Gopher Volleyball 2018

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The ladies got away with one tonight. It happens, but pretty crummy showing based on what I saw. Can't let it fester and grow like it did last year.

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Five setters provide some memorable moments. In the deciding set, my favorite was Rollins' stretched out, one armed swing imparting some crazy, icbm smart weapon trajectory over the net and down midst the Spartans. It made the score 9-4, got the crowd roaring and made Cathy George call time out. The previous point, won by a Pittman smash wasn't bad itself.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Five setters provide some memorable moments. In the deciding set, my favorite was Rollins' stretched out, one armed swing imparting some crazy, icbm smart weapon trajectory over the net and down midst the Spartans. It made the score 9-4, got the crowd roaring and made Cathy George call time out. The previous point, won by a Pittman smash wasn't bad itself.
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I really like this teams depth. We have multiple scorers and better balance than previous years. Plus after watching the FB game I needed to see a W.
 

I don’t think they go 20-0 in the conference. I’d guess more like 18-2 or 19-1. Still a conference title if they do that and I’d imagine keeps them at The Pav until the Final 4 (if they make it)
 

MRJ said:
The ladies got away with one tonight. It happens, but pretty crummy showing based on what I saw. Can't let it fester and grow like it did last year.

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Crummy, yes, but with extenuating circumstances, I feel. MN played 3 road games in 5 days and then returned to play again at home after only 2 days. Pretty exhausting if they want to keep up with classes, etc. I thought they looked pretty strung out in pre-game warmups, and it showed during the match. But toughing out wins like this one, which they could easily have lost, is what it takes to win a title. MSU's squad looked a little ragtag, but they played an intelligent match, keeping MN off balance and unfocused for long stretches. I suspect MSU's coach had a game plan, which they stuck with pretty doggedly, whatever it was. :)
 


Toward the end of set 5, SSS tipped a ball over the net for a winner, but it was challenged and the ruling reversed. Does anybody know why the reversal?
 

Hrothgar said:
Toward the end of set 5, SSS tipped a ball over the net for a winner, but it was challenged and the ruling reversed. Does anybody know why the reversal?
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She brushed the net. Cathy George had a perfect view of it and seemed headed for the challenge card before the ball landed. On three of her four challenges, George seemed to have no doubt what she saw, especially on the first challenge where she was convinced the ball hit the court. She didn't get the desired reversal on that one.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
She brushed the net. Cathy George had a perfect view of it and seemed headed for the challenge card before the ball landed. On three of her four challenges, George seemed to have no doubt what she saw, especially on the first challenge where she was convinced the ball hit the court. She didn't get the desired reversal on that one.
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In my mind's eye, SSS seemed a good distance from the net; it's hard to see how she brushed it. Just curious: Who chooses referees and line judges for these matches? Are they assigned by the Big Ten?
 

MRJ said:
The ladies got away with one tonight. It happens, but pretty crummy showing based on what I saw. Can't let it fester and grow like it did last year.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk
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I'm sorry for posting so much here recently. However, I'm curious about the term "fester." Do you mean dissension on the 2017 team? If so, what was it? To me the problem in 2017 was an extremely porous defense, both on the block and in the back court, in contrast to this year. In 2017 opponents seemed at times to score at will. This year they have to earn their points.
 



Hrothgar said:
Crummy, yes, but with extenuating circumstances, I feel. MN played 3 road games in 5 days and then returned to play again at home after only 2 days. Pretty exhausting if they want to keep up with classes, etc. I thought they looked pretty strung out in pre-game warmups, and it showed during the match. But toughing out wins like this one, which they could easily have lost, is what it takes to win a title. MSU's squad looked a little ragtag, but they played an intelligent match, keeping MN off balance and unfocused for long stretches. I suspect MSU's coach had a game plan, which they stuck with pretty doggedly, whatever it was. :)
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I think you hit the nail on the head. Also would add two other "human" factors into it:

- it simply is not humanly possible to stay super jacked up, pumped to the max, firing on all cylinders of your game, ALL the time, over the course of a long season. There will be slumps, there will be let downs, there will be times that you just aren't all there. Similar to your "strung out" comment, but I think that had more to do with physical fatigue, what I'm talking about perhaps is more a mental fatigue

- playing DOWN to the level that you perceive your competition to be. It happens all the time. Just got over a hard fought win over a top 5 Wisconsin team, you come home to the Pav against an unranked team, "OK we'll win this easy with a sweep, I can go easy tonight".
 

Hrothgar said:
In my mind's eye, SSS seemed a good distance from the net; it's hard to see how she brushed it. Just curious: Who chooses referees and line judges for these matches? Are they assigned by the Big Ten?
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Seliger-Swenson brushed the net with her descending right hand as she hit the ball with her left. I checked out the replay when I got home.

I think it's safe to assume that like basketball, officials are contracted with and assigned by the B1G. The league has a coordinator of volleyball officials.
 

In four sets, Michigan dropped the Badgers in Madison. 19-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-22. Michigan closed out the third set with a 7-0 run.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
In four sets, Michigan dropped the Badgers in Madison. 19-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-22. Michigan closed out the third set with a 7-0 run.
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Wow. Big win for the Wolverines.

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MRJ said:
Wow. Big win for the Wolverines.

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I am sure Michigan played well, but it looks like the Mn. vs Wisc. game took a lot out of both teams. At least we survived our test.
 

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleybal...eyball-rankings-undefeated-byu-holds-top-spot

The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee released a top 10 listing on Sunday, Nov. 4. The committee announcement was revealed during ESPNU’s broadcast of the Texas A&M vs. Tennessee volleyball match.

Using the selection criteria and results through games as of Wednesday, Oct. 31, Brigham Young earned the top spot in the nation with an unblemished 22-0 record. The Cougars are followed by Stanford (20-1), and Minnesota (18-4), at second and third, respectively. The Big Ten Conference had two teams take the next positions with Illinois (20-3) followed by the Wisconsin (16-5) to round out the top five.
 

Texas will sneak up there with Wisconsin losing. If Illinois trips up, they will snag the 4th seed I bet. I'm sure from a ticket sales perspective, they'd love to have the regional in Austin instead of Champaign ...
 



Hrothgar said:
That's the ranking and listing as of 10/31, thus excluding most, if not all, of this past week's action.
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Yeah, but they still don't have 4 losses, regardless of the published date.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Yeah, but they still don't have 4 losses, regardless of the published date.
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Interesting. You're sharper-eyed than I am. Who wrote that 18-4? Was it the NCAA or some other official organ? Or was it a private party's notation? I guess we can't believe everything we read. &#55358;&#56596;
 

Hrothgar said:
I'm sorry for posting so much here recently. However, I'm curious about the term "fester." Do you mean dissension on the 2017 team? If so, what was it? To me the problem in 2017 was an extremely porous defense, both on the block and in the back court, in contrast to this year. In 2017 opponents seemed at times to score at will. This year they have to earn their points.
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Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I meant not allowing poor play to "fester." I'm certainly not informed/qualified to speak to the team dynamic and what the chemistry is behind the scenes. If I had to venture the most superficial of guesses, I'd say the ladies get along quite well. But I have never had any knowledge of personal issues for any Gopher volleyball team, so I'll put that to bed right now.

As for what I clumsily meant to say, there were times in 2017 I felt like the ladies took their eye off the ball (bad pun, I know) and let their play slip as a result. Since they started the year so well in 2017, it felt like they lost their intensity and became pretty inconsistent with their focus late in the season. Ultimately, it led to the team being bounced by USC in the Sweet 16.

By "fester", I meant the quality of their play only. Don't want the same thing that happened last year to happen again this year. In other words, "keep their eyes on the prize."

I'm quite confident they won't, but I could have worded it better and hope this clarifies things.

Looking for a bounce-back from the Michigan State match against Indiana and Purdue this weekend.
 



Aha, now I see! In the narrative text, they have it wrong, but in the records of their top ten, which they list if you scroll down a ways, they have it correct.
 

MRJ said:
Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I meant not allowing poor play to "fester." I'm certainly not informed/qualified to speak to the team dynamic and what the chemistry is behind the scenes. If I had to venture the most superficial of guesses, I'd say the ladies get along quite well. But I have never had any knowledge of personal issues for any Gopher volleyball team, so I'll put that to bed right now.

As for what I clumsily meant to say, there were times in 2017 I felt like the ladies took their eye off the ball (bad pun, I know) and let their play slip as a result. Since they started the year so well in 2017, it felt like they lost their intensity and became pretty inconsistent with their focus late in the season. Ultimately, it led to the team being bounced by USC in the Sweet 16.

By "fester", I meant the quality of their play only. Don't want the same thing that happened last year to happen again this year. In other words, "keep their eyes on the prize."

I'm quite confident they won't, but I could have worded it better and hope this clarifies things.

Looking for a bounce-back from the Michigan State match against Indiana and Purdue this weekend.
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Thanks. I was mainly interested in 2017, for kinda antiquarian reasons. I thought that even early and mid-season, when they were winning, the 2017 team played poor defense. I wondered if there was a morale issue there, but probably not. There may have been several players playing out of position. For example, Goehner told me she came to the U as an OH, not a DS. By contrast, against MSU last Saturday, MN won set 5 mainly on defense played by people who're really good at it, IMHO as a VB novice. They made about 5 spectacular digs in set 5 that last year's team wouldn't even have gotten a touch on (re: CC's and Rollins' outstanding digs). I think in 2018 Sameday digs better; Hart says the coaches have improved her defense and passing; CC, Barnes, and Rollins get their hands on a lot of seemingly impossible balls, if for nothing else to prolong the point and wear the opponent down over time.
 

let'sbeclear said:
Aha, now I see! In the narrative text, they have it wrong, but in the records of their top ten, which they list if you scroll down a ways, they have it correct.
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Correct. Sorry, I was not being very specific!
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleybal...eyball-rankings-undefeated-byu-holds-top-spot

The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee released a top 10 listing on Sunday, Nov. 4. The committee announcement was revealed during ESPNU’s broadcast of the Texas A&M vs. Tennessee volleyball match.

Using the selection criteria and results through games as of Wednesday, Oct. 31, Brigham Young earned the top spot in the nation with an unblemished 22-0 record. The Cougars are followed by Stanford (20-1), and Minnesota (18-4), at second and third, respectively. The Big Ten Conference had two teams take the next positions with Illinois (20-3) followed by the Wisconsin (16-5) to round out the top five.
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The committee's top ten seems to reflect the latest coaches' rankings more than the RPI rankings. That is, both the committee and the coaches have BYU ahead of Stanford (reversed in the RPI), the top four in the committee's rankings are identical to the top four in the coaches' rankings (same four in RPI but in different order); and Creighton (RPI #16) the coaches have as #9 and the committee has as #10.
 

Anyone know if they are changing the game time on Friday vs Indiana? Starting one hour before the sold out women’s hoops game. Wish they’d push volleyball to 6 so I could enjoy both!!
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Anyone know if they are changing the game time on Friday vs Indiana? Starting one hour before the sold out women’s hoops game. Wish they’d push volleyball to 6 so I could enjoy both!!
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It's sort of a double whammy because Friday is Volleyball's Senior night rather than Saturday. For me, it's probably a set and a half and then over to hoops.
 


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