2017 Volleyball

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MnplsGopher said:
For sure! Really hoping to see a great match with Florida. I know they'd have a little bit of a chip against Samedy too. Would be a fun match.

Yeah it's interesting that Martin played more than McLean this season, but suddenly McLean is playing great in the tournament. Don't thing Martin got any sets at all against N Iowa.
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How delicious would it be if Samedy had a monster game against Florida. Hope the Gophs can take care of USC to see that chance.
 

Come in gals! Let’s finish this and get to 1-1!

Has Goehner been playing a lot this year??
 

Thought the Gophers would kinda breeze through USC and have decent shot to beat Florida but not looking like it right now. Gophers are making it way too easy on USC need to serve much tougher and take advantage of the opportunities USC is giving you. Have to be much better in serve receive and passing or the season will end with this 3rd set and it starts with a couple of seniors.
 

-23, -26 in the first 2 sets. McLean is getting blocked 80% of the time it seems. Pittman has been great.

Agree the serve receive and passing need to get a lot better for a chance to win. Florida should beat either of these teams tomorrow.
 

Really disappointed in this team towards the end of the season. How can you not be? Never came close to playing their best at the end even as they stated that saw the goal.



Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk
 


Playing terrible. USC much better. Bad end to a great year.
 


Very strange late season collapse. Hugh said it wouldn't be the same team in December as in September. Little did anyone know.....
 

Kinda some poor coaching decisions by Hugh during the tournament. Not sure simply it was a case of an inconsistent OH late in the season but sometimes feels like he's out of touch with these players being in college rather than the more mature developed post-grad pros on an olympic team for which he's gained his reputation for.
 



Again, I could throw out the simple idea of: the grind of the semester takes its toll on younger players. But on the other hand, Samedy played well. Who knows ...

I was able to watch the first two sets, which were both winnable by the Gophs. If we had gotten it to 1-1, then I would've expected another Northern Iowa type of game. But once they went down 0-2 into the first intermission, I pretty much knew it was done. Had to leave so didn't see the third, but it was obviously their worst set.


Disappointing end to the season, especially for the seniors.
 

I was expecting a 2014 type season this year so I'm pleased after the loss even. USC was beatable but reaching the second weekend is an accomplishment for a young group. Rosado had a terrific match to end her career, maybe her best of the year.

Hopefully next year a magical run to a NC in Minneapolis will occur. :cool: Someone is going to have to step up as a consistent and terminating L2.
 

Sorry to be such a volleyball novice, but what's an L2? With my limited knowledge, I shouldn't say anything, but it still seemed obvious to me that the Gophers' passing and back-court defense were horrible most of the season, at least against good teams. SSS had to sprint all over the court to get errant passes and then turn them into hittable sets for her teammates at or near the net. Defensively teams like IL, PSU, and USC seemed to make kills against the Gophers unopposed.

I heard an in-the-know fan explaining that PSU's setter never had to move at all; she got passes coming straight to her the whole match, which she could distribute wherever there was an opening. It seemed to me SSS had to work a lot harder than that.
 

Daize said:
Kinda some poor coaching decisions by Hugh during the tournament. Not sure simply it was a case of an inconsistent OH late in the season but sometimes feels like he's out of touch with these players being in college rather than the more mature developed post-grad pros on an olympic team for which he's gained his reputation for.
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Maybe it's a matter of finding the right sort of student/athlete? The Tapp sisters concentrated on and excelled at Volleyball while also graduating, as I recall, in 3 1/2 years.
 



Hrothgar said:
Sorry to be such a volleyball novice, but what's an L2? With my limited knowledge, I shouldn't say anything, but it still seemed obvious to me that the Gophers' passing and back-court defense were horrible most of the season, at least against good teams. SSS had to sprint all over the court to get errant passes and then turn them into hittable sets for her teammates at or near the net. Defensively teams like IL, PSU, and USC seemed to make kills against the Gophers unopposed.

I heard an in-the-know fan explaining that PSU's setter never had to move at all; she got passes coming straight to her the whole match, which she could distribute wherever there was an opening. It seemed to me SSS had to work a lot harder than that.
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I'm a bit limited myself, but like the game a lot and want to learn more and get more into it. I also have no idea what L2 means. I guess it could be left hitter ... 2? Or maybe libero ... 2?

But it seems in volleyball they love to use acronyms like that, a single letter and then a number. Even for the refs (R1, R2 ...).


Whenever we play good teams, my typical thing that I'll say several times during the match is "holy cow! what a dig! why can't we do that??"

We have several AA players as hitters, middle, setter .... I think we really need a serious upgrade at defense.
 


Daize said:
Love to see an upgrade in libero position next year.
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Don't know if it's an upgrade, because we have been pretty solid at libero the last 4 years. We do have C.C. McGraw from Prior Lake coming in next year. She has been all metro the last two years. With here and Barnes being a year more experienced The "D" should be fine. I am more worried about middle blocker. Pittman showed a lot of improvement toward the end of the season, but all the other MB are 6'1" and under.
 

I thought Pittman really showed some fire in the USC game. Probably other good examples too. Trying to remember, but she probably was playing similarly well against N Iowa.

- Morgan got in there some. Even at "only" 6-0, she obviously must be able to jump out the gym. If you can get your hands just as high and in position, great.
- Don't know much about Buford and don't recall seeing her out there much. Walk on? She's 6-2.
 

dlw4gophers said:
Don't know if it's an upgrade, because we have been pretty solid at libero the last 4 years. We do have C.C. McGraw from Prior Lake coming in next year. She has been all metro the last two years. With here and Barnes being a year more experienced The "D" should be fine. I am more worried about middle blocker. Pittman showed a lot of improvement toward the end of the season, but all the other MB are 6'1" and under.
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Nobody really knows for sure how good newcomers are going to be obviously. But McGraw is considered the best libero recruit in the country and is a consensus top-25 player nationally. Not sure what the coaching staff could have done better in terms of bringing in a replacement at libero.

Having seen McGraw play a little bit, she certainly appears to have all the tools to be an elite defensive player. Like you, my biggest concern is who plays second middle blocker alongside Pittman for next year.
 

MRJ said:
Nobody really knows for sure how good newcomers are going to be obviously. But McGraw is considered the best libero recruit in the country and is a consensus top-25 player nationally. Not sure what the coaching staff could have done better in terms of bringing in a replacement at libero.

Having seen McGraw play a little bit, she certainly appears to have all the tools to be an elite defensive player. Like you, my biggest concern is who plays second middle blocker alongside Pittman for next year.
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It seems to me that the Gophers are missing those kinds of MB athletes with the real quick-twitch muscles, who can really elevate and leap out of the gym, as someone described it above. It looks like that's the kind of MBs lots of other teams have.
 

Any chance Martin is moved to MB? Taller and can jump, but needs to get stronger.
 

Why do we need two Middles? Can't the libero always be opposite the middle? When it's Pittman's turn to rotate to the back zone, for example, then the libero subs for her and takes those three rotations, and Pittman then essentially subs for what would have been the libero rotating into the front zone. Can't that be done perpetually?

The same should be true for the hitters, with defensive specialists. And then you have the setter and the opposite (Samedy) who stay on the court the whole time.



The whole rotation aspect of it is kinda silly, IMO. Just let front zone players stay in the front zone. Let the setter set from the back zone, and then let there be two DS in the back next to the setter.

Blasphemy I know ... but can't be much more of a change than when it changed to rally scoring from the old days of side-out scoring ....
 


http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121317aaa.html

The University of Minnesota had three individuals garner All-America honors, announced today by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Freshman opposite hitter Stephanie Samedy (Clermont, Fla.) was named a First Team All-American, junior setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson (Minnetonka, Minn.) was named a Second Team All-American and sophomore outside hitter Alexis Hart (Kansas City, Mo.) was named a Third Team All-American. It’s the first honor for both Samedy and Hart and third All-America accolade for Seliger-Swenson.

Samedy is the first in program history to become a First Team All-American as a true freshman. The AVCA North Region Freshman of the Year, Samedy was also named a unanimous All-Big Ten selection and was a part of the All-Big Ten Freshman team. In her rookie season, Samedy played in all 34 matches and 118 sets. Paving the way for the Gopher offense, Samedy had a team-best 478 kills, averaged 4.05 kills per set, hit .303 and added a team-best 1,203 attempts. Posting 15 double-doubles this season, Samedy led the Gophers in match kills 24 of 34 times this season and 22 of 34 times in match points. Her 4.05 kills per set ranked second among Big Ten hitters and averaged 3.91 kps against Big Ten opponents. Defensively, Samedy ranked second on the team in digs (333) and digs per set (2.82) and added 87 blocks (0.74 bps). She was named the Most Valuable Player in two preseason tournaments this year, and received all-tournament team honors in three. In just four months with the Gophers, Samedy was the ESPNW National Player of the Week once and the Big Ten and Freshman of the Week twice this season.
 

Supposedly #4 Kentucky barely beats #13 BYU, then goes down to Nebraska 3-1. And unseeded PAC team Colorado dispatches supposedly #12 Baylor 3-0. Weird :rolleyes:

Other than Texas and Florida, there is no such thing as high level college volleyball in the south. Just deal with it, southerners!


Stanford looks nice, three first team AA. Big Ten guaranteed in the national final, vs either Stanford or Florida. Good luck!
 

dlw4gophers said:
Don't know if it's an upgrade, because we have been pretty solid at libero the last 4 years. We do have C.C. McGraw from Prior Lake coming in next year. She has been all metro the last two years. With here and Barnes being a year more experienced The "D" should be fine.
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I appreciate that info on the incoming libero. I have a thought about perhaps what has been on the mind of Hugh Mccutcheon, and is why I've had libero concerns. Dalianliz Rosado has been one of the most instinctually and physically gifted volleyball players Minnesota has ever had, however there was a limit to her communication on defense that broke down a lot with her at the helm. I think it will be refreshing to see what a more disciplined, confidently vocal, field general-type tactitican will do for Mccutcheon's team and hopefully CC McGraw will offer that. Kinda think CC is too tall but w/e. Kinda understand what Hugh is doing though.

It's interesting, I've just started to follow this team because of some stuff I read on Hugh Mccutcheon and how smart and completely resonating the man's philosphical approach to competition and life is. Kinda shocking why Hugh Mccutcheon didn't choose to coach at a more volleyball enriching school because he's got a ferrari level mind that would have shown quicker national championship results than what is going on here. Alas, if libero can deliver there, with a returning superstar in Samedy and final year of one of the best setters college volleyball has ever seen? Best team yet to see the dream realized.

Realized too forgot to mention concerns people have with middle blocker defense. I also can see what Hugh is trying to do to address that...which goes with hopes of a libero upgrade. You can't teach height obviously and Minnesota seems to be outsourcing some of the height talent to uglier schools so I wouldn't be surprised if he incorporates the approach Asians do to counter western height he saw many times in the olympics. Actually I have no doubt that is running through this man's mind. Hopefully again, he is landing the right caliber of athlete to appreciate his approach and impliment it. We will see.
 

DR made a ton of errors this year that were concentration related. Watching the other teams that have advanced really demonstrates our defensive deficiencies. The PSU/Neb was really something.
Glad PSU lost. They are an obnoxious crew. #4 for Florida, the skinny blonde, is one hell of a player.
 

(Women's indoor) Volleyball is the only sport where adding Nebraska has absolutely enhanced the Big Ten, in a significant way. Good luck Huskers!
 

Daize said:
Kinda shocking why Hugh Mccutcheon didn't choose to coach at a more volleyball enriching school because he's got a ferrari level mind that would have shown quicker national championship results than what is going on here.
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What????? The Gopher job is a prime job. Although, I suppose an answer could be that coaches at volleyball "enriching" schools, Rose, Elliot, Cook, Sealy and (until last season) Dunning, weren't leaving.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
What????? The Gopher job is a prime job. Although, I suppose an answer could be that coaches at volleyball "enriching" schools, Rose, Elliot, Cook, Sealy and (until last season) Dunning, weren't leaving.
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Agreed. Minnesota is one of the best women's volleyball coaching jobs in the country for a number of reasons. Folks who don't know much about the program probably don't realize that since they equate the job in terms like the football and men's hoops jobs, where fans are constantly worried about coaches leaving.

Minnesota women's volleyball isn't even close to being in the same boat. If McCutcheon did decide to leave, there would be plenty of top-notch coaches that would want the job. But the point is moot for now since Hugh himself said something to the effect that he's not looking to leave just within the last few weeks. He probably could have gone last year when Dunning retired, but that job instead went to Tim Hambly, who I have a feeling wasn't Stanford's top choice. I get the impression that Hugh essentially said "no thanks," although it is pure speculation on my part.

In other words, Hugh seems very happy in Minnesota and dead set on staying here, at least for now. And even if he did leave, the program would have no problem attracting attention from very high level candidates to take over.
 

Hrothgar said:
It seems to me that the Gophers are missing those kinds of MB athletes with the real quick-twitch muscles, who can really elevate and leap out of the gym, as someone described it above. It looks like that's the kind of MBs lots of other teams have.
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Replacing Paige Tapp was always going to be difficult for this season. I really felt like Molly was a little inconsistent at key times during the season. One match, she'd have double-digit blocks and the next she'd completely disappear blocking wise. I think Pittman is going to be fine as a primary middle next year. The key, as you mentioned, is finding a second option.

I really like Taylor Morgan's athleticism, but I don't know if her size is good enough for a middle. Somebody else brought up Martin moving to the middle since we're going to loaded down with outsides next year. At 6-3, she could probably do it, but it'd be a big adjustment for her I would think. Otherwise, there might be a transfer out there to be had.

Honestly, the only spot I'm really worried about for next year is middle blocker. McGraw is very good already imo and I'd have no problem playing her alongside Barnes for next season in the back row. If they can sort out things alongside Pittman up front and McGraw can settle in defensively, the team is going to be very good again.
 

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