I should probably say things “I’ve “learned, happy to post readers’ thoughts on this.
From a distance, no big surprises. Our initial national ranking was #18, which I felt was about right. I expected us to lose to Stanford & Texas, take 2 of 3 from Baylor, TCU & Auburn, and beat St. Thomas, Long Island, Green Bay, N Dakota & Chicago State, so 7 & 3. We beat Texas, lost to Baylor & TCU, and the rest as expected, so 7 & 3, andbumped up slightly to #16. But there were some encouraging elements on our road to 7 & 3:
- We beat Texas, ranked #1 at the time, on a neutral court – a “signature win.”
- All 3 of our losses were in 5 sets, and all 3 of our Set 5 losses by 2 pts – we weren’t “over-matched,” even vs #3 Stanford.
- 6 of our 7 wins, including #27 Auburn, and at Green Bay, were in straight sets; we’re actually 27 & 11 in sets played, vs a respectable mix of strong & weak opponents. And
- Our digging is much improved. This year’s squad doesn’t have as much size and power at the net as some previous teams, but this could turn out to be the best digging team in Gopher history.
Individually, there have been some very pleasant surprises:
- Leftside Julia Hanson, with 130 kills (including several from the back-row), 3.71 kills/set, a .241 kill percentage, and the only one on the team delivering “shock & awe” kills, has played great. This probably should not have been a surprise, given that she had been the Strib’s High School Player of the Year – but then again, she spent her Freshman and Sophomore seasons on the bench, behind Wooker and Taylor Landfair. (Taylor who?) Hanson is part of our serve-receive, but not targeted by our opponents (8 official errors in 89 receives, or .910 success).
- Setter-Plus Melani Shaffmaster has played great. I say “Setter-Plus,” because in addition to her 314 assists, she has 125 digs and 33 kills (almost 1 per set). Not showing up in the official Gopher stats are her frequent “saves at the net” on errant Gopher digs. I’ve previously apologized for being surprised by Shaffmaster. (What was I thinking?) She’s not the quickest setter around, and therefore ends up bump-setting too much, but her bump-setting is good, and her offense has been terrific. She also leads the team with 13 Aces (vs 15 errors, I’ll take it), and seems comfortable as the Team’s Leader.
- Libero Zeynep Palabiyik has played great. A Freshman last year, Palabiyik, who should have been, and eventually became our D.S., spent half of last season on the bench while the Gophers played without a D.S., then looked shaky at first, but got better. I was uncertain, heading into the season, if Palabiyik could handle Libero – but my doubts are gone. She struggles a bit with hard-hit floater-serves right at her (16 official errors in 236 receives, or .932 success), but she is fearless and crazy quick, covering more ground than Kylie Murr or CC McGraw did.
- Middle Calissa Minatee has played well. A Freshman last year, Minatee sat on the bench behind a pair of mediocre Middles, and I spent the off-season howling about our need to find one in the Portal. Turns out, Minatee, with 66 kills (almost all on “slides,” rarely on “quicks”) looks good; better, definitely than either of our other Middles.
- Opposite Lydia Grote, with 87 kills and a .249 percentage, has played great too. But she was great last year, so not surprising.
Less pleasant:
- Leftside McKenna Wucherer (The Wooker), with 72 kills and a .173 percentage, has been okay, but I was expecting her to be better than okay. She hasn’t been attacking the ball as aggressively, she’s not serving at all, lately, and this past weekend she was on the bench with a corset-type wrap around her waist – so obviously not 100% healthy. Maybe she hasn’t been all season. But a healthy Wooker can be an important offensive weapon; we need her healthy and in the lineup.
- Red-shirt Freshman Alex Acevedo has, with Wooker out, been playing the other Leftside (in addition to Hanson), and also looks okay, with 31 skills and a .194 percentage. As a Freshman-transfer, she is still feeling her way, and I expect her to get better. But right now, I’d rather see Hanson and a healthy Wooker. Encouraging however, is that Acevedo, with 11 aces and a .046 percentage, has been our strongest server.
- Back-up Opposites Lauren Crowl and Sydney Schnichels don’t get quality playing time behind Grote, so it’s unfair to expect too much. Fourth-year player Crowl gets more of it, but doesn’t produce much; she hits the ball hard, but (except vs Chicago State) rarely gets a kill. Schnichels is a red-shirt Freshman, injured for most of last season, but like Hanson, the #1 recruit in MN in her graduating class, so I was/am hoping she emerges as a factor before too long.
- D.S. Kate Thibault has been okay. Along with howling for a better Middle, I spent the off-season howling for another Libero/D.S., and when we got one in Sophomore Thibault, I speculated that she might compete with Palabiyik for the more important Libero role. So far, no.
Disappointing:
- Fifth-year (2nd with the Gophers) Middle Phoebe Awoleye has not played well at all, not even as well as last year. She rarely connected on “slides” last year, but she used to score “quicks.” This season, neither, at least so far. And
- Fifth-year Middle (Portal Transfer) Kali Engeman does not look like a D1 Middle.
Summing up: Strong digging, Strong Outside Hitting (especially if Wooker gets healthy), Competent setting and strong Leadership by Shaffmaster – one glaring weakness at Middle and not much of a bench. But the Gophers have demonstrated the ability to efficiently dispose of weaker teams, and play very tough against the best in the country. I think that a top-5 finish in the Big 10, and a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAAs are both realistic goals. We host #7 Wisconsin tomorrow night, and # 10 Purdue on Saturday, so we’ll find out soon.