Swept in 3, 16-25, 10-25, 14-25, our Gophers drop to 12 & 6, 5 & 3 in the conference. I don’t think it’s making excuses to mention, before I dig into our weaknesses, that Penn State is really good. The Nittany Lions are 18 & 1, 10 & 0 at home, and ranked #3 in the country. I wasn’t overly impressed with their Middles, but their Setter, Libero and both Leftside Hitters are all terrific. Time & time again, the Gophers crushed the ball – only for Penn State to dig, set, and crush it right back at us. And despite this, the Gophs were within a point at 16-17 in both Set 1 & Set 2, before the roof fell in.
WEAKNESSES:
- The Gopher Middles, Awoleye, Minatee, and Engeman for Minatee in Set 3, had zero kills for the match – on 18 swings. Awoleye did get 8 blocks, 5 in Set 1, to keep us competitive (for ⅔ of the set). Minatee played two sets, recording zero kills (she was credited for 1 block, but I don’t think she even touched it). Engeman replaced Minatee in Set 3* and was equally ineffective.
- Wooker has not played like Wooker all season, and I don’t think she has been healthy all season, presumably a lower-back problem. She played the first ⅔ of Set 1, earning 3 kills (1 a dink) and a hitting % of .000, before reinjuring, and being replaced by Acevedo. Acevedo earned 5 kills and a hitting % of .000 in 2 & ⅓ sets (so roughly the same as Wooker) but Acevedo is weak on serve-receive, and it hurt us. [Think for a moment of a comparison between the Freshman Acevedo, the Junior Wooker, and 5th-yr grad-student Jenna Wenaas, now playing for Texas. I could argue that all 3 are roughly comparable as hitters. But VB teams typically depend on their Leftsides to receive serve. Wenaas was/is terrific, Wooker is adequate, and Acevedo less than adequate. She is a freshman – might get better.]
- Grote was decent through 2 sets, 5 kills, .059, with 3 blocks, but did not play in Set 3, replaced by Crowl, essentially taking away any hope I had for a Gopher comeback.
- By Set 3, it was Shaffmaster & Palabiyik playing their hearts out, plus Awoleye blocking and Hanson hitting (11 kills, .345), playing the deep and balanced Nittany Lions without Wooker, Minatee and Grote. [I know Wooker was injured. I don’t know why Minatee and Grote didn’t play Set 3. I hope it wasn’t because we gave up.]
NEXT UP:
- Wednesday, 8:00 at the Pav, vs Northwestern (tickets available, apparently), BTN.
- Sunday, Noon, AT Ohio State, BTN+
I am confident that a healthy Gopher team will win both of these matches to run our record to 7 & 3 halfway through the Big Ten Season.
The Vikings also lost today (though much closer); the Lynx better save my Day.