Last Saturday, in Brookings, our Gophers not only lost a pair of 3-set matches, to South Dakota State and Creighton, and they did not, in my opinion, look very good – and I would hate to have that taste in my mouth for the next 4 ½ months. (Technically, the Gophs finish their Spring Season two weeks from today out west, but I won’t be there.) Fortunately, for my state of mind at least, they looked significantly better this afternoon at the Pav, sweeping 4 sets from St. Thomas, 25-12, 25-23, 25-13 & 25-23.
There were two obvious differences. First, St Thomas isn’t as good as SDSU or Creighton. Creighton is a powerhouse, certainly top-20 nationally, maybe better; and SDSU, though a Summit League Team as is St Thomas, went 15 & 1 in the Summit last fall; St Thomas went 10 & 6. Though I certainly hope that we would beat SDSU and be competitive with Creighton if we play them next fall.
Second, Julie Hanson. Hanson, who didn’t play at all last week (I still don’t know why) was far and away the dominant player in today’s match. With a brief opportunity to speak to Hanson after the match, I said, “Missed you last week.” Her response was a forlorn nod of agreement; which didn’t reveal much.
Last week’s Leftsides were a steady diet of Acevedo plus a mix of Gilk and Crowl, both playing out of position. Today we got 4 sets worth of Hanson, plus a mix of Acevedo, Gilk and a little Crowl. And Hanson wasted little time announcing her return to the line-up, with 4 thunderous kills in the first 8 points of the match. Hanson plays at a whole different level than Acevedo.
I also had a brief exchange with Wooker, once again present in sweats. “Are you recovering from surgery,” I asked. Her response was, “I’m recovering,” which might have been a “yes,” or I’m recovering but haven’t had surgery. Plus an encouraging nod. [If I was an accredited reporter representing a major media outlet, I’d be pushier. But I’m not and it seems a little intrusive. I wish her the best.]
I think the Gophs can be really good next year with Hanson plus a 100% healthy Wooker and/or a Kinney who arrives on campus ready to compete at a high-level. I am, I’m sorry to say, not feeling great about our chances with Acevedo in the starting lineup.
And then there’s the competition for next fall’s starting Opposite. A month ago, I wrote that this might be a 3-woman competition including Schnickels, but nothing I’ve seen this Spring makes me think that Schnickels is a serious contender. Last week I wrote that, although the 5th-year Senior Crowl will probably start the first match of the season, I expected the Freshman Gilk to be the starter by the end of the season. But today, vs St. Thomas, Crowl was clearly more effective than Gilk. Then again, more than half of Gilk’s swings came from Leftside, clearly not her position.
HOW GOOD IS STELLA?
Two years ago, when it was confirmed that Stella would be wearing Maroon & Gold, I told you that you would come to love Stella. And I still believe that. But Stella being ready to dominate the Big Ten in her Red-shirt Freshman season is a different question. Playing last week without a dominant Leftside, and today with only one, I can’t tell for sure. One thing I feel confident about is that we will see more Middle-Offense from this fall’s Gophers. P.S., no sign of the leg injury from last week.
3 LIBEROS AT A TIME?
Once again, in today’s Set 1, we got a glimpse of what the Gophers could look like with 3 Liberos the court at the same time (technically, 1 Libero, Palabiyik, and 2 Defensive Specialists, Thibault and Garr) — in Set 1, no less – the Set where both teams were playing their first-string, and which the Gophs dominated, 25-12. With Palabiyik and Thibault both Juniors next fall, Coach Cook could decide to red-shirt the Freshman Garr. He could have Thibault and Garr compete for one starting DS position (I continue to have reservations about Thibault’s serve-receive). Or, despite potential concerns about substitution-limits, he might really play all 3 at once. If he does, opponents will no longer get rich dinking on our Gophers.
SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?
I saw something else new today, something I’ve never seen before. Volleyball Matches are always set up with chairs for the entire “bench,” the 10 or so players not currently on the floor. But no one ever uses these chairs because it is a volleyball-tradition that subs remain standing. Maybe there’s some sort of “science” to this, but subs in other sports sit down, so …? Anyway, coaches and trainers sit, injured players sit, and often players leaving the court sit next to a coach temporarily to get instructions on something, before joining the standing subs. But there is always a row of empty seats between seated coaches and standing subs. Until today!
Today, these seats were filled with fans. And not just any fans. At least some of them I recognized as folks who normally sit courtside. I don’t think that courtside seats are as good a vantage point for watching a match as the seats in rows 10 to 15, but I understand that courtside seats are considerably more expensive. And during today’s Exhibition Match, some of these “high-rollers” were seated “on the bench” between coaches and standing subs. And at times, even as the play went on, coaches, including Head Coach Cook were chatting with them!
There was no explanation, but I have a hunch, and it rhymes with pill. I’m guessing it has something to do with N.I.L. money. As Dylan famously said, “The times, they are a changin’.”