Gopher Volleyball 2021-Fall Season

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I am not a volleyball expert but enjoy going to a few games and watching them on TV. I think Hugh is a great coach and he does seem to be an excellent recruiter. As an overall avid sports fan however his teams seem to lack that " killer " instinct. I don't think he has to be all rah,rah but it is rare to see any emotion from him. Some of the other coaches, like NB, appear to know when to push some emotional buttons and get their teams fired up. We sat behind the TX bench last week and he knew when to challenge his team. Hugh calls TO's at the needed times but seems to calmly be discussing whatever strategy. I am not suggesting we would have a few Natty's on pure emotion but there have been a few seasons when we had superior talent and fizzled out at in the tourney. For those of you know more about his assistants does he have somebody who can fire up the team ?
 

GringaGopher said:
I am not a volleyball expert but enjoy going to a few games and watching them on TV. I think Hugh is a great coach and he does seem to be an excellent recruiter. As an overall avid sports fan however his teams seem to lack that " killer " instinct. I don't think he has to be all rah,rah but it is rare to see any emotion from him. Some of the other coaches, like NB, appear to know when to push some emotional buttons and get their teams fired up. We sat behind the TX bench last week and he knew when to challenge his team. Hugh calls TO's at the needed times but seems to calmly be discussing whatever strategy. I am not suggesting we would have a few Natty's on pure emotion but there have been a few seasons when we had superior talent and fizzled out at in the tourney. For those of you know more about his assistants does he have somebody who can fire up the team ?
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I'm not a VB expert either. However, a fan could see the killer instinct (for lack of a better expression) was not lacking in seasons past. Just the opposite, in fact, at the Pav, where visitors seldom won. In 20 & 21 it's strangely conspicuous in its absence.
 

Hrothgar said:
I'm not a VB expert either. However, a fan could see the killer instinct (for lack of a better expression) was not lacking in seasons past. Just the opposite, in fact, at the Pav, where visitors seldom won. In 20 & 21 it's strangely conspicuous in its absence.
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Maybe due to the loss of Taylor Morgan?
 


We really need to grab a quality win soon. We had a great out of conference schedule with plenty of opportunities for us to pick up wins against very good teams in other conferences to show we are one of the best this year, it would be pretty disappointing if we end up not capitalizing on any of them.
 

Hugh drastically overscheduled with what he has for this season imo. I don't expect them to win either match this weekend, and if I'm correct in that expectation, the ladies would be 1-5. The team/program has definitely taken a couple of steps backward. I'm hoping we don't have a repeat of the 2014 campaign, but at this point, I'm not seeing much forward momentum. The areas of weakness from last year are still areas of weakness and don't seem to be improving, which means either they aren't being addressed or the players on hand aren't good enough to fix them.

Either way, it's frustrating to watch.
 

MRJ said:
Hugh drastically overscheduled with what he has for this season imo. I don't expect them to win either match this weekend, and if I'm correct in that expectation, the ladies would be 1-5. The team/program has definitely taken a couple of steps backward. I'm hoping we don't have a repeat of the 2014 campaign, but at this point, I'm not seeing much forward momentum. The areas of weakness from last year are still areas of weakness and don't seem to be improving, which means either they aren't being addressed or the players on hand aren't good enough to fix them.

Either way, it's frustrating to watch.
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I'd guess it's the latter reason. In basketball, they talk of playing above the rim. In my non-expert eye, I see Gophers' VB opponents attacking & defending over the block & above the net. I expected MN to get a couple of tranfers the way Florida got Forte, but nothing happened. So MN's opponents now move quicker & jump higher. If I'm wrong, please correct my untrained opinion.
 

Hrothgar said:
I'd guess it's the latter reason. In basketball, they talk of playing above the rim. In my non-expert eye, I see Gophers' VB opponents attacking & defending over the block & above the net. I expected MN to get a couple of tranfers the way Florida got Forte, but nothing happened. So MN's opponents now move quicker & jump higher. If I'm wrong, please correct my untrained opinion.
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I haven't gotten the chance to watch as much this season, but last season, the middles (other than Pittman) really had trouble reading hitters, were consistently late on blocking assignments and had trouble even closing their blocks. I'm not sure Rubright has a level of physicality or lateral quickness required for the position. Myers was largely an non-factor and Huesmann hasn't really seen much of the court throughout her career. Maybe long term, the combination of Anna Wolf along with Carter Booth will be the answer. But non of the middles on this roster have established themselves with any level of consistency.
 



I keep wondering how a top rated program got to this point. I just feel we are being out recruited in the talent phase of the process or whoever is recruiting for Gopher Volleyball has lately been misjudging talent across the board. NOT ALL FRESHMAN ARE STARTERS NO MATTER THEIR RANKING. Sometimes you MIGHT finally see their true talent developed by their Junior or Senior seasons.

I thought I have read that Hugh doesn't care for really large rosters. With all the health and injury issues involved with this program over the last 3 years, including this season, we could certainly use a larger roster with quality backup players.

Can someone explain why setters come to Division 1 Volleyball and are not able to set a middle game? You really do need it as part of your game in order to beat the BETTER TEAMS.
 

4EverAGopher said:
I keep wondering how a top rated program got to this point. I just feel we are being out recruited in the talent phase of the process or whoever is recruiting for Gopher Volleyball has lately been misjudging talent across the board. NOT ALL FRESHMAN ARE STARTERS NO MATTER THEIR RANKING. Sometimes you MIGHT finally see their true talent developed by their Junior or Senior seasons.

I thought I have read that Hugh doesn't care for really large rosters. With all the health and injury issues involved with this program over the last 3 years, including this season, we could certainly use a larger roster with quality backup players.

Can someone explain why setters come to Division 1 Volleyball and are not able to set a middle game? You really do need it as part of your game in order to beat the BETTER TEAMS.
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I suggested after the Texas game that MN has been out-recruited recently, not by much but enough that it's noticeable. It's been 4-5 years now since Samedy arrived. No newcomer approaching her level since then, not that I know of anyway.
 

MRJ said:
It's the Minnesota way. Everything is always the end of the world when teams don't get it done. But that's the way it goes when teams associated with Minnesota almost always fail on the national stage. It's a natural part of the average Minnesota fan's psyche. If Samedy and Pittman leave, others will have to step forward and fill those roles. That's just the way it is in college athletics. And Hugh has brought in tons of talent in recent years with more on the way. With that said, there are legitimate concerns about the right side and back row. But the way some folks think and talk, you would think the program is about to slide into total mediocrity despite there being no evidence anywhere to indicate it. Bottom line for me is that they'll be just fine as the youngsters mature and new blood joins the program. I just happen to think this team's performance in the NCAAs was a major disappointment and people are venting a bit, some of them just started to gamble at some of the best casinos out there at erfahrungen.com. So none of our highly-touted underclassmen will improve over the off-season? And Samedy and Pittman are incapable of seeing any potential in their teammates? Pro career options and being ready to move on with life is the reason they will likely leave. I don't understand some of the gloomy predictions for next year even if Samedy and Pittman are gone.
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I do agree with you. People tend to always look for someone to blame. It would make more sense to just keep calm and see how the new talents develop. Just imho.
 

Gophers 25-22, 19-25, 25-16 and 25-17.

Solid all around effort tonight versus Stanford on PAC 12 TV. Samedy (.455) with 20 kills, Wenaas with 17 and Miyabe 14. Myers had 5 kills and Husemann 4. Gophers hit .329 for the match while holding Stanford to .199.

Landfair was out again tonight; although she was on the bench and pretty active.
 




Tucker said:
Gophers win:)

Way to go Gophs, nice to get a win!
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There sure has been a lot of pessimism in this forum. As I recall, there was similar pessimism -- both about the team and about McCutcheon -- early on during the non-conference schedule a few years back, and the Gophers ended up doing pretty darn well that season. Tonight's win, without Landfair, surely must be some indication that the situation is not nearly as dire as some here seem to believe. And note that the Gophs outblocked Stanford 14-9.
 

I have not been following messages for the last few days, and have just been catching up on my sports now, and boy did some of the above posts from earlier this week look silly in the context of this big win against Stanford tonight.

You have read my thoughts on this before but the best explanation I have for our performance is to understand that these other universities want to win too. They have things to offer talent too. They are not just sitting their hoping to get blown off the court by the Minnesota Gophers.

Winning is tough. We are going to win some and we are going to lose some against the top 15 teams. I just hope to be entertained each week of the season.
 



Nice first set by Gophs, hitting .467, with five kills coming from the middles. But there were 0 blocks in the set; neither team had one.
 



gophersports.com

Gophers Come Back to Beat No. 11 Oregon in Five Sets - University of Minnesota Athletics

The No. 13 University of Minnesota volleyball team took down the No. 11 Oregon Ducks on Saturday night in Eugene, Ore., 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-12.
gophersports.com gophersports.com

Notable:
-Stephanie Samedy (20 kills) moved past the 1,600 (1,610) career kill mark. She still ranks No. 8 all-time at Minnesota. It was her fifth time in six matches with 20-or-more kills this year.
-Jenna Wenaas tallied 19 kills, her fifth time in six matches this season with double digit kills. 19 kills is a season-high for her, topping her 17 from last night.
-CC McGraw had 30 digs, which was a season-high and two off of her career-high.
-Katie Myers tallied a season-best nine kills and eight blocks.
-Bayley McMenimen came off the bench in set four and tallied 13 assists and four digs through the final two sets.
-Rachel Kilkelly led Minnesota with a season-best three service aces. She also tallied 12 digs, another season-high.
-Taylor Landfair returned to action in limited time, notching one kill and two blocks.
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gopherfan82 said:
I do agree with you. People tend to always look for someone to blame. It would make more sense to just keep calm and see how the new talents develop. Just imho.
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I don't see pessimism about Gophers VB. Instead VB fans EXPECT the Gophers to win & win big. That's a positive attitude I don't sense about many other MN teams, if any. Why not shoot for the top and make it clear in a constructive way where we'd like it to lead?
 

Hrothgar said:
I don't see pessimism about Gophers VB. Instead VB fans EXPECT the Gophers to win & win big. That's a positive attitude I don't sense about many other MN teams, if any. Why not shoot for the top and make it clear in a constructive way where we'd like it to lead?
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This discourse represents two types of people; the romantic dreamer and the hard-hearted realist. My own father and mother represent both of those personality types. The world needs both. Maybe this message board benefits from the participation of both types of people as well.
 


I'm more than happy to eat crow with how the ladies performed this weekend. Went into a tough environment and came out with two big wins!! Congrats on a fine performance!!

Hopefully they can build on it with conference play starting up in the coming weeks.
 

MRJ said:
I'm more than happy to eat crow with how the ladies performed this weekend. Went into a tough environment and came out with two big wins!! Congrats on a fine performance!!

Hopefully they can build on it with conference play starting up in the coming weeks.
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At least two full, heaping plates of crow.
 


Anybody know what happened to Shaffmaster? And who was the slightly rotund player who split replacement setting duties thereafter- I thought she played extremely well for someone who hadn’t seen the court this year- and she seemed to set the middle much better than I remember Shaff doing?
 


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