Gopher Volleyball 2018

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

MRJ said:
The AVCA released their preseason top 25 rankings today and the ladies check in at No. 4.

Other Big 10 teams: 2. Nebraska, 6. Penn State, 9. Wisconsin, 12. Illinois, 22. Michigan State, 23. Purdue. Michigan is receiving votes.

link: https://www.avca.org/polls/di-women/8-8-2018.html
Click to expand...

So the Gophers are picked here as #4 in the nation; WIsconsin as #9 nationally. However, the BIG coaches have WI as #2 in the conference; MN as #3 in the conference. Interesting configurations. I wonder who to believe most?
 

Hrothgar said:
So the Gophers are picked here as #4 in the nation; WIsconsin as #9 nationally. However, the BIG coaches have WI as #2 in the conference; MN as #3 in the conference. Interesting configurations. I wonder who to believe most?
Click to expand...

All it takes is a couple coaches who hate (losing to) the Gophers to put in a biased vote, and the poll is shot.
 


Jared.Hines said:
Maple Grove volleyball player Skylar Gray commits to the Gophers!

https://twitter.com/skylargrayvball/status/1029913682510262273?s=21

#SkiUMah
Click to expand...

So looking at her Twitter page, it says she was MG varsity as a freshman as well as played MN Select 15-1. I'm sure that's "great". But just wondering how she rates nationally, compared to some of the biggest recruits the Gophs have been bringing in?

Maybe have to wait and see how she continues to develop her body physically, jumping etc?
 
Last edited:


She’s class of 2021 so still many years to move up ranks. That said, her list of accomplishments so far are impressive.


Follow me on Twitter @Jared_Hines27
 
Last edited:

Wow, what an organized sheet of info! Though it has some personal info on there that you might consider taking down that link ...

I'm amazed at the "machine" that is recruiting of court sports like basketball and volleyball (girls moreso). How early it starts, club teams, etc.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Wow, what an organized sheet of info! Though it has some personal info on there that you might consider taking down that link ...

I'm amazed at the "machine" that is recruiting of court sports like basketball and volleyball (girls moreso). How early it starts, club teams, etc.
Click to expand...

Nice call. I have removed the link. If anyone is interested in learning more about her, her Twitter page does have good information.


Follow me on Twitter @Jared_Hines27
 

I caught the first three sets of the open scrimmage. Sheehan certainly looked like a very useful addition. Hugh mixed things up quite a bit; but about mid-way through the third set he had Seliger-Swenson, Samedy, Hart, McGraw, Pittman and Rollins on the same side. It was pretty effective.

Martin looked good; despite some receiving errors. Pauline Swider should develop as the season progresses.

Looking forward to the season opener at Target Center.
 



I think that would be my pick for "first team front row" and "first team back row", if there was such a thing. OH Hart, M Pittman, Oppo Samedy, then DS Rollins, L McGraw, S SSS.

Really just leaves the "offensive H2" spot as a battle between Sheehan and Martin, I guess. Because I'm assuming they won't attempt to get Martin to play M2.
 

https://gophersports.com/news/2018/8/21/volleyball-gophers-open-season-at-target-center.aspx

Opening night approaches:


ABOUT FLORIDA STATE

Florida State was picked to finish third in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season by the 15 head coaches in the league. The Seminoles also placed two on the Preseason All-ACC team, as sophomore Taryn Knuth and junior transfer Payton Caffrey both earn the first accolades of the season. Knuth led the conference and ranked 11th nationally in blocks per set last season with 1.49, and ranked third in the ACC and 17th nationally with 162 total blocks. Caffrey, was a two-time All-Big 12 First Team selection for West Virginia before transferring to FSU. Last year, Florida State went 18-11 and 12-8 in conference play. FSU will look to fill the void of graduated right-side hitter Milica Kubura, who was an AVCA All-America honorable mention selection.

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina was selected sixth in the preseason Atlantic Coast Conference poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The Tar Heels return Katharine Esterley who ranked second in the ACC and 19th nationally in 2017 with 1.44 blocks per set. The redshirt-sophomore reset Carolina's freshman records for block assists and blocks per set. Carolina welcomes back a quartet of defensive specialists in Mia Fradenburg, Casey Jacobs, Greer Moseman and Maddie Grace Hough who all saw time as libero during 2017. In addition to Jacobs, setter Kendra Koetter and outside hitter Madison Laufenberg lead the young 2018 squad as the three seniors. The Tar Heels finished eighth in 2017 with an 11-9 record and went 14-14 overall. North Carolina welcomes nine newcomers to the 2018 squad.

ALL-TIME SERIES

The Gophers are 10-5 against Florida State, all time, with the last appearance against the Seminoles in 2016. The Gophers and FSU battled against each other during the Puerto Rico Clasico, Sept. 3, 2016 in San Juan, Puerto Rico as Minnesota took the match, 3-1.

Minnesota is 9-1 all time against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Last season during the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Madison, Wis., the Gophers opened the season and won, 3-0, as Stephanie Samedy opened her career with a match-best 14 kills.
 

General question: is the ACC any good at volleyball? Obviously the Big Ten and PAC-12 dominate the sport. There are flyers like Texas and Florida. SEC also has upcoming Kentucky and solid Missouri, while Big XII has solid Kansas and Baylor.

But I'm hardpressed to think of solid vball programs from the ACC. Who am I missing?
 

Gophers_4life said:
General question: is the ACC any good at volleyball? Obviously the Big Ten and PAC-12 dominate the sport. There are flyers like Texas and Florida. SEC also has upcoming Kentucky and solid Missouri, while Big XII has solid Kansas and Baylor.

But I'm hardpressed to think of solid vball programs from the ACC. Who am I missing?
Click to expand...

Right now, only Pittsburgh is in the Top 25

Also receiving votes are Louisville, FSU & Miami.
 



Sure right now, in the 2018 preseason. I guess I was asking in a more historic, or last few seasons at least, point of view. I could research it, but thought someone might know off top of their head.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Sure right now, in the 2018 preseason. I guess I was asking in a more historic, or last few seasons at least, point of view. I could research it, but thought someone might know off top of their head.
Click to expand...

Teams like Notre Dame & UNC have been OK in the past in addition to the other 3.
 

Thanks.

Would think Notre Dame and Pitt would have been historically at least decent programs. Seems like midwest/great lakes and west coast college programs are largely dominate, with the previously mentioned Texas and Florida being exceptions.

However both of those were historically in the Big East, as opposed to the ACC. Wonder if any of those former (or current, in the new configuration) Big East schools have been historically good at college vball. Villanova, Georgetown?
 


In the B1G 10/ACC Challenge blurb:


BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE HISTORY

The 2018 season marks the fifth year of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, dating back to the 2014 season. Minnesota hosted the first tournament, followed by Louisville in 2015, North Carolina in 2016 and Wisconsin in 2017. Minnesota and Wisconsin have participated in the event the previous four years. Notre Dame competed in the 2014 tournament, while North Carolina took its place the following three. Florida State joined the event this season. Since its inception, Minnesota has gone 7-1, as it dropped one match to Louisville in 2014.
 

https://gophersports.com/news/2018/8/24/volleyball-gophers-sweep-fsu-in-season-opener.aspx

Minnesota swept Florida State 17, 21, 21. The first set was pretty smooth sailing after a Seliger-Swenson service run (Sam finished the match with 5 aces). The second set was a battle with the Gophers using a late run to close out the victory. In the third, Minnesota led 17-6 before limping to the finish line. Blocking and offense went awol.

Samedy was the feature player tonight and Taylor Morgan provided some much need offense from the middle (she had some downward snap on her hits). Alexis Hart hit negative for the match. The freshman Adanna Rollins replaced Hart in the back row.

Tonight, Hugh used nine players in a regular rotation.

Between matches I was wondering if the court they put down for this weekend is one they can use at the Pav.

The Badgers made efficiently dispatched North Carolina in three sets.

Minnesota used a well-balanced attack when four had over eight kills and two in double digits. Stephanie Samedy had a match-best 14 kills, while Jasmyn Martin had 11 kills. Taylor Morgan and Regan Pittman each had eight kills. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had a career-best five aces, contributed 35 assists and had 13 digs. CC McGraw and Adanna Rollins each made their collegiate debut tonight. McGraw had 13 digs, three assists and two digs. Rollins had six digs.
 

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...ver-florida-state-at-target-center/491688331/

With so many high-caliber players, Morgan said, the competition has been ferocious in practice. While that might make for some difficult lineup decisions, McCutcheon expects that depth to be one of the Gophers’ greatest assets this season.

“Here’s a lineup that did pretty well, and we’ll look to introduce other players as we go through the course of [nonconference play],’’ McCutcheon said. “This competition thing, the way this team views it, it’s a really strong advantage to not have to rely on a group of players or on one player. We have a lot of players who can get the job done.’’

...

McCutcheon used nine players, including freshmen CC McGraw and Adanna Rollins. He praised McGraw, a libero/defensive specialist from Prior Lake, for her tactical thinking and ability to adapt to the situation at hand. She finished with 13 digs, three assists and two aces, while Rollins, an outside hitter from Carrolltown, Texas, impressed McCutcheon with her defense (six digs).
 

Might want to hold off on singing the praises of this team for awhile. For the most part, they've been outplayed by a midling North Carolina team. Unimpressive. Unfocused. Unmotivated.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk
 

MRJ said:
Might want to hold off on singing the praises of this team for awhile. For the most part, they've been outplayed by a midling North Carolina team. Unimpressive. Unfocused. Unmotivated.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Maybe they knew they were good and completely screwed up tonight. Might be a early wake up call.
 

https://gophersports.com/boxscore.aspx?id=7103&path=wvball

A four set win 16, 24, -28, 23 over North Carolina. Yes the Gopher struggled to control North Carolina's left side hitters, Cox and Wine, who combined for 37 kills.

The last couple of season's Hugh's signature quirky move was replacing Seliger-Swenson with Taylor Morgan for blocking when the Gophers were serving late in a close set. This season's variation was replacing Samedy and Seliger-Swenson with Swider and Nelson. The switch was made in the second and third sets and it worked. They won the second set; but other breakdowns cost them the third after terrific rally.

We also saw Sheehan in the third, when it looked like the Gopher were going to sweep; but things quickly went awry.

Once again, Morgan had a solid night while Hart hit negative. Pittman hit .500 with 17 kills. Minnesota had 10 service errors and 3 aces.


The Badgers defeated Florida State in four sets. FSU won the first set and was leading comfortably in the second. Then, the Badgers Tiffany Clark turned the match around with a running, back to the net, one armed back over the head hit on a ball she chased 10+ feet beyond the end line. It was the play of the weekend.
 

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

The Tiffany Clark play for the Badgers. Spectacular. Florida State on the return, trying to catch the Badgers out of position, rushed their play and committed a passing error giving Wisconsin the point.
 
Last edited:

MRJ said:
Might want to hold off on singing the praises of this team for awhile. For the most part, they've been outplayed by a midling North Carolina team. Unimpressive. Unfocused. Unmotivated.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

My impression was: If MN & WI are the 4th & 9th best teams in the country, the lesser ranked teams must really be inadequate. Early season jitters? Puzzling about MN is why Hart doesn't start & why her slams lack the gusto of the past two seasons. Is there a back story there?
 

During Friday night's warmups I thought Hart was jumping and hitting better than last season. Probably just a personal Target Center mirage because it sure didn't translate into the matches.

For the weekend Hart had 45 total attacks (6 kills and 9 hitting errors) while Martin had 52 total attacks (19 kills and 5 hitting errors). Hart did out dig Martin 10 to 2. With Samedy, Pittman and Morgan attacking well, I don't think UNC and FSU defended Hart differently than they defended Martin.

For what it's worth, Hugh rotated Rollins into the front row once in place of Hart.
 

Hart has to be injured or sick. Lacked explosiveness jumping and violence in her swings.
McGraw is more athletic than Rosado and will get to a lot more balls, so floor defense should be better this year.
Morgan looked very good.
Pittman moved better and played great except for the service errors.
Rollins was not as impressive as I hoped. The whole team had way too many service errors.
The atmosphere at Target Center was so sterile. Can’t wait to see them at the PAV.
 
Last edited:

beavergopher said:
Hart has to be injured or sick. Lacked explosiveness jumping and violence in her swings.
McGraw is more athletic than Rosado and will get to a lot more balls, so floor defense should be better this year.
Morgan looked very good.
Pittman moved better and played great except for the service errors.
Rollins was not as impressive as I hoped. The whole team had way too many service errors.
The atmosphere at Target Center was so sterile. Can’t wait to see them at the PAV.
Click to expand...

Barnes was playing sick so I hope that's what Hart's issue was also.
 

I think the general rule is:
You don't play down to the level of inferior opponents; you make them play up to your level. The Gophers did a pretty job of following that rule until the middle of the 3rd set both nights. Then they let down their guard, almost fatally against North Carolina. Thankfully, Sameday showed her skill at the end of set 4 with 5 kills. Surely it was a very nervous first weekend for the newcomers, given all the pre-season hype they received; they can only get even better than they already are. It's not yet a team of veterans who've played lots together. The Pav could be a shot in the arm.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom