Gopher Volleyball 2019

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You have to work at it to blow a 24-20 lead.... I was only following the live stats, but I wondered if Sameday wasn't kinda taking FSU on by herself? It makes a person wonder what's been done to strengthen the team in the off-season. Time will tell.
 


Gophers drop to #8 in latest coaches' poll:

1 Stanford (63)
2 Nebraska (1)
3 Texas
4 Wisconsin
5 Illinois
6 Penn State
7 Florida
8 Minnesota
9 Oregon
10 Pittsburgh

With the next four matches against #3 Texas, #7 Florida, #9 Oregon, and #1 Stanford, the Gophers have to be right up there with the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.
 
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They'll go 0-4, if they receive and pass like they did vs FSU. End of story.
 


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A bit of recruiting news about 90 minutes before Texas tonight...

Prepvolleyball.com has released their list of top 100 recruits for 2020 and the Gophers (as expected) have quite a haul coming in. Not surprisingly, Landfair was rated the No.1 recruit in the country. She's been a terror both in high school and on the club level since she was in 8th grade.

Here are the Gopher recruits for next year, plus their ratings in the top 100:

1. Taylor Landfair, 6-4, OH, Plainfield, IL (Planfield HS) Sports Performance
3. Jenna Wenaas, 6-1, OH, Frisco, TX (Liberty HS) TAV
16. Melani Shaffmaster, 6-4, S/OH, New Castle, IN (New Castle, HS) Munciana
Just outside top 100: Cami Appiani, 5-8, L/DS, San Diego, CA (Torrey Pines HS) WAVE.

Pretty nice class coming to the Pav next year! :eek:
 

As for the match (and this team in 2019), this group is REALLY frustrating to watch at the moment. Passing and back row play are extremely poor for extended periods (and at the worst possible times). Gagging away nice leads late in sets for two straight matches is inexcusable, especially when it's been on simple things like serve receive and completing passes.

Big-time lack of focus, leaders and execution from the maroon and gold so far in 2019. Hugh has a lot of work to do with this group. Wouldn't at all surprising if this team loses a bunch of matches before conference.

The good thing is it's a long season, although this program's growing habit of choking away sets (and as a result, matches) versus nonconference opponents is becoming increasingly tiresome...






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Consecutive set points lost is even crazier than consecutive sets lost. Anyway, Florida was swept by Stanford.
 



0-14 on set points that was really ugly. Service errors on set points on just floating serves unacceptable
 

rowdaboat said:
0-14 on set points that was really ugly. Service errors on set points on just floating serves unacceptable
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That and the net play has been absolutely atrocious. Texas and Florida State both did absolutely anything they wanted offensively, and a lot of it was because of free swings without any semblance of a blocking presence at the net.

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MRJ: The good thing is it's a long season, although this program's growing habit of choking away sets (and as a result, matches) versus nonconference opponents is becoming increasingly tiresome...

Interesting comment. The tendency of losing leads or trouble putting matches away started after mid-season in 2018 and continues with a vengeance. I wish I knew the technicalities of VB, but it's clear they have no blocking at the net. Opponents score over their block at will. Maybe that's due to Gophers' poor serving, which fails to put the receiving team on the defensive. I can't see the team has added any newcomers that improve the team. If the Japanese and Croatian recruits are as good as the PR blurbs on them say, why aren't they playing?
 




In the third set yesterday, from 28-27 Gophers to 32-all, the Gophers had three service errors on five serving attempts. The Longhorns didn't do much better, with two service errors on four serving attempts. Together they had five service errors in nine points. I can understand trying to serve aggressively in such situations, but wow!
 

let'sbeclear said:
In the third set yesterday, from 28-27 Gophers to 32-all, the Gophers had three service errors on five serving attempts. The Longhorns didn't do much better, with two service errors on four serving attempts. Together they had five service errors in nine points. I can understand trying to serve aggressively in such situations, but wow!
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You're right. Texas played as poorly as MN throughout the match (which would have doomed them against previous Gopher teams), except at the net where Texas hit over and between MN blockers with no resistance.
 

In a three hour Madison marathon on FS1, Marquette took down the Badgers after dropping the first two sets: 22-25, 22-25, 29-27, 32-30 and 15-9. It was Marquette's first ever win over Wisconsin.
 

Marquette's serving errors late in sets 3 & 4 were very much like the Gophers @ Texas. I thought they were doomed, but glad they were able to overcome theirs for the upset!
 

Waffle said:
Marquette's serving errors late in sets 3 & 4 were very much like the Gophers @ Texas. I thought they were doomed, but glad they were able to overcome theirs for the upset!
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Do you live at the Waffle House?
 

For the second straight season, Baylor takes down the Badgers (this time in Madison) 21-25, 25-22, 27-25 and 25-17. And for the second straight season, the Badgers could not stop Pressley who finished with 31 kills. Now, I'm ready for some Gopher volleyball at the Pav!
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
For the second straight season, Baylor takes down the Badgers (this time in Madison) 21-25, 25-22, 27-25 and 25-17. And for the second straight season, the Badgers could not stop Pressley who finished with 31 kills. Now, I'm ready for some Gopher volleyball at the Pav!
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It's been kind of rough for the Big Ten overall. Washington beat Illinois, Notre Dame over Purdue, Missouri over Michigan.
 

While the final hitting stats might not bear it out, I thought the Gophers played much, much better tonight. Maybe it's the home floor; maybe Florida is over-rated. But the Gophers cut both their service errors and reception errors way down. They still were out-blocked, but I think a couple of stretches in set 3 made those stats seem worse than they actually were. Four players with double-digit digs was nice to see.
 
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Yes, no messing around with the lineup tonight: it was Morgan, Hart, Rollins, Samedy, Pittman, Miller, McGraw and Kilkelly. It's really nice to see Miller and Samedy hooking up on the back row attack. Miller seems to be distributing the ball well.

The Gophers hit .242 and Florida .137 for the match. Both teams had 3 aces. The better news is that Minnesota had 4 service errors compared to Florida's 7.

It was a little annoying that the scoreboard stopped showing stats and replays early in the game-I get use to them. I'm not sure what Mary Wise was upset about during the second set. She seemed to being pointing at one of the line officials while complaining to the down ref.
 

Kilkelly played well. Looks like she can make up for the loss of Benedict Arnold-Barnes to the Badgers. AC was great!

The bad.......what is it with our susceptibility to the tips and dink shots over the block?
 

beavergopher said:
Kilkelly played well. Looks like she can make up for the loss of Benedict Arnold-Barnes to the Badgers. AC was great!

The bad.......what is it with our susceptibility to the tips and dink shots over the block?
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AC was great!

I wonder the same. Terrible coverage on a lot of those.
 

beavergopher said:
Kilkelly played well. Looks like she can make up for the loss of Benedict Arnold-Barnes to the Badgers. AC was great!

The bad.......what is it with our susceptibility to the tips and dink shots over the block?
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Playing the tip has always been a weakness for the Gophers.
 


MRJ said:
A bit of recruiting news about 90 minutes before Texas tonight...

Prepvolleyball.com has released their list of top 100 recruits for 2020 and the Gophers (as expected) have quite a haul coming in. Not surprisingly, Landfair was rated the No.1 recruit in the country. She's been a terror both in high school and on the club level since she was in 8th grade.

Here are the Gopher recruits for next year, plus their ratings in the top 100:

1. Taylor Landfair, 6-4, OH, Plainfield, IL (Planfield HS) Sports Performance
3. Jenna Wenaas, 6-1, OH, Frisco, TX (Liberty HS) TAV
16. Melani Shaffmaster, 6-4, S/OH, New Castle, IN (New Castle, HS) Munciana
Just outside top 100: Cami Appiani, 5-8, L/DS, San Diego, CA (Torrey Pines HS) WAVE.

Pretty nice class coming to the Pav next year! :eek:
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Do you know what our class rankings (ie, #4 class in the country) were for 2017-2019?
 


MnplsGopher said:
Do you know what our class rankings (ie, #4 class in the country) were for 2017-2019?
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Thankfully, Prepvolleyball does have an archive of where they ranked classes in the past, so I was able to look it up.

In 2017, the Gophers were #4. That was Stephanie Samedy's class. Interestingly, only one of the four players they signed that year is still with the program.

In 2018, the Gophers were rated #14. That class had McGraw and Rollins in it.

In 2019, the Gophers were #16.

It'll be interesting to see where this class ends up. Definitely top-5 and quite possibly #1 (which would be the first No. 1 class for the U in well over a decade). Hebert had the top class one year in the early to mid-2000s, but it's been a long time since the U has put together arguably the best class in the country.
 

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