We needed a win over Western Kentucky to advance, and we got it, 25-22, 25-20, 19-25 & 25-23. But it wasn’t easy, especially Set 4, when we trailed 14-19, and it felt like we were headed for another all-too-familiar 5-setter.
- All four sets started 4-4.
- Set 1 stayed tied to 15-15 before the Gophs took over. (Zero service errors for the Gophs in Set 1.)
- The Gophs pulled away early in Set 2, helped by 8 service errors by the Hilltoppers. (An astonishing 18 for the 4-set match! VS 1 ace. )
- In Set 3, we were tied at 11-11 when the wheels fell off, part of that in our chronically-weak half-rotation, where Grote is hitting Left-side and Acevedo, hitting for Wooker, at Right-side. But our offense stayed basically dormant even after rotating Hanson, not her usually dominant self, to the front-row.
- The middle of Set 4 was just as grim. At one point, Coach Cook subbed Schnickels in for Grote (who had gone cold anyway) for stronger blocking, but it didn’t help. Then with Hanson (never our best server) serving, the Hilltoppers made a series of unforced errors to square the set at 19-19. We fell behind again 21-23, got a side-out and rotated to what should have been Acevedo’s serve. But instead (we may have been out of substitutions?), we had Wooker serve – the Wooker that hasn’t served all year because her error rate was sky-high – and she nailed an Ace to tie it up at 23-23. We earned another point to reach match-point, and then the Hilltoppers made another unforced error.
The Hilltoppers, who came in with a winning streak of 22 matches, outhit our Gophs .250 to .186, but served themselves out of the match. They can’t possibly have served that poorly during their 22 win-streak; my guess is they watched video of the Gophers humiliating 0-3 loss to Washington, and thought they too could beat the Gophs with aggressive serving. Then again, if they had served more cautiously, we probably would have hit better.
NEXT UP: Probably Kentucky, tomorrow, 6:30 maybe(?), maybe ESPN?