In late August, prior to our first match, our Gophers were ranked #18 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll. I wrote at the time that this ranking was about right, and that a plausible “stretch-goal” for the ‘24 Gophs was to finish 5th in the Big 10, and make the Sweet Sixteen. So I was, in a sense, dead-on regarding the “stretch;” we finished tied for 6th, were invited to the Tournament and won our first match – but fell short of the Sweet Sixteen. But my highly accurate overall prediction was despite being way off the mark in my assessment of our strengths and weaknesses.
My biggest disappointment was our serve-receive. Shedding Landfair (she had a great year for Nebraska, but they never let her touch a serve-receive), and with the maturing of Palabiyik and the addition of Thibault, I thought we would be improved over 2023. But serve-receive continued to be our Achilles Heel, costing us match after match.
The biggest individual disappointment was Wooker, who I predicted would have a great year. She did not, but to me, the reason was obvious; she injured her lower back early, and played hurt (sometimes sat out) most of the season. Wooker is a talented player, and I firmly believe that if Wooker had been healthy all season, we would have won at least a couple of the matches we lost, especially the 5-setters, and would have finishhed at least a 5th place team – which would have resulted in a higher seed, and an easier path to the Sweet Sixteen. (It is important to remember, of course, that injuries are part of sports, Louisville lost the NCAA Championship Match missing their best player, who rolled her ankle in the Semis.)
I also over-estimated Acevedo. A strong exhibition match vs Iowa State caused me to think Acevedo was ready to contribute at the Big 10 level, but she was not. Serving for Wooker, Acevedo led the team in aces with 37 (just barely, Grote had 35, and Hanson 33), and with a plus 11 was the only Gopher with positive numbers for aces-minus-errors. But her .121 hitting % was anemic (Hanson .268, Grote .234 & Wooker .193), and for most of the season, Acevedo’s passing was less than adequate. (She came on a little toward the end of the season.) My thought is that Acevedo was a freshman playing like a freshman. She’ll be better next year.
Some of my expectations were met. I expected Grote to play great, and she did, making First Team ALL-BIG TEN. I expected our Middles to be weak, and they were – except, oddly, for the two matches vs the Badgers. I thought the Badger Middles would dominate, but somehow Awoleye and Minatee out-played them. (Still not sure how.) Overall, Awoleye had more success blocking than I anticipated, and was named Second Team ALL-BIG TEN, but she produced minimal offense. Minatee was streaky, playing great vs Wisconsin, and in a couple other matches, but completely missing in action in several matches. She was a sophomore, and could get better.
Fortunately, my over-estimation of Wooker and Acevedo were off-set by my under-estimation of Hanson and Shaffmaster, both of whom were, deservedly, named First Team ALL-BIG TEN and All American Honorable Mention.
Expectations were high when Left-side Hitter Julia Hanson arrived in the spring of 2022 as the Strib’s 2021 Metro H.S. Player of the Year, but then spent the 2022 season mostly on the bench behind Landfair, Wooker and Wenaas. In 2023, it was Landfair, Wooker and Grote keeping Hanson out of the Gophers’ front row, although Hanson did get the opportunity to demonstrate her effectiveness as a back-row hitter. (I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan of subbing Hanson into the back-row – because the 2023 team needed a second strong serve-receiver more than a fourth hitter.) Whatever, we never got the chance to see what Hanson could do as a 6-rotation hitter; I thought she would be okay, but I wasn’t 100% certain that she would even beat out Acevedo for our second-best (behind Wooker) Left-side.
Hanson was terrific in 2024, leading the team with 473 kills (Grote 2nd with 333), 4.01 kills per set (Grote 2nd with 2.90), and a strong hitting efficiency of .268. Many of her kills were the “shock & awe” variety, and many (around 15%, the Gopher stats don’t track this) were out of the back-row. She out-hit Wenaas in our signature win over Texas, and out-hit Landfair in Lincoln. (We lost to Nebraska in 4 sets, but we were one of very few teams to win even 1 set in Lincoln.) I wouldn’t describe Hanson as a great passer, but she was the best passer of our hitters, and far from the weak-link in our serve-receive. (I wish she had more than 1 year of eligibility left.)
Zeynab Palabiyik also played very well. I assumed she would be our every-day Libero, and hoped she would deliver. She exceed my expectations,
SHAFFMASTER ERA FINALE
Under-estimating MELANIE SHAFFMASTER is all on me; she had played better every year she wore Maroon & Gold, frosh to soph, soph to junior, etc. and continued this trend by playing even better in her 5th, Covid-Bonus season. My anticipation of Stella Swenson running the Gopher offense is understandable, but it doesn’t justify my pre-season lack of enthusiasm for Shaffmaster’s final season.
For 5 seasons, Shaffmaster provided the Gophers with a truly unique skill-set with which to run the Gopher offense. Comparing Shaffmaster’s career stats with those of, say, Samantha Seliger-Swenson (I cannot find stats for Laurie Berg), is unfair to Seliger-Swenson in that, due to Covid, Shaffmaster played 5 seasons. But dividing Shaffmaster’s stats by 5 and Seliger-Swenson’s by 4, to produce “season averages,” isn’t fair to Shaffmaster, because the 2020 Covid-season wasn’t a full season. So, I think the fairest comparison is to throw out Shaffmaster’s 2020 Covid-season and look at her 2021-2024 stats.
Over these 4 seasons, Shaffmaster posted 4,442 assists, 383 kills and 313 blocks, averaging 1,111 assists, 96 kills and 78 blocks per season. By comparison, 3-time First-Team All-American Seliger-Swenson posted 1,415 assists, 50 kills and 56.5 blocks per season. (And I’ll throw in another comparison: Nebraska’s Bergen Reilly, the 2024 Big 10 Setter of the Year posted 1,352 assists, 81 kills and 62 blocks this season.) Comparing stats is never apples-to-apples because there were different players around them, but this comparison highlights the difference one would expect: Shaffmaster, not quite as quick on her feet, annually produced 21% fewer assists than Seliger-Swenson’s (18% fewer than Reilly), but 92% more kills than Seliger-Swenson, and 38% more blocks (19% & 26% more than Reilly). I am unable to locate all-time Gopher, Big 10 or NCAA Records for kills or blocks by Setters, but given her skill-set, and that she played 4.7 seasons as the Gopher Setter, it is very likely that Shaffmaster now holds (and will forever pending another pandemic) multiple all-time records for kills and blocks by Setters. Shaffmaster was also “clutch;” coming up with her biggest plays in critical situations. Regardless of how well Stella performs in coming years (I’m thinking great), I will long-remember the Shaffmaster-Era.
All in all, the 2024 Gopher Volleyball season provided thrilling victories, disappointing defeats, and ended about the way I expected.
UP NEXT (after the holidays): MY 2025 PREVIEW.