I told you a month ago that this was a very good team, a Final Four Team, even. And I wasn’t the only one. We were rated #7 going into the Northwestern Match (despite a 6 & 4 record); the Stanford coach said we had the most powerful offense in the country: the Strib’s Patrick Reusse wrote that only a National Championship could be considered real success for this team. Were we all wrong? It certainly appears so. I would never have imagined that we would be 6 & 5 overall, 4 & 3 at the Pav, at this point.
I don’t want to disparage the Northwestern Volleyball Team, they played their hearts out and deserved to win. Their first win! They haven’t finished over .500 in years, and they are unlikely to be this year. They don’t have a line-up full of top recruits; they don’t have one of the most respected coaches in the country; the Gophers have an International Hall of Fame Coach and more top recruits than can fit on the court at the same time.
I have written about the fact that top freshman Wooker was injured to start the season — but Wooker’s healthy and playing well (16 kills last night). Earlier yesterday, I wrote about the fact that Wooker’s insertion into the line-up has bumped Wenaas to Opposite, where she had been ineffective — but last night was Wenaas’s break-out game at Opposite, with 12 kills and 7 blocks. I have written about the fact that freshman middle Booth was struggling — but last night she had 9 kills and 8 blocks. Did Landfair, Shaffmaster and McGraw stick up the court? Nope; they played reasonably well — overall the Gophs marginally dominated the net, out-hitting NW .216 to .167, and out-blocking them 15 to 12.5.
So how could we lose? Bad passing, at least in sets 1 & 4. Daughter and former H.S. star Phoebe went with me last night, and I had her tally “good,” “mediocre,” and “failed” serve-receives – using her standards/judgement. Phoebe’s scoring: Set1, which we lost 22-25, 7 failed receives; Set2, which we won 25-21, 2 failed receives; Set3, which we won 25-17, 1 failed receive; Set4, which we lost 20-25, 7 failed receives. The differences, at least for these 4, 25-pt sets, were dramatic. Serve-receive was not the problem in Set 5, where, from 13-13, the Wildcats had the Gophs out of system continually, 13-15. But we shouldn’t be playing a 5th set against Northwestern!
Some other minor aggravations (not as serious as our poor passing):
- Though a senior, Husemann still can’t polish off an opponent’s overpass. Booth can, and Husemann had plenty of opportunities last night, with NW making desperate digs of balls hit by Wooker & Landfair. But Husemann can’t do it.
- We were terrible on back-row attacks. Back-row attacks are a nice change of pace from over-reliance on left-side attacks – if they work. I can’t remember Wenaas ever putting away a back-row attack (despite scores of attempts over the last 3 years, last night she whiffed on one). But Landfair can be effective (she had 4 back-row kills against Wash. St.), but lately she steps on the 10-ft line. She appeared to have 3 back-row kills last night, but 2 of the 3 were violations. (This could be the setter’s fault, but I don’t think so.)
- All 6 servers made a service error last night. I’m previously on record as okay with that if our aggressive serving is giving our opponent trouble – but Kilkelly was the only one doing that.
- Coach McCutcheon is calm and encouraging on the bench. Ordinarily, I like that; I hate the P.J. Fleck / Tom Thibodeaux style of coaching. But when you’re losing to a team with half as much talent, a little intensity might be appropriate. (Once, when a 16U team I was coaching was losing to a team I thought inferior, I called a time-out and threw a tantrum about the fact that every single girl on the opposing team was wearing matching hair ties, “Are you really going to lose to a team that wears matching hair ties?” I screamed. We did not.
Several Readers had something to say about last night’s debacle, but first let me leave you a a few positive thoughts:
- It’s a long season, and the goal is to peak in late November/early December. This team that got swept by Purdue and beaten by Northwestern looks nothing like a Championship Team. But the talent is there.
- Kilkelly and McGhie served about half of the serves which resulted in points, and I thought Kilkelly did a particularly good job of forcing NW out of system.
- Wooker aggressively attacks good sets, and she aggressively attacks bad sets. (maybe that will rub off on Landfair.)
READERS WEIGH IN:
- R.A. writes “Booth was great. NW played badly, won in five.”
- S.M. writes “Critical mistakes at Critical moments. Consistent energy. NW was pumped all night. Third set Gophers looked like they did against the Badgers then they relaxed and had their hats handed to them by the hungrier team.
- G. U. writes “From my seat on the couch, it looked like the Cats played a better game. Just proves how strong the Big 14 is in VB. Any given Sunday!”
NEXT UP: IOWA (We cannot lose to the worst team in the Big Ten.)