Gopher Volleyball 2022 Season

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If they look anything like today, OSU is extremely beatable. First and foremost, they've been struggling at the line, nullifying one of our biggest weaknesses. Their block is patchy (often can't close the slide) and they've struggled to get past Purdue's block. If we show up, it's ours.
 

IMGopher said:
If they look anything like today, OSU is extremely beatable. First and foremost, they've been struggling at the line, nullifying one of our biggest weaknesses. Their block is patchy (often can't close the slide) and they've struggled to get past Purdue's block. If we show up, it's ours.
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I spoke far too soon... if OSU looks like they did in the first two sets, we're fine. If they did in the second two, it'll be a tough match (though I still think we can take it).
 

Yesterday I created a Twitter account to host threads for discussing volleyball games, here's the link for tonight's match (not sure if it'll take off but there does seem to be some interest).
 







IMGopher said:
Thank you!! Haven’t found a ton of gophers in Boston so it’s great to find ways to be a part of the community
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There are a some great and knowledgeable posters here.

But if you really want to get into, by far the best place to talk about women's college volleyball is a message board called "Volleytalk".

Check it out: volleytalk.proboards.com/
 




Gophers serve-receive needs to be on point today going up against one of the better serving teams in the country.
 

So happy to see Elise starting. She was one of my favorite players from the maroon vs gold scrimmage and she has consistently shown that she deserves the chance to play. It’s fun starting 5-0!
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
Gophers serve-receive needs to be on point today going up against one of the better serving teams in the country.
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Look… I absolutely want us to win this game, and I’ll take the points we can get. But we’ve got to learn to receive these serves, and that’s hard to do when half of them are going out.
 



IMGopher said:
Look… I absolutely want us to win this game, and I’ll take the points we can get. But we’ve got to learn to receive these serves, and that’s hard to do when half of them are going out.
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More than half of their players were doing that high toss with top spin serve. Good learning process.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
More than half of their players were doing that high toss with top spin serve. Good learning process.
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I was surprised by how much I saw of that in Friday’s Rice-WKY game!! On another note, anybody who isn’t tuned into BTN, turn it on. This OSU-Nebraska game is insane, unreal defense on both sides
 


WayOfTheGopher said:
Ohio State looks unstoppable, but Nebraska is fighting back here in the third.
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What’s strange is, I feel like the Huskers look more athletic and like better blockers… yet, they’re still playing catch-up
 

Good match. Fairly solid play. Tough match from the standpoint that they should win comfortably but we know how match ups like that can become a big headache. Kudos to the Gophers for taking care of business. Go Gophers.
 

Monday NCAA RPI through Sunday's matches 11-13-22.

1 Texas
2 Louisville
3 Stanford
4 Ohio State
5 Pittsburgh
6 Wisconsin
7 Nebraska
8 Florida
9 Minnesota
10 Kentucky
11 Oregon
12 San Diego
13 Creighton
14 Marquette
15 UCF
16 Baylor

20 Penn State
23 Purdue
39 Michigan
46 Northwestern

65 Illinois
95 Indiana
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Wenaas is my player....just like Adanna Rollins was, when she was a Gopher. They fly under the radar and sometimes their stats are not the best or what us fans think they should be, but they always get the job done. Now that is the OH 6R Wenaas I am talking about.

Wenaas just doesn't belong playing as the Opp. Crowl is our only true Opp and I wished she would just hit the crap out that ball everytime she gets set. If and when McWu returns does Hugh put Wenaas back to Opp? I can only say, I hope not. I am leaning toward leaving Crowl in at Opp and letting Wenaas sub in the back 3 rotations for McWu, if and when she is able to come back and play.

Lately this team is playing controlled volleyball from beginning to end and the game is flowing. It appears the slower we play the better Shaff's sets are. If Shaff could CONSISTENTLY CONNECT with the Opp, we would be firing on all cylinders and at the right time. I feel we need that RS offense for the road games ahead and post season.
 

Gophers_4life said:
But then we lose all those cool and neat backrow attacks that win us so many games! :rolleyes:
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Concern or comment? However, you must admit we need SOLID DIGGING and PASSING from whoever is in the back court. That includes 6R pins and right now Wenaas is that best player.

Also, CC and Kilkelly are doing better since Wenaas went back to OH. The Apple Cart is less upset right now.
 

4EverAGopher said:
Wenaas is my player....just like Adanna Rollins was, when she was a Gopher. They fly under the radar and sometimes their stats are not the best or what us fans think they should be, but they always get the job done. Now that is the OH 6R Wenaas I am talking about.

Wenaas just doesn't belong playing as the Opp. Crowl is our only true Opp and I wished she would just hit the crap out that ball everytime she gets set. If and when McWu returns does Hugh put Wenaas back to Opp? I can only say, I hope not. I am leaning toward leaving Crowl in at Opp and letting Wenaas sub in the back 3 rotations for McWu, if and when she is able to come back and play.

Lately this team is playing controlled volleyball from beginning to end and the game is flowing. It appears the slower we play the better Shaff's sets are. If Shaff could CONSISTENTLY CONNECT with the Opp, we would be firing on all cylinders and at the right time. I feel we need that RS offense for the road games ahead and post season.
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I absolutely agree, on a couple different fronts. First, as far as our attack speed. We certainly connect better when we slow down, but I wouldn't pin that on Mel; she gets such a better first ball when we're slowed down. I also would need to dig through some stats to confirm this, but it seems like our opponent hitting percentage drops when we slow down. It's easier to get the ball in the air when you're not distracted by getting it to the setter as quick as possible. Once we're in system, we tend to be fairly efficient. I would frame it as, we need to work slow-to-fast. Slow down the back row and first pass, get the ball up in the air. That'll help with digs, it'll help keep us in system, and it'll also give our hitters more time to transition off the net. Then, let Mel speed things up once she has the ball in a good position. I feel like that type of approach could keep a lot of the benefits of our fast attack while solving some of the problems (of course, there are drawbacks no matter how you design it).

Second, I'm 100% with you—Wenaas is an unsung hero. I like your idea of her playing the back 3, though it feels like any solution is too limiting on one end or the other. I like having the problem of too many players you want to squeeze into the lineup.

Third, keeping Crowl at opposite definitely seems like the move. She's a lot more comfortable there, and with consistent time that'll only improve. I was typing out something about being concerned for the future of that position if we give her all the time, but I forgot she's still a freshman! In that case, I think it's even more of a good idea.

Some other weak spots of the team might be solved with the above as well. For example, I like tipping. When I play, I tip way too much. But it seems like Landfair is over-relying on a tip/push when she has one of the best swings in the nation. It feels like she isn't quite connecting with Mel as much, and giving her time to transition might help them get into a groove. I don't know how much playing time Naya is going to get, but we all know how great her slide is. Having a lefty hitting opposite really opens up one of Naya's best moves: hitting the outside of the line blocker.

I'm going to have to chew on all of this for a bit, lots of ways to go and I'm curious how Hugh will choose to proceed (sorry for the essay, I got excited)
 

Here's a question for all of you... given what's at stake, how experimental do you want to see Hugh in these last two weeks? Do you want to see us moving Jenna around, splitting between Naya/Carter/Arica (maybe even Husemann), trying different serve receives, etc? Or do you think we should pick a gameplan and practice that through the end?
 

4EverAGopher said:
Concern or comment? However, you must admit we need SOLID DIGGING and PASSING from whoever is in the back court. That includes 6R pins and right now Wenaas is that best player.

Also, CC and Kilkelly are doing better since Wenaas went back to OH. The Apple Cart is less upset right now.
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I absolutely agree with the comment about backrow passing/digging needing to be the priority.

My point was: if we need to sacrifice playing a 6OH or the Opp playing 6 rotations in order to do that .... that is absolutely the correct decision to make.

Backrow attacks are excessively fancy and not necessary. Not when you can run solid quick middle attacks and slides.


That's what the women's game is. The men's game is different.
 

IMGopher said:
Here's a question for all of you... given what's at stake, how experimental do you want to see Hugh in these last two weeks? Do you want to see us moving Jenna around, splitting between Naya/Carter/Arica (maybe even Husemann), trying different serve receives, etc? Or do you think we should pick a gameplan and practice that through the end?
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Is Wucherer expected back at some point for these matches?

Yeah, I don't know what to say at middle. The only one that seems like a no-brainer is Booth. She can do it all, and she's so damn tall that Schaffmaster actually doesn't set her too high.

I thought Gros was the answer, then Davis, and now I don't know who is the best M1 (or M2? not sure who is who).


Davis has awesome energy and athleticism. But doesn't seem to hit the ball very hard. Guessing that is more to do with lack of connection with Schaff than anything else ... at least I hope.

Booth has been pounding the ball. Really think they're on.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Is Wucherer expected back at some point for these matches?

Yeah, I don't know what to say at middle. The only one that seems like a no-brainer is Booth. She can do it all, and she's so damn tall that Schaffmaster actually doesn't set her too high.

I thought Gros was the answer, then Davis, and now I don't know who is the best M1 (or M2? not sure who is who).


Davis has awesome energy and athleticism. But doesn't seem to hit the ball very hard. Guessing that is more to do with lack of connection with Schaff than anything else ... at least I hope.

Booth has been pounding the ball. Really think they're on.
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I still haven't heard anything at all about Kenna, no matter how much I've looked.

As far as Booth... I agree that she's a no-brainer. However, I don't think the connection with Mel is quite there. There are a lot of balls that she just ends up pushing even though she's got a great swing. When they do connect though, it's amazing.

I really believe that working slow to fast, getting a good first touch, and stressing the transition could fix that no matter who's there. Davis and Naya are both great options, I hope we go back and forth the next two weeks and decide based on which block leads to the most backcourt success.
 

At best we go 4-0 and throw a wrench into the B1G standings, and at worst we go 1-3 and hope that we get a top 8 seeding based on SOS. I think having such strong opponents to finish the season is great as it should help prepare the team for post-season play.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
At best we go 4-0 and throw a wrench into the B1G standings, and at worst we go 1-3 and hope that we get a top 8 seeding based on SOS. I think having such strong opponents to finish the season is great as it should help prepare the team for post-season play.
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I agree, though I really wish we could play Indiana again... we have to figure out a way to get the serve return down.
 

Would really love for them to go 2-0 this trip.

Next weekend is going to be brutal, and won't be surprised if we go 0-2. Just want the matches to be competitive.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Would really love for them to go 2-0 this trip.

Next weekend is going to be brutal, and won't be surprised if we go 0-2. Just want the matches to be competitive.
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I think we have a real shot at 3-1 (loss to OSU). But no matter what this Penn St game is likely to set the tone for the rest of the year
 

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