First Spring Match Recap

[Hoolio]

The first match of the spring season took place this afternoon at the Pav. For those who couldn't attend here's a synopsis of the action.

The Gophers won 3 of the 4 sets and were very much the better team. They lost set #3 when Coach Cook emptied the bench and tried some different lineups.

The good, the bad, and the ugly player reviews.

The good.

Kate Thibault played great. Served well, received well, and handled both the DS and Libero roles well.

Stella Swenson was very solid. Moved the ball around well and yes SHE SETS THE MIDDLES! And not just on the slide.

New middle Lourdes Meyer is good. Was strong on the block and hit well. The block in general was very strong both from the middles and the pins.

Alex Acevedo started and looked very good. Had a bunch of kills in the first set and is swinging with much more authority than last year.

The freshmen class is nice. Carly Gilk is a lefty with a heavy arm. She also showed some creativity and produced kills with roll shots and strong court placement. Jordan Taylor is a long athletic middle. She was strong on the block and showed off a solid swing with a bunch of kills. McKenna Garr was a slightly shaky at times but mostly played well including some really nice digs.

The bad

Hate to even say it but Julia Hanson was mediocre at best. Struggled in the back row and hitting was just so so. Nothing to be concerned about. We know how good she is. She'll be dialed in come fall.

I didn't notice Minatee at all. It was like she wasn't there. Not sure what that was about because we know she can play.

The ugly

McKenna Wucherer was in street clothes. Hoping this is just the team being cautious and not an indication that her back is still an issue. This team is better with a healthy productive Wucherer.

Overall I'm very encouraged by what I saw. This team looks deep and talented. If they come together I think they have a chance to be better than the last couple years.

If anyone else was at the match please share your thoughts.

 

[GophVBFan]

I believe if we want to win, we need to put both the new middles in instead of minatee.

I would have Carly gilk play opposite, she can score and sometimes that’s all you need instead of someone swinging away all the time. Her creativity and variety of shots is pretty insane for a freshman.

We need to figure out the outside passing situation, mind you this is a spring match so serves are going to be harder during the season. I don’t see us passing efficiently just yet.

Stella imo was alright, her defense was lacking.

Based on what I saw, I would put the new setter from Rutgers over her. Stella just looked slow and flat footed. Stella tries to run a quicker offense, but at the end of the day, some of our hitters aren’t fast enough yet. Running a quicker offense and trying to avoid the block is hard, I just don’t see them executing that yet.

 

[Hoolio]

I agree with you on the middles. It's hard to get too excited or too down based on one spring match. I do love the size of the 2 new ones. That will work its way out over time.

Based on yesterday's limited sample size I agree that Gilk should be in the mix. This is tough though as Acevedo played well as did Crowl. We still don't know what's up with Wucherer either. To make it even tougher Kelly Kinney arrives in the fall and she was the highest rated recruit of them all. Whoever gets the PT at that position is going to have to earn it.

I couldn't disagree more on the setter. Georgia Lee showed nothing. Stella actually did a nice job on the block and her serve was good enough. What excited me was her setting. She got everyone involved and her sets were mostly in the right place. She wasn't perfect with her reception and digging but the totality of her performance was good.

The serve reception is an area of concern because of last year. It was mostly good yesterday but UNI wasn't serving very tough so I don't think we know yet if that's an area of improvement or still a big weakness.

 

[Cobra]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[(R)uffda!]

Would have loved to see connect with her attempted back to the court bicycle kick save. Would have been the play of the match.

Gilk has a nice tight spin on her (lefty) swings. It's different and was effective. Yesterday at least. I liked the improvement Taylorhas made from much earlier video I've seen of her. I wasn't even sure she had D1 talent, but she does. Garr also looks solid and served well.

Stella has great hands. We knew that.

Passing was fine. Blocking was even better.

Have to say I was mostly bored. That may be a good thing. UNI did not have much although they had the two kill leaders. By far.

Kept wondering where Fallert was. Eligibility used up. Duh. Same with Tjardal or whatever her name was.

 

[Hoolio]

I found the match a little boring too Ruffda. UNI was not much of a challenge. It will be interesting to see how our Gophs fare against Creighton next weekend. I'll be there and will share some thoughts with the group.