Gopher Volleyball 2022 Season

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I didn't see the game...how many flat-foot free balls did Landfair overhand last night? Against Stanford I lost count. Not all on her...the ball movement was atrocious that night.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
I didn't see the game...how many flat-foot free balls did Landfair overhand last night? Against Stanford I lost count. Not all on her...the ball movement was atrocious that night.
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Something's wrong. In pre-game warmups, the Gophers looked desultory; that's anecdotal, of course, and they seemed jubilant to win game 1. But after that the opponents were quicker to the ball, hit harder, served better, and were fast to set up blocks against the Gophers' telegraphing their net attacks. A flat-footed performance. When was the last time we saw a Gophers' team sink so easily into 12-2 and 15-4 holes? Hate to sound negative, but very strange...
 

Hrothgar said:
Something's wrong. In pre-game warmups, the Gophers looked desultory; that's anecdotal, of course, and they seemed jubilant to win game 1. But after that the opponents were quicker to the ball, hit harder, served better, and were fast to set up blocks against the Gophers' telegraphing their net attacks. A flat-footed performance. When was the last time we saw a Gophers' team sink so easily into 12-2 and 15-4 holes? Hate to sound negative, but very strange...
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Yes, that beginning of the 4th set sure does defy explanation.

All in all, last night the Gophers didn't just get beat; they took a drubbing! I can't remember the last time they didn't even seem to be in the match, even in their 3-0 losses over the years.
 



Gophers_4life said:
WCC is quality in volleyball, like the Big West. U of San Diego, BYU, and Pepper I believe all top 25. Lot of California players, which is one of the main hotbeds in volleyball.

That's of course no excuse for the (supposedly) #6 team losing, at home, to the #22 team.

Gophers are not at all playing like even a top 25 team.
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Lately even programs like NW, Maryland and even Iowa have given us issues. It's great to see other programs rise to the top, but not at the expense of your team.
 

Also I hate how we get no info about what's going on from the non-revenue sports. They release the schedule and say see ya at the end of the season.
 





spokesman-recorder.com

Black women in volleyball concentrated in HBCUs | Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Most Black volleyball players can be found at HBCUs.
spokesman-recorder.com spokesman-recorder.com

Charles Hallman:

A consistent argument that still exists is that there aren’t more Black females in volleyball because the sport is too expensive or too technical. The former is valid, because traveling or elite volleyball can be costly, and the latter is valid because you can’t play volleyball alone like you can dribbling or shooting a basketball or training for track.

ESPN.com’s MV Voepel wrote in a 2020 article, “Black women have long excelled [in volleyball] but often haven’t been represented or felt embraced… Many black women have felt marginalized or overlooked in the sport.”

The NCAA Demographics Database says the number of Black female college volleyball players has dropped slightly from 1,921 (2019) to 1,894 (2021). It remains that most Black volleyball players can be found at HBCUs.

This season all but one Big Ten school (Indiana) has at least one Black player. Penn State, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Maryland lead with four each; Minnesota has three Blacks on this season’s roster. But there are zero Black head coaches in the conference.
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JacksonMedford said:
Vicki Brown was interim HC at Iowa for a while, and Salima Rockwell was also a strong candidate to take over the Penn State program after Russ Rose retired.
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Minnesota has four black players - Booth, Davis, Gros, and Landfair. I get the point he's trying to make, but at least get the number right for your local team.
 

We have transferred in all this middle talent and I keep asking myself for the last few years, why?

I am also tired of hearing (even coming from Hugh himself) how deep we are in positions this season. But they are all positions at the net. Where we need that depth the most is at L/DS and Setting....where our games have broken down so much over several seasons causing us to play OOS volleyball.

If Mir Wu and McGhie are not our answer as backup setters, then Hugh you need to transfer in another Palmer and/or Miller. I still feel Shaffmaster as an OH when she started in volleyball and with all her other POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES, would make a great 6R OH on this team.

As far as our Libero position, I still feel that is a combo platter of coaching issues and a personal deflated mindset. However, I felt Kilkelly played some of her best matches as a Libero, when she had to step in while CC was out last season.
 





What the Gophers need right now is someone to be a spark plug and leader. Someone who will give 100%, focus, and is eager for the next opportunity. I thought that it was C.C. during the first four matches because she was flying around the court and making impossible digs. She was sacrificing for the Team but she hasn't done that the last two matches, which makes me think she is hurt. However, there are other veterans who could step up and be a Leader and spark plug. If some people don't step up, lead, and fire up the team, this season could slide away.
 

Not a good start for B1G this week, Nebraska and Minnesota lost. Wisconsin is about to get swept at home also.
 




4EverAGopher said:
We have transferred in all this middle talent and I keep asking myself for the last few years, why?

I am also tired of hearing (even coming from Hugh himself) how deep we are in positions this season. But they are all positions at the net. Where we need that depth the most is at L/DS and Setting....where our games have broken down so much over several seasons causing us to play OOS volleyball.

If Mir Wu and McGhie are not our answer as backup setters, then Hugh you need to transfer in another Palmer and/or Miller. I still feel Shaffmaster as an OH when she started in volleyball and with all her other POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES, would make a great 6R OH on this team.

As far as our Libero position, I still feel that is a combo platter of coaching issues and a personal deflated mindset. However, I felt Kilkelly played some of her best matches as a Libero, when she had to step in while CC was out last season.
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Hugh cares about hitters and blocking.

We need a solid setter and solid defense.
 

JacksonMedford said:
Of those first eight game, six are a toss up. We'll probably go 3-5 to start.
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It has been a good start to the season so far, especially if we get a win against Washington State. 5 wins and 3 losses looks a lot better than this early prediction of 3-5 that happened prior to the start of the season.

Go Gophers, keep it rolling into Big Ten play.
 


Gophers_4life said:
What all these loses really means is: there are no great teams this year, except maybe Texas?
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Every year we hear about the increasing parity in NCAA women's volleyball. But then the teams in the final four are usually fairly predictable. Is the seeming parity this year due to no great teams or a genuine increase in depth of quality teams, teams that can beat top teams on any given night?
 

I noticed that Shea Rubright has played only three sets this season for WSU, and that was way back in the opening match against Duke. Did she get injured?
 


So I guess it only takes one game to iron out all those kinks. Gophers rolling through Wash State.
 

You've got Booth unstoppable in the middle and yet you're gonna try a very risky back row attack. Why?
 


Strong start for the Gophers in the fourth, but Wash State is clawing their way back 18-21.
 

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