The dream of competing for the Big Ten Title, much less winning it, died two weeks ago on that disastrous East Coast trip. (See my take, below, on last night’s match between the two teams that are competing for the title.) The dream now is to make the NCAA Tournament – and advance to the Sweet 16. But we have to make the Tournament before we can worry about the Sweet 16. This afternoon’s win over Michigan State, 25-15, 23-25, 25-16, 25-20, ran the Gophs conference record to 6 & 4, and puts us in a tie for 5th at the halfway mark. The second half of the schedule looks tougher than the first half, so it won’t be easy. But if the Gophs could win half of their last 10 matches, to finish 11 & 9, in the nation’s toughest conference, we should get invited.
On the drive to the Pav this afternoon, I wasn’t certain we would even beat Michigan State, who entered the match with an identical conference record, vs comparable opponents.. Nor was I confident, halfway through Set 4, when we led 2 sets to 1, but trailed 13-18. But then Kylie Murr’s serving and absolutely fearless digging turned the set, and the match around, putting the Gophs ahead 22-19, from whence we coasted to match-point. I wrote, pre-season, that we were going to love Murr, and she proved me right today.
- Set 1: The Gophers have made a habit out of starting slow – but not today. We started strong, establishing leads of 7-1, 11-4, & 16-5 before coasting to the win. The Spartans, knowing that serve-receive is the Gophs greatest weakness, came in serving aggressively – and missed a ton of them. The highlight was consecutive back-set assists by Landfair.
- Set 2: Though closer, at 10-6, 17-14, & 20-17, the Gophers appeared to be in control – until the wheels fell off, turning the 20-17 lead into a 22-24 deficit, from which we did not recover. Disasters in this 2-7 run included 2 hopeless dinks by Wooker, two bad sets by Shaffmaster, and two lost challenges by Coach Cook – leaving the Gophs without challenges for the rest of the match!
- The Gophers regained their poise in Set 3, taking leads of 8-4, 14-8, & 19-12 on the way to the convincing 25-16 win. Wooker and Landfair got hot in Set 3 (I had them with 17 & 13 kills respectively, for the match, and Davis was blocking. The Gophs had their first service-error of the match late in Set 3 (by McGhie) but it didn’t hurt us at all. I had the Gophs with 9 aces (4 by Grote) and only 2 errors for the match – by far their best serving of the season.
- Set 4 was a struggle, and I thought we were going to a 5th set. Coach Cook surprised me by starting Lauren Crowl, who I think of as our 3rd-string Opposite (after Grote & Hanson), and not having any challenges appeared to cost the Gophs a couple of points. Until Murr willed the Gophs into the lead. It didn’t hurt that the Spartans used and lost 2 challenges during the Gophers late spurt, both of which looked 50-50 to me. Then Grote subbed in to serve for Crowl, and got her 4th ace.
#1 BADGERS DOMINATE #2 HUSKERS, YET HUSKERS IN 5
The overpowering Badger front line (Franklin, Robinson, Thomas-Allara, Booth and Shmek) completely dominated the net, out-thitting the Huskers .217 to .130, and out-blocking them 18 to 7. (I think the Huskers were playing without their biggest and baddest frontline player, who had rolled her ankle in a recent match.) And yet, the home-court Huskers took the match 25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 26-24 & 15-13 (total score: Visiting Badgers 109 to 103). The Huskers hitting % was so poor because they kept blasting their hits 20 ft out-of-bounds in an effort to get them past the dominating Badger blockers.
So how did the Huskers win? With a near flawless serve-receive, brilliant digging, a quick-tempo offense and back-row attacks, both of which minimized the Badger blocking. Congratulations to the Huskers; but if these same two teams meet in the NCAAs, my money’s on the Badgers.
The Gophers will attempt to employ these same strategies in Madison next Sunday, especially the back-row attacks. Unfortunately, flawless serve-receiving by the Gophers is unimaginable, and the quick-tempo offense, which the Gophers try to use, relies on great passing. The Gophers Outside Hitters are actually a little stronger than those of the Huskers, but passing well enough to win in Madison will require a miracle.
RECRUITING
Several Gopher recruits, or recruiting targets, attended the Northwestern Match on Oct 15. (Fortunately, we won that one.)
Class of ‘24 Formally Committed Recruits (keep in mind that our formally committed Libero in the Class of ‘23 changed her mind when McCutcheon stepped down, and went to Nebraska instead, so “committed” is a flexible concept) include sisters Stella and Olivia Swenson from Minnetonka. They are both sisters (half-sisters?) of 3-time All American Samantha Seliger-Swenson. (and there’s another Swenson in the Class of 26.) I had the opportunity to watch Stella and Olivia in the 2021 and 2022 State HS Tournaments, and hope to see them again next month.
- Stella is a 6-1 Setter. To my eye, she looks a lot like Samantha at the same stage of their careers (I saw SSS in HS also). In other words, she is the real deal. Shaffmaster is currently a senior, and under normal circumstances would be out of eligibility at the end of this season, and presumably, McCutcheon’s plan was for Stella to slide in as Shaffmaster slid out. But thanks to covid, Shaffmaster has another year of eligibility, if she chooses to use it. If Shaffmaster does exercise her bonus year, and Stella follows through with her commitment, the Gophers will have some interesting options next year.
- Olivia is a 6-3, Outside Hitter. And, no surprise here, she also passes well. Olivia’s hitting did not impress me as much, in my limited observations, as Stella’s setting. But that’s apples and oranges. Olivia may have the potential to become a D1 star, but I am not prepared to say that. Clearly, we were able to recruit Stella and Olivia, at least in part, as a “package deal,” and because big-sis Samantha had a great experience playing for McCutcheon. I’m guessing that either one would withdraw their commitment without the other.
Maybe there are other Class of ‘24 recruits lined up, but I cannot find anything about them, which is troubling. Maybe someone on GopherVBallRocks knows something I don’t? It will be great to have the Swenson Sisters, but we need Liberos and Middles if we want to be competitive next year.
Class of ‘25 INformally Committed Recruits (my understanding is that the first 4 have verbally committed, but cannot sign the paperwork until after the conclusion of their Junior Season – next month?) include:
- Jordan Taylor, a 6-5 Middle from Langham Creek HS in the Houston area. She looks good in the highlight reel available on-line – but she playing opposite shorter girls. The highlight reel shows her hitting mostly right-handed, but once left-handed – that’s impressive.
- McKenna Garr, a Libero, from Rush City, was voted (by somebody) the Top H.S. Libero in Minnesota in 2022, when she was a sophomore, and is currently rated the Class of ‘25’s #3 overall recruit in MN. The highlight reel shows her doing what Liberos are supposed to do.
- Carly Gilk, a 6-2, left-handed, Opposite from Champlin Park, is rated the Class of ‘25’s #2 overall recruit in MN. The highlight reel shows her being very effective from the back row. And
- Kelly Kenney, a 6-2 right-handed, Opposite from King’s Academy HS in West Palm Beach, FL.
Class of ‘25 non-committed Recruit Abigail Mullen, a 6-3 Opposite, from the Kansas City area, was also at the Pav for the Northwestern Match. Mullen, like Landfair and Wooker before her, is the #1 rated recruit in the country, and is being recruited by many top teams, including UCLA, Stanford, and Nebraska, among others. The Gophers’ connection, and likely the reason she accepted the invite, is that Coach Cook coached Mullen on last year’s U-17 National Team. It seems odd, to me, to recruit three Opposites in the same recruiting class, but I’m guessing we’d take Mullen in a heart-beat if we can sign her..