But it got away. The Gophers lose to Penn State 17-25, 18-25. 25-20, 25-27. Once again, bad serve receiving taking the Gophs out of system, neutralizing our offense, was the reason. We outblocked Penn State (slightly) even in a 4-set loss, but couldn’t overcome the inconsistent serve receiving.
I counted at least a dozen failed receives (mostly Landfair, Kilkelly, and for a change, Wenaas) but it was probably more than that. For most of the match, our serve-receive was okay, and during those stretches we played Penn State even or slightly better. But we experienced a 2-13 slump to finish Set 1, an 11-18 slump to finish Set 2, and a 3-7 slump to finish Set 4 – all of these slumps featuring bad serve receiving.
The Gophs were not entirely at full strength. Wooker was dressed, but back from an extended absence, with only two days of practice, didn’t start – Wenaas at Left-side and Crowl at Opposite. Crowl was not effective, and Wooker subbed in in the middle of Set 1. But Wooker had few opportunities in Set 1, and Crowl again started Set 2. Crowl was again ineffective, and Wooker back in. Wooker started Sets 3 & 4, and was very effective, racking up 9 kills in basically 2 sets.
And then late in Set 4, Landfair, who has chronic lower-leg problems, seemed to pull a calf muscle. She stayed on the floor, and even got a couple of late kills, but was limping and clearly not 100%. I had Landfair with 17 kills and 4 blocks. for the match.
We got minimal offensive production from our Middles tonight. Booth played the whole match, and I had her with 4 kills (and 3 blocks). Davis played Sets 1 & 2; I had her with 2 kills (and 3 blocks). After losing 2 sets, McCutcheon went with Gros, who I think of as a stronger Middle than Davis, in Sets 3 & 4, but it didn’t make much difference, I had Gros with 2 kills (and 1 block). To be fair, it’s difficult for Shaffmaster to feed good sets to our Middles when she gets so few good passes.
Wenaas, though struggling more than usual with her serve-receive, had a great night hitting. Wenaas feasted as a left-side hitter in Sets 1 & 2, and continued to be effective as Opposite in Sets 3 & 4. I had her with a total of 11 kills (including a dink from the back-row, plus 2 blocks and 2 aces (and zero service errors).
Ohio State was upset at Maryland tonight, giving the Gophers an opportunity to advance in the Big Ten standings – but we failed to take advantage. We play Rutgers at Rutgers on Sunday at noon. I don’t think we can lose this one. Plus I assume Wooker will start.
LIGHT SHED ON MCCUTCHEON’S FUTURE?
A mid-week article in the Strib addressed the topic of what Coach McCutcheon’s job will be as “Assistant Athletic Director / Sport Development Coach.” But it seemed, to me, more “lite” than “light.” McCutcheon has written a recently released book, “Championship Behaviors” (if any reader has read it, please share) apparently explaining his philosophy that “providing a holistic and world-class experience for our (Gopher) student-athletes” is … perhaps more important than winning. And, apparently, McCutcheon’s new role is to teach this philosophy to other Gopher coaches.
As a former Gopher (club) student-athlete and coach, I have no argument with promoting a “holistic and world-class experience” — but I will say that the details 9
in the Strib article) seemed “lite.” I am not suggesting that McCutcheon is a light-weight; by all accounts, McCutcheon is 100% authentic. More likely, whatever it is that McCutcheon is talking about is over the head of Strib Sportswriters.
(The same phenomena plagues Strib coverage of Viking G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Adofo-Mensah, a Princeton grad, uses big words, which sportswriters typically don’t understand, so they just write that Adofo-Mensah “is really smart.”)
My guess is that what McCutcheon means is that Gopher Coaches ought to focus on recruiting athletes of “high character,” and on helping them to further develop their athleticism and character during their time at the “U.” And if you do that, you’re going to win most of the time.
And McCutcheon’s record over these past 11 years proves that it works — at least for him. McCutcheon took over a strong program – and made it even stronger – a perennial candidate for the championship of the strongest conference in the country, and multiple Final Four Appearances. His players seem to love him. And his success, including two #1 in the country athletes in the past 3 years, suggests that his emphasis on a “holistic experience” works for recruiting as well. I’m not knocking McCutcheon’s approach.
But how different is this than what every coach in the country, in every sport, all say? Sure, McCutcheon is authentic, but is Lindsey Whelan not? P.J Fleck’s personality turns me off, but even Fleck is probably authentic. We know that geniuses don’t always make good teachers; can McCutcheon teach Whelan and Fleck and the others the “secret sauce” that will turn their brand of authenticity into success? We’ll see.