FINAL FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-volley/recaps/082816aaa.html

A reminder of the task ahead: In Palo Alto (an apt descriptor for a team which out blocked Minnesota by five) it was Stanford in four: 25-23, 25-15, 25-27, 25-19.

And of note: UCLA defeated Stanford twice. 3-1 in mid-October and 3-2 in mid-November.

The No. 3 University of Minnesota volleyball team fell in four sets to No. 11 Stanford, today, in Palo Alto, Calif. The Gophers drop to 1-1 on the season.

Stanford outhit the Gophers, .233 to .142 and held a 17.5-12.5 blocks advantage. Hannah Tapp led the Gophers with 17 kills and hit .300 for the match, while Paige Tapp had 13 kills. The duo also had six blocks each. Sarah Wilhite and Alexis Hart each added eight kills. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had a match-high 37 assists and 17 digs.
 

http://www.twincities.com/2016/12/10/ncaa-volleyball-gophers-sweep-ucla-move-into-final-four/

Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press:


Wilhite said the key to the comeback was shoring up the Gophers’ back-row play: “The shift definitely happened from defensive effort,” she said.

In that area, another Gopher who had a big night was junior libero Dalianliz Rosado, who had 17 digs and several long service runs, including one ace.

“I thought she was particularly impressive tonight,” said Gophers coach Hugh McCutcheon. “Not only was she consistent, at times she was spectacular.”...

...At the press conference after Saturday night’s match, Wilhite, one of the seniors who played her last match in the Sports Pavilion, where the Gophers have not lost in more than two years, promised, “Our best is yet to come.”[/I]
 


“Our best is yet to come."

This I believe after beating Wisconsin and Nebraska. If the "Lady Gophers" are on their game at this point they will prevail.
 


http://m.startribune.com/gophers-vo...veryone-s-best-shot/405942396/?section=sports

Star Trib:

Over the past several weeks, the Gophers have played eight teams ranked in the Top 25. They have faced some opponents that tried to overpower them and others that relied on finesse. And they’ve seen their share of trouble, from an early two-set hole against Nebraska to a 6-0 deficit at the beginning of Saturday’s NCAA regional final against UCLA.

The single common denominator: In every instance, the top-ranked Gophers have found a way to prevail. That, more than any other quality, carried them into this week’s Final Four in Columbus, Ohio.

The Gophers (29-4) demonstrated their adaptability again Saturday at the Sports Pavilion, when they slowly shredded UCLA’s game plan after a sluggish start. Their 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 sweep put them into Thursday’s NCAA semifinal against No. 9 Stanford (25-7) at Nationwide Arena. After watching his team win 14 matches in a row while being tested in myriad ways, coach Hugh McCutcheon believes that resourcefulness has put it in good position to chase the program’s first NCAA championship.

“The biggest thing to me is just their ability to adjust in-match to different things that are going on,’’ McCutcheon said. “We’ve had people try to attack us a lot of different ways and try to defend us a lot of different ways. And yet, we’re still able to kind of pick the lock and figure out how to win the next point.

“I think that’s the rare quality. Whether that means we’re as good as we can be in Columbus, who knows? I think the team is well prepared. I think we’re in a good space. But time will tell.’’
 

It's these gals time, they need to seize this opportunity


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...ta-texas-stanford-get-set-national-semifinals

ESPNW's look at the Final Four teams:

Three repeat visitors from last season -- Nebraska, Minnesota and Texas -- and one very, very familiar presence -- Stanford -- make up the volleyball final four this year. Here's a look at who's headed to Columbus, Ohio, and what we'll see this week from the best of the best.

1. Stanford: Doing Stanford stuff again

There's no debate which school has had its hand prints on the NCAA tournament the most throughout the event's history: Stanford is in the final four for the 20th time. The sixth-seeded Cardinal upset No. 3 Wisconsin on the Badgers' home court in the Madison Regional final.

Stanford's first final four was in 1982, the second year of the NCAA tournament, and the Cardinal's first national championship was in 1992. But it's been 12 years since the last of the Cardinal's six NCAA titles. And in that time, Penn State passed Stanford for the most with seven, with six of them coming between 2007-2014...

2. Minnesota: Gophers on the prowl

No. 2 seed Minnesota is the only final four team that has not won an NCAA title; this is the Gophers' fifth time making it this far. The closest they've come to the pinnacle was a 3-0 loss to Stanford in the 2004 final.

But if you were going to pick a favorite just based on the four teams' regional performances, it might well be the Gophers. They beat No. 15 seed Missouri, the SEC co-champion, 3-1. Then the Gophers faced No. 10 UCLA, which tied for second in the Pac-12 with Stanford...


3. Texas: Longhorns here again

The "bully of the Big 12," Texas finally got knocked of its conference perch for the first time since Nebraska left the league in 2011. Kansas won the league, with Texas second. A new sheriff in town?

Well, not exactly. Nothing can take the league title from the Jayhawks, of course. But in the NCAA tournament, it's the same old story: Fourth-seeded Texas is in the final four. The Longhorns advanced there for the fifth season in a row and for the eighth time in the past nine years. (Kansas went to the final four as well last year, but was upset in the second round this season by Creighton, the same team that Texas swept in the regional final.)...

4. Nebraska: Seeking a repeat

The Huskers saw their season flash before their eyes Friday afternoon, facing two match points against Penn State. But such is the nature of volleyball that momentum can turn on the proverbial dime -- and when it does, it can be breathtaking to behold.

So close to elimination -- and the end of their dream of repeating as NCAA champions -- the Huskers scored four consecutive points to win the third set. With a new life, they didn't squander it: Nebraska beat Penn State in five sets, and then looked like a favorite to win it all after dominating Pac-12 champion Washington in the final...
 

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-mccutcheon-coaches-outside-the-box/406142436/

Scoggins on McCutcheon:

Coaches and athletes in all sports love to compare their teams to families. Makes their inner dynamics sound perfect.

Gophers volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon isn’t a fan of that analogy.

“There is a degree of dysfunction in families you have to tolerate that I don’t want on a high-functioning team,” he said. “You’ve got the crazy aunt and drunk uncle. Who wants that on your team? We talk about being a high-functioning team.”

McCutcheon enjoys the best of both worlds. His players are high-functioning on the court and close-knit away from it. The Gophers now see a national championship within reach because of that.


ONE NOTE to Chip: this paragraph lacks some depth: Hugh has his voice raising moments following occasional lulls in execution-especially early in the season.

McCutcheon isn’t a coaching tyrant, though. Just the opposite. He rarely raises his voice with players. He mostly watches matches from his seat, focusing on the action intensely, a picture of calm.
 


http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...nesota-golden-gophers-run-national-semifinals

Pat Borzi's article at ESPNW:

"What makes them so good is the balance they have," Missouri coach Wayne Kreklow said. "The more balance you have, the harder you are to beat."

Can balance and resourcefulness deliver Minnesota (29-4) its first NCAA title? The second-seeded Gophers head for Columbus reasonably sure they can handle anything thrown at them. "I don't think there's anybody out there they're not capable of beating," Kreklow said.

Minnesota showed that with its Nov. 23 comeback against top-ranked Nebraska. The Gophers lost the first two sets and trailed 23-20 in the third, at home. Minnesota scored the next four points to go ahead; fought off match point at 24-25 before going on to win 28-26; then won the next two sets 25-17 and 17-15 to steal the match.

"There was a point in that fifth set and I think we just looked to each other and we said, 'We have no doubt right now,'" said Seliger-Swenson, a sophomore and the Big Ten's setter of the year. "We believe in each other so much, and that really helps us in those tough moments in matches when it's really close. I think that's something that's really special about this team."
 



http://www.twincities.com/2016/12/13/gopher-volleyball-players-go-way-back/

Pioneer Press's Chris Hewitt on elite volleyball connections:

Last time Sarah Wilhite was in Columbus, Ohio, she did a cool thing that she’d like to do again on her first return visit: win a national volleyball championship.

Wilhite, the Big Ten player of the year and a national player-of-the-year candidate, is in Columbus with the University of Minnesota team for the NCAA Final Four, which begins Thursday. Back in 2012, when Wilhite was an Eden Prairie senior, she and five of her Gophers teammates played together on a different team: the Northern Lights AAU club team that beat a Texas squad to win the Under-17 Open national championship.

The first time Wilhite played with future college All-Americans Paige Tapp and Hannah Tapp of Stewartville was back in their junior year in high school, in 2011. Many of the other athletes on that Northern Lights team were rivals throughout their high school careers who united to play club volleyball and, later, to become Golden Gophers: Minnesota junior Alyssa Goehner and senior Erica Handley, both from Lakeville North, and another future All-American, sophomore Samantha Seliger-Swenson from Hopkins.
 

http://volleyballmag.com/sheffieldanalysis/

Wisconsin's Kelly Sheffield (the Badgers were the only team to play the final four clubs) gives his analysis:

Stanford’s size and athleticism was, of course, a factor.

“Inky (Ajanaku) is so freakin’ ridiculous,” Sheffield said. In that match, Ajanaku had 20 kills, hit .447, and had 11 blocks, two solo. “You knew who was getting the ball and there was nothing we could do. That doesn’t happen very often.

“But the player of the match was (libero) Hentz.”

The freshman had 30 digs, many of them game changers, and her serve receive was outstanding...



...Sheffield thought again about how tough Stanford serves.

“The whole key to that match is how often is Minnesota in system. If they stay in system, I think they blow out Stanford. If they’re not in system, I can see it being a blowout the other way. Stanford’s block and their tall timber when you’re out of system is really hard to navigate.

“This has really contrasting styles between the two teams.”
 

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...volleyball-national-championship-come-diggers

ESPNW: The Libero's

Nebraska's Justine Wong-Orantes prefers bananas smashed between her pancakes, and Stanford's Morgan Hentz is all about the pancakes with chocolate chips. Texas' Cat McCoy is partial to the sweet kind that taste like cinnamon rolls. Nothing fancy for Minnesota's Dalianliz Rosado -- just hot syrup, thank you.

The four -- all starting liberos for the teams in volleyball's final four, which will be played Thursday at Ohio State's Nationwide Arena -- dig talking about flapjacks for breakfast. Mention the pancake in volleyball, and they give a look.

Hentz shivers thinking about the floor burn that comes with that SportsCenter highlight when a player dives and slides her hand flat to the ground to prevent an accelerating ball from ending the point.

"That's only an emergency skill, when you make the wrong read," Hentz said.

That doesn't happen much with any of these players because volleyball's premier defensive specialists are simply that good at what has evolved into one of the most important roles in the sport. In fact, after the setter position, Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, whose team fell to Texas in the regional final, prioritizes libero second.

"It's the position you probably have to be the most mentally tough to play," she said. "We always say if we can break down a libero, it will break the team."...


...Along with rally scoring, the libero position was added to the college game in 2002, and that led to players in darker jerseys becoming fixtures on the floor. That's because unlike every other player on the court, liberos do not rotate in and out. They regularly play the entire game.

Before the rules change, a player such as 5-foot-6 Wong-Orantes, named an AVCA first-team All-American on Wednesday, would have been overlooked. Instead, she turned down Hawai'i in favor of playing for the Big Red at Nebraska.

"It changed the women's game. It changed the men's games. It made it so much more exciting because of the rallies," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "We can now just hit rockets, and the libero adds to the ability to continue the rally. There's two quarterbacks on the court instead of one."

The setter runs the offense in the traditional sense, but the libero does more than prevent big guns such as Wilhite and Nebraska's Kadie Rolfzen from amassing kills.
 

Tough way for this team to go out. Unfortunately, their performance tonight left a lot to be desired. At the end of the day, Stanford killed us at the net and that's the biggest reason they won. Going to need to rebuild going forward.

With all that said, the ladies had a tremendous year. Congrats to coach McCutcheon and the team!
 

Congrats to the team on the season but this certainly was disappointing. Stanford beat us twice this year, so you can't doubt them, but I expected a little more. Next year it is. One of these years we'll get one, I have to believe that.
 

That was tough tonight. Regardless, hats off to the gals and thanks to the seniors who were part of it.
 

So disappointed, I really thought this was the year. Senior-laden team, battle-tested in the B1G, peaking at the right time, ...

Stanford was just so TALL! Makes me feel Hugh needs to go out and get some 6'6 blockers.

Well, we've still got SSS, Lohman, Hart, and Rosado, but we're graduating so much talent.

Sorry, just a bit down this morning.
 

[email protected] said:
So disappointed, I really thought this was the year. Senior-laden team, battle-tested in the B1G, peaking at the right time, ...

Stanford was just so TALL! Makes me feel Hugh needs to go out and get some 6'6 blockers.

Well, we've still got SSS, Lohman, Hart, and Rosado, but we're graduating so much talent.

Sorry, just a bit down this morning.
Click to expand...

The team will have plenty of talent next year. Returning Seliger-Swenson, Lohman, Hart, Rosado and Goehner is a nice start. Plus, they will have Regan Pittman available, who is 6-5, to help in the middle. Add-in another really good recruiting class with the likes of Samedy and Martin and there won't be any lack of ability. The question will be how quickly it can come together. Hugh does a great job of developing players, so the team should be formidable again next year.

In other words, the future looks bright, regardless of how disappointing last night was. Just have to keep the faith. :)
 

Really disappointed that we lost. I thought the senior leadership and skills would carry us to victory. Wonder if the pressure of this being your last match affected them as they definitely did not play their best match. Overall, I agree there is much to be hopeful about in the future with excellent recruiting and coaching.
 

MRJ said:
The team will have plenty of talent next year. Returning Seliger-Swenson, Lohman, Hart, Rosado and Goehner is a nice start. Plus, they will have Regan Pittman available, who is 6-5, to help in the middle. Add-in another really good recruiting class with the likes of Samedy and Martin and there won't be any lack of ability. The question will be how quickly it can come together. Hugh does a great job of developing players, so the team should be formidable again next year.

In other words, the future looks bright, regardless of how disappointing last night was. Just have to keep the faith. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the 'cheer up'. You're right, we'll be solid. If Stanford can have a freshmen class come together that quickly, why can't we?
 

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