Our Gophers, now elevated to #12 (seems odd?) after last weekend’s victory over #7 Wisconsin and loss to #10 Purdue. This weekend, we get unranked UCLA and #22 Southern Cal. Should be an easier weekend, right? Probably not. For one thing, we were at the Pav for both matches last week, but we’ll be in L.A. this weekend; our only true road win this season was at Wis GB. Secondly, Southern Cal seems way underrated; the Trojans are 9 & 3; their only losses to #1 Pitt, #2 Nebraska, and #6 Creighton. And the Bruins are probably better than their 7-4 record suggests. Both lost at Lincoln and beat the Buckeyes at home. I had a chance to see a little of both last week, UCLA at Nebraska, and Southern Cal hosting Ohio State.
UCLA,, Friday, 9:00 p.m, BTN+: The Bruins lost to Taylor Landfair’s Huskers (yes, after riding the bench during the non-conference schedule, Landfair appears to now be one of Nebraska’s starting Leftsides), but they didn’t go down easy, 22-25, 10-25, 25-23, 22-25. The Bruins resemble the Gophers in that they have strong “pins,” but less strong Middles. We might have an advantage at Setter and Libero.
Southern Cal, Saturday, 10:00 p.m, BTN: The Trojans were less competitive in Lincoln than the Bruins, losing in straight sets, but their powerful serving was the difference in their close )19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13 win over Ohio State. The Trojans had only 8 aces, but they had the Buckeyes out-of-system for most of the match. And serve-receive is not the Gophers’ strong suit.