Gopher Volleyball 2021 - Spring Season

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jham13 said:
I would expect Michigan State to finish in the middle of the B1G this year so overall not too shabby of a showing by the Gophers for their first weekend of play.
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Their freshman Franklin -- wow. Big girl with an even bigger swing. Heavy. Strong serve too. Feel like she could contribute on a lot of very high level teams in the country.
 

Hrothgar said:
I didn't see 14 players on the floor. Did Rubright, Huseman, and Atherton appear in Sunday's match?
I didn't spy out Atherton (nr. 11) even on the sidelines. Not that I know; only reporting that I looked for them but didn't see them.
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I did not watch yesterday's match, just today's ... but Shaff looks very good at setter to me.
 

I don't know much about VB. However, the Gophers roster has only 14 players, excellent though they are. Isn't that a pretty small roster? And in a weekend series in which 4 of the 6 sets were pretty straightforward wins, why did Rubright, Huseman, and Etherton not play at all? Rubright and Huseman were, after all, fairly vital contributors last season.
 

Hrothgar said:
I don't know much about VB. However, the Gophers roster has only 14 players, excellent though they are. Isn't that a pretty small roster? And in a weekend series in which 4 of the 6 sets were pretty straightforward wins, why did Rubright, Huseman, and Etherton not play at all? Rubright and Huseman were, after all, fairly vital contributors last season.
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I'd argue that the matches were much more close than the score of 3-0 sweeps both days reads. It felt, to me, that only two of the six sets were straightforward wins.

And Rubright and Huseman barely played last season.
 


dynasty said:
I'd argue that the matches were much more close than the score of 3-0 sweeps both days reads. It felt, to me, that only two of the six sets were straightforward wins.

And Rubright and Huseman barely played last season.
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Next year, there will be two women, one regular playing position. I assume Rubright and Huseman are going to be in a vigorous, slugfest dual for Pittman’s spot and only one can be left standing. But presently and throughout this year, Pittman owns that role.
 

Hrothgar said:
I don't know much about VB. However, the Gophers roster has only 14 players, excellent though they are. Isn't that a pretty small roster? And in a weekend series in which 4 of the 6 sets were pretty straightforward wins, why did Rubright, Huseman, and Etherton not play at all? Rubright and Huseman were, after all, fairly vital contributors last season.
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I have a feeling Hugh is going to try and establish chemistry amongst the top rotation of players. After all, they're breaking in a new starting setter and a pair of new outsides, so I would expect he'll continue to let them try and play through a few matches before he starts tinkering with anything. Doesn't mean Rubright, Husemann or Atherton won't get their chances.

He did play McNeniman in both matches and got Wenaas into the second match, but that made sense because 1. McNeniman did play a lot last year and 2. Landfair was struggling reading and reacting to sets from Shaffmaster in set one of the second match. Wenaas was therefore able to come in and settle things down a little more on the outside.

I would expect that we'll also see more of Miyabe as the season goes along. Katie Myers looks like she'll be a stud in the middle to pair with Pittman, so it might be tougher for Rubright or Husemann to get into the lineup.

All and all, I trust Hugh's judgment to push the right buttons.
 






Little struggle here in the 3rd after winning first two.
 

Didn't think they would pull of set 3 tonight. The gals just calmly came back to put them away. Nice team.
 
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Samedy and Rollins continue to look dialed in. Landfair had a good night driving the ball out off the block.
 



Wisconsin really #1 team in nation? Those should be great games but nothing interesting besides PSU until then
 

rowdaboat said:
Wisconsin really #1 team in nation? Those should be great games but nothing interesting besides PSU until then
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Tough conference when you think about it. Minnesota, Wisconsin , Penn State, & Nebraska with other teams also in the conference that will give you fits. Makes you better for the tournament as the California teams are always tough.
 

rowdaboat said:
Wisconsin really #1 team in nation? Those should be great games but nothing interesting besides PSU until then
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As #2Gopher pointed out, they are playing several good teams before Wiscy. #5 Nebraska, #21 Michigan and #13 Purdue. For that matter Illinois is usually a strong program. B1G is hands down the best conference for Volleyball.
 


Caught the final set tonight; Shaff is really coming along as a setter. Offense looked much crisper and in rhythm.
 

Can't discount Nebraska or Penn St, of course. But looking like Minn vs Wisc could be a Super Bowl series.
 

gophersports.com

Gophers Add Another Sweep Over the Terrapins - University of Minnesota Athletics

The University of Minnesota earned its fourth-straight sweep when it defeated Maryland 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-15), tonight in College Park, Md.
gophersports.com gophersports.com

The University of Minnesota earned its fourth-straight sweep when it defeated Maryland 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-15), tonight in College Park, Md. With the win, Minnesota is 4-0 in overall and Big Ten play.

Taylor Landfair led the team with 11 kills, had just one error in 18 attempts and hit .556. Rollins had nine kills, while Regan Pittman hit .889 when she had eight kills in nine attempts. She also had three aces. Melani Shaffmaster added 28 assists, six kills, two aces and seven digs. Myers led the team with six blocks, while CC McGraw had nine digs.

As a team, Minnesota added a total of 10 aces, 42 kills, 34 digs, seven team blocks and hit .358. Maryland hit .247, had 38 kills, 31 digs and four team blocks
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MplsGopher said:
Can't discount Nebraska or Penn St, of course. But looking like Minn vs Wisc could be a Super Bowl series.
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Honestly, I would imagine that at this stage of the season, oddsmakers would still have Nebraska as the favorite over us. They have Stivrins and Sun. I think they are considered a clear final four caliber team.
 

Rutgers didn't waste much time getting a B1G win this season! They followed up by losing 3-1 Saturday to IU making it the first split weekend in the conference.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. –
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The Rutgers women's volleyball team came home to earn the program's first-ever victory over Indiana with a 2021 spring season home-opening 3-1 victory (18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-20) over the Hoosiers.

The win gave head coach Caitlin Schweihofer her first Scarlet Knight victory in her College Ave. Gym debut as Rutgers moved to 1-2 on the season. The Hoosiers, meanwhile, dropped to 0-3.
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scarletknights.com

B1G Home-Opening Victory - Rutgers University Athletics

scarletknights.com scarletknights.com
 


Case in point with this battle with Purdue tonight. Samedy needs some other players to step up.
 

What a match by Samedy: 28 kills hitting .377. Plus she had 27 digs and 3 blocks. The Shaffmaster connection is well oiled.

Rollins had 17 kills (.300).

McGraw left the game and eventually the arena. I'm not certain about the problem.
 


i’m so glad we won, but man do we have a thin bench right now. rachel and cc are the only two DS’s on the roster. wenas did well tonight stepping in, but if cc is going to be out any length it’s going to be very tough. also appears that mcmenimen hasn’t been on the bench the past 2 matches.
 

As a person who likes volleyball, but doesn't know it's intricacies, I found this match with Purdue very entertaining. I was impressed with the great skill on display from both teams.
 

Felt the ladies were actually much better with CC out. She makes some incredible digs, but the team's serve receive and passing were questionable at best while she was in there.

Kilkelly was really good tonight and Wenaas was very solid.

And Samedy was incredible. What a stud.

Once this team puts it together, they're going to be really good. Shaffmaster and Landfair are going to be deadly once they get a few more reps together.
 

I'm wondering if the rest of you are noticing a couple things.

First, Pittman doesn't seem to be getting the slide hits the way she did the past couple years. I don't think it's a huge problem since we can get kills from several other places and Pittman has become so well rounded she contributes in plenty of other ways, particularly serving.

Second, Shaffmaster is already really good at dump shots. For those who really know the game, is that something of a function of her being a bigger setter? That is, does being a bigger player help disguise it and/or get the ball over quicker compared to shorter players?
 

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