B1G Match 2: Gophers visit Nebraska (9-24-23)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Minnesota travels to Lincoln

Here's a moment (or few dozen moments) from the Huskers match with Kentucky

 

One or two players need to have a career best performances for us to even have a chance.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Minnesota travels to Lincoln

Here's a moment (or few dozen moments) from the Huskers match with Kentucky

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That rally was impressive by both sides.
One question for VB experts, is the ref stand not part of the net and thus a violation when running into it?
 

What we need is defensive consistency . Not just one set. That’s the only chance for the match.

Won’t be surprised if they pop off for a set. They can hang with anyone in the country, for a set.

But then get blown off the floor by anyone in the country when passing falls apart.
 

huskers.com

University of Nebraska - Official Athletics Website

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Nebraska swept Ohio State in Lincoln while holding the Buckeyes to a .090 hitting percentage. For the season, the Huskers are holding opponents to a .100 hitting percentage. Not surprisingly, Nebraska outblocked OSU 11-4 which adds up to a 97.5 to 59.5 season blocking advantage over their opponents. The Huskers are riding high.
 


I like many Gopher fans were hoping that Z would be available and our back court woes would be resolved Recently, I was reminded (reading somewhere) besides being a foreigner she has not had to study for some time. Therefore, I am concluding the chances of seeing her on the court as a regular has really dwindled since her arrival. I am not sure what KCook knew about our returning players, but he certainly has found out quickly what each one brings to the table.

Shaff has always been limited IMO and now with her injury she is even more limited. We absolutely do not have the back court to help her out. So, we will continue to play OOS ball.

I don't feel Iowa taking us to five sets is necessarily a good sign. Yes we won, but we just don't have players playing up to their RANKING and they need to start. Both were #1 in their class while Nebraska has 4 starting Freshman who are playing like they have played in the NCAA Div 1 for years.

I hope our players can keep improving and learning. It would be nice, if we could play like we did against Oregon.....we can only hope. Go Gophers!
 

Nebraska's strengths play right to the Gophers' weaknesses so this could be a short night.

I think it's going to come down to serving (breaking news, I know). For Minnesota to have a chance, the Huskers' serving is going to have to come down a notch and the Gophers' serving is going to have to go up a notch.

Landfair, Wucherer and Grote have the firepower to give Nebraska issues if Minnesota can stay in system. If they're struggling with serve receive and making Mel run all over the place, I don't see them getting any set into the 20s.
 

Had late leads in two sets and still lost both of them. They were competitive, I'll give them that.
 
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Gophers were swept in Lincoln 23, 20, 22. They looked much better than the Iowa match. Nebraska hit .214 and the Gophers .159.

Wucherer with 11 kills (.100), Grote 7 (.190) and Landfair 7 (.208)
 



I questioned Hugh Ball a lot of times but he would come through with some fantastic wins with his players.

I was excited to be a Keegan Ball fan when he took the HC position here at Minnesota. So far this season, in all honesty. I am not. IMO coaching decisions and players not setup to succeed right now is so baffling.
 

We have serving. I’ll give them credit where it is due. Wucherer top spin jump serve, hat’s off. It’s working most of the time. Grote serve is fantastic right now. Landfair and Schaff were always strong serving, continue to be.

The rest of it ……….

I mean, it can’t be that bad if we were competitive all three sets with Neb, on road. Right?

At the same time … you just laugh at how pathetic some of the play is.


Landfair and Wucherer are just sad right now in the back row. Like, half the time they don’t even move. They know they have no chance to make a play on the ball, so why bother moving? Other times, it looks so slow and sad. Neither of them look athletic.

Landfair rarely swings. Usually it’s a lazy, weak roll shot. She gets overpowered on a block attempt. You talk about someone with the most God given physical ability … and just the laziest, slowest moving, weakest approach to the game. It’s really sad at times to watch.

Wucherer in the other hand does swing hard, but also had a lot of feeble half-top/half-roll things that are just worthless. She can’t tip to save her life.

Grote is the only consistent swing we have.

Hanson mostly worthless in a handful of backrow attacks.


How many times TOTAL did we even set the middle? Like four? One was a an absolute laser kill. Where the hell was that the entire match??? Another time I laughed it loud at how inept Schaff is at setting a normal middle set.

Think about that. A starting setter in the Big Ten who can’t do a standard 1 set on a solid pass to save her life. Just wow.
 

This is what it is the rest of the season. Probably (maybe?) best of the middle of the pack. But will be interesting to see which Big Ten teams we lose to. No realistic chance to steal a match against the good teams.

Maybe we host first round, maybe not.

Best case is regional semi-final (sweet sixteen), then exit.
 

4EverAGopher said:
I questioned Hugh Ball a lot of times but he would come through with some fantastic wins with his players.

I was excited to be a Keegan Ball fan when he took the HC position here at Minnesota. So far this season, in all honesty. I am not. IMO coaching decisions and players not setup to succeed right now is so baffling.
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This is the attitude that drives me crazy… a hope-y change-y philosophy. In my posts over the past few years I tried to convince some fans that it would not get better than Coach McCutchen, and here we are with posts like this. Drives me crazy.

“Change” plays to people’s hopes, but hopes are an emotion that often let us as humans down. Change can be for good and for bad.

One day, people will understand that the McCutchen era was the golden era and they spent their time during that golden era whining and complaining. That’s unfortunate… for them.
 



ClassOf98Gopher said:
This is the attitude that drives me crazy… a hope-y change-y philosophy. In my posts over the past few years I tried to convince some fans that it would not get better than Coach McCutchen, and here we are with posts like this. Drives me crazy.

“Change” plays to people’s hopes, but hopes are an emotion that often let us as humans down. Change can be for good and for bad.

One day, people will understand that the McCutchen era was the golden era and they spent their time during that golden era whining and complaining. That’s unfortunate… for them.
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Funny, I would argue that the Hebert era was better than the McCutcheon era. Hugh won more B1G titles, but he didn't have to deal with Penn State when they were absolutely steamrolling.

So you're mad that people spent their time during the McCutcheon era whining and complaining, by whining and complaining 10 games into the Keegan Cook era? Got it.
 

NateDawgUM said:
Funny, I would argue that the Hebert era was better than the McCutcheon era. Hugh won more B1G titles, but he didn't have to deal with Penn State when they were absolutely steamrolling.

So you're mad that people spent their time during the McCutcheon era whining and complaining, by whining and complaining 10 games into the Keegan Cook era? Got it.
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Fair point! Maybe I was too crabby yesterday and shouldn’t have posted that. Maybe that post was too strong.

But still, for the record, I was pro-Hugh through it all.
 

No one here has any actual comments about the actual match?
 

I do. I thought we looked good. We applied a lot of pressure to this young Nebraska team, more than any other team has so far.

I thought KCook and co prepared this team really well. Our block was on, we neutralized most of their hitters, it was their defense, and our lack of, that was the difference maker. I think if we had one more DS in the backrow it could be a difference maker. But I don't think it's going to happen so Landfair and Wurcherer need to step up in the back. I think Wurcherer can and will improve. She seems to have a "I want to improve mentality" and I love it. Her jump serve is nasty.

We made errors at key moments and that was the difference maker to close out sets.
 

One more DS? We don't DS out either of our starting OH.

Both should be. Neither are going to "step up", if they haven't already. And they haven't. They don't even try on defense, sometimes. There's a reason that defensive specialists are small people. It's so they can move around quickly, as is required for playing elite defense. Wuch and Land are physically large people. They're slow. They do not move well, in that sense.

I'm not sure that Hanson adds much over just leaving Grote in the whole time, but I suppose they've made the conscious decision to have her specialize as the backrow right side hitter.
 

Agreed, can you imagine Nebraska without Coboy in for Battenhorst? That would have leveled the playing field in this match for the Gophers but John Cook would never allow that.
 

That’s how you win in women’s college. You’re a dumbass if you try to play like an Olympic team, if you don’t actually have that level of talent at the OH position (really, all seven positions in that case).

We do not. Not even close.
 

Well it's a good thing I posted because ClassOf98Gopher more than likely would not have posted in this thread, if it wasn't for me.

I love this sport, but watching our Gopher players return this season and struggle as much as they are is heartbreaking. So call it whining and complaining all you want
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Fair point! Maybe I was too crabby yesterday and shouldn’t have posted that. Maybe that post was too strong.

But still, for the record, I was pro-Hugh through it all.
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I was pro-Hugh. I was a bit bored with his low error approach, even though it was generally very effective. I, selfishly, want to see aggressive serving, it's my favorite part of the game.
 

Hebert Era was outstanding. Yes RR and his Penn State teams were the real deal too and so much fun to watch. I also loved watching the development of many of our players during the McCutcheon era......Santana, Wilhite, Hart, Samedy, and Pittman to name a few.

Hugh leaves and in steps Keegan Cook. The latter was not handed a back court and it appears he will still have problems trying to improve on that with the 2023-2024 DS/L players already committed to other programs. There is always the portal and I am grateful Murr decided to become a Gopher her final eligible year. In the meantime this fan hopes Z can keep developing and eventually help with those needs for the remaining of this season.

If anybody can speak on what KCook and company have done recruiting outside of Z while trying to improve our back court situation before the beginning of this season, I for one would love to hear about it. They did an outstanding job bringing in Awoleye, Murr and Grote.
 

Awoleye is doing an outstanding job of blocking, but gets set zero times. That has to be a huge bummer. That's why Pittman declined to come back, I imagine. Why would you want to play with Schaff who can't set a middle?

Murr I think has done a nice job too. Don't think she's going to be defender of the year. Do think she's doing a better job than CC.

Grote has really turned it on. Easily our best hitter right now and has a great serve. Not sure she shouldn't just get to stay in for all six. I don't think Hanson adds much in the back.
 

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