, and were tied 11-11, 17-17, 20-20 & 23-23 before winning the set on Lydia Grote’s ace (her only ace of the match). Deservingly so, because this set was all Grote. Grote has a history, in her season & a half with the Gophs, of coming out hot in Set 1s, while others are still warming up. But she was injured late at Penn State, didn’t dress for Northwestern, played but didn’t look like herself against Ohio State. She was back on form today, keeping us in Set 1, finishing the match with a team-leading 13 kills – plus that critical ace.
Set 2: With Hanson (12 kills for the match) and Wooker (11 kills for the match) coming alive, to provide offensive balance, this was our easiest set of the match. One of the highlights was a Shaffmaster kill. Shaffmaster kills are common this season, but usually on 2nd touches; this was a 3rd-touch-kill off of a nice, cross-court set from Hanson. You don’t see many setters capable of 3rd-touch kills.
Set 3: A tight set, with none of the 3 & 4 point runs seen in Sets 1 & 2. Tied at 4-4, 8-8 & 12-12. With the Gophs leading 17-15, there were 9 consecutive sideouts, taking us to 21-20, before a couple of Michigan errors helped us get the sweep.
Random Notes:
- Michigan’s top hitter was injured in their previous match, and did not play.
- I have previously ripped our new West Coast Schools for their pathetic attendance. The BTN+ announcer said that today’s match was sold out; but the weird, little, gym the Wolverines play in doesn’t seem to have any seating on one side or one end, and the areas that might have had ample seating were behind the camera, so you couldn’t prove it by me. Come on, Michigan, use some of that football $ to upgrade your volleyball facility.
- Officially, Minatee had 1 kill, on 6 swings, and 5 blocks; but that was generous scorekeeping, I had her with zero kills and 1 block – a non-factor in today’s match.
- Volleyball teams typically have strong and weak rotations. Our weak rotation is receiving serve when Grote starts front-left and Wooker front-right. They can easily switch across with Shaffmaster serving, but a cross-court, double-switch is tricky when receiving, so Grote hits left-side (where she is less effective) and Wooker hits right-side (where she seems completely ineffective). Everyone of Michigan’s runs, 3-pointers twice in Set 1, a 4-pointer in Set 2, and a 5-pointer in Set 3, all came serving at this rotation. It is what it is, but what I don’t understand is why we sometimes start sets in this rotation? Come on Coach Cook, check the stats.
- Today’s win raises our conference record to 9 & 3, putting us in a 3-way tie for 4th place with Oregon and Purdue.
NEXT UP: (back home at last)
- Thursday, 7:00 (again on BTN+), vs a tough Washington squad, full of players recruited and coached by Cook. I had a chance to watch their 5-set win over arch-rival Oregon last week: Washington runs a 6-2; they are the most aggressive serving team I’ve seen all year (sure to put a lot of pressure on our receive); and they have two very good leftside hitters (one of whom was injured late in that match, I don’t know what her status is).
- Saturday, 3:00, vs a very tough Oregon (finally BTN). Oregon run a high-tempo offense (which will challenge our Middles to run pin-to-pin to block) led by Left-side hitter #15 and Opposite # 3; and they’ll triple-block on occasion (which ought to give Wooker some open space for dinking).
Sweeping these matches would be sweet; getting swept would be disastrous.