I promised you that a healthy* Gopher squad would win at Columbus. I also suggested it wouldn’t be easy, and would require aggressive serving (which comes with risks) to take the Buckeyes out-of-system. But I wasn’t expecting the extreme thrill of a REVERSE SWEEP. Gophers in five, 16-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-10. Julia Hanson’s 20+ kills keeping us alive until Set 5, which Shaffmaster, Minatee & Wooker dominated. (I think Grote got match-point.)
As the scores suggest, the Gophers got crushed in Sets 1 & 2 – not because we were playing badly so much as because we were serving cautiously, and the Buckeyes, led by the outstanding Emily Londot, were side-outing at around 90% (I’m guessing). Conversely, the Buckeyes served at Wooker all afternoon; she was okay, but her receive was not perfect like OSU’s. If the old-time scoring system had been in effect, we would have lost Set 1 15-1, because we couldn’t buy a point while serving. And we even ran out of substitutions in Set 2, requiring Wooker to serve (and she missed it).
DISCLOSURE:Things looked so hopeless at the end of Set 2, I was thinking that my headline would be Gophers were not really healthy:
- Grote, who didn’t play the final set at Penn State last Sunday, and didn’t even dress for Northwestern on Wednesday, was back in the line-up, displaying no obvious signs of injury. But she was far from the dominant Grote we’re used to seeing.
- Wooker (who I don’t think has been healthy all season) also played most of the match (except serving), but went down awkwardly late in Set 2 – and didn’t get up, even as play continued. I think (HIPPA doesn’t apply to me speculating) Wooker has been playing with a lower-back injury, and she re-injured it on this play. She was replaced by Acevedo. But to my surprise, Wooker was back on the court a few points later.
The Gophs took their first real lead of the match at 11-7 in Set 3, but when the Buckeyes pulled to within 18-17 and 22-21, I was not feeling confident yet. And even after winning Set 3, we were tied 10-10 in Set 4. Moreover, I wasn’t seeing dramatic changes in the back & forth of play; we served just a bit more aggressively, Wooker’s receive was a little better, and we blocked a little better – all subtle stuff.
Set 5: The Buckeyes took early leads of 0-2 and 3-5. Not panic-time yet, but worrisome in a 15-pt tie-breaker. Then Hanson served her only ace of the day, Minatee converted 2 consecutive slide-kills, and Shaffmaster, who has been great in the clutch throughout her career, dominated. She scored on a block of a Gopher overpass; do you realize how difficult that is? And as she often does in fifth sets, she had 2 kills. And, at least briefly, a fired-up Wooker looked like the healthy Wooker we want to see.
This was a really important match. For one thing, road-wins against decent Big Ten Teams are rarely easy; and it gives the Gophers a 7 & 3 conference record halfway through the Big Ten season. The daunting second half of the season will include trips to Lincoln and Madison, but if the Gophers could close 7 & 3, it would give us a 14 & 6 record in the toughest conference in the country. I’m not saying they couldn’t do better than that, but I’d be happy with 14 & 6.
NEXT UP:
Friday, Nov 1, 5:00 AT 1 & 9 Michigan State, BTN+
Sunday, Nov 3, AT 6 & 4 Michigan, BTN+ (I haven’t seen them this year. Anyone?)