A sweep is a sweep, but I’m calling it “skinny” because the scores were 25-22, 25-21, & 25-22. Set 1 was tied at 22-22 before the Gophs won 3 straight points, Set 2 was 23-21 before the Gophs won consecutive points, and Set 3 was tied at 19-19 before the Gophs won 6 of the last 8 points. Interestingly, the snakebit Flyers lost a surprisingly similar sweep yesterday, to tomorrow’s Gopher opponent, the Jackrabbits. 25-22, 25-23, & 25-17. As it happens, I had a chance to chat with one of the Flyers coaches after the Jackrabbit sweep, — who was not impressed with the Jackrabbits, “ They’re decent. But they’re no Top 25 Team.” I wonder what he thinks of the Gophers. Also wonder how he feels about Diet Coke after 6 tantalizing losses. (Plus Coke Zero tastes so much better.)
By the end of the match, the Gopher hitting was almost as evenly split as possible; Kinney, playing Opposite, had 12 kills, Acevedo had 11, Hanson had 10 plus 4 blocks, and Myers had 7 kills and 3 blocks. But individual sets were anything but balanced.
Set 1 was the most productive set I can remember Acevedo having in Maroon & Gold; she had 4 early kills to keep the Gophs in the set, before Hanson and Kinney got rolling, plus a 5th kill in the final Set 1 push.
Then in Set 2, Kinney came alive, I think recording 5 of her match 12 in Set 2.
Set 3 was Myers’ turn to shine. I’m starting to feel like Myers running a slide is the most reliable weapon in the Gopher Arsenal.
Hanson didn’t seem to take over a set like these others, but she was a steady force throughout the match.
WHY SO CLOSE, one might ask?
And the answer was obvious. Gopher serving was dreadful, 12 service-errors vs 4 aces. Tonight’s 1:3 ration will kill our Gophs vs a strong team. And the carnage was spread around, Hanson missed 4 serves, vs 1 ace, Stella missed 3 serves, vs 1 ace, The only one of our 6 “regular servers” to finish the match with a positive ratio, was Lee with zero errors and 1 ace. I’m starting to see a significant role for Lee beyond backup setter.
NEXT UP: A very dangerous Jackrabbit squad, at the Pav, tomorrow at 3:00 (also on BTN+). A Dayton coach said “they’re no Top 25 Team,” but I’m not so sure. If they walk out of the Pav tomorrow with the Diet Coke trophy, they”ll be ranked on Monday.
Remember that they took two sets out of three from our Gophs in a Spring Exhibition Match. We were missing Hanson and Kinney that Spring Day, the two of whom contributed a combined 44% of today’s offense. But SDSU had a player in sweats that day, so they weren’t 100% either. Spring matches don’t count, but tomorrow’s match will impact Gopher seeding for the NCAA Tournament in December.