Gopher Volleyball 2022 Season



Gophers at #3 in the Big Ten so far this year… not bad. I always expect our volleyball team to be quite consistently in the top third of the Big Ten. They are doing well. Keep it up Gophers… and keep winning!
 

True, not bad but it feels not good enough. The program seems to be settling to a middle position in the BIG, not reascending back to the top. I find that distressing.
 

I just looked at our Team Stats on the BIG Volleyball website. Most of the time we are in the bottom 3 of the BIG in several areas of the game. No secret...one or both of our first two touches are not where they should be in some players careers.

L/DS Passing and Serve/Receive
This season our Libero is a Grad Student and our DS is a Senior. The above stats do not indicate the experience these two bring to the game. The following is what has happened in these positions in the last 3 seasons.
1 - The 2020 recruit arrived on campus and left during or after the first semester for COVID reasons......she decided to go back to California.
2 - We all know the story behind Barnes who transferred to Wisconsin.
3 - A 2021 recruit decommitted and decided to play at Penn State instead.

Middles
1 - I personally feel COVID and the maternity leave of our middle coach (who has since left as an assistant coach) did not help in the development of Rubright and Husemann.

Setting
Hugh made the decision to put all his eggs in one basket, as they say, by committing to an 8th grader for his starting setter. This season she is a Junior and IMO still struggles setting. However, the REST OF HER GAME IS TOP NOTCH FOR A SETTER....digging, blocking, serving, and hitting.
1 - In the last 2 seasons well established middles like Myers who transferred in from Maryland and our own Pittman had some of their poorest stats and could not make the connections they were use to with other setters.
2 - It appears that Davis and Gros who have also transferred in cannot match the level they had at Ohio State and Michigan State respectively with other setters.

So again we are playing OOS volleyball and dependent on our pins to survive a match for a win. Yes we have seen some better stats for our middles in recent games. However, any team with a STRONG MIDDLE GAME, I'm afraid to say, we will continue to struggle with a setter connection.
 
Last edited:


I wanna be optimistic and say that the Gophers are gonna win tonight, but given how Michigan has played this season I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan pulls off the "upset".
 

The gophers hasn't had a set this easy all season long. Let's keep this train rolling. :D
 


Michigan challenged us in that second set, but this match was all Gophers. On to Michigan State.
 



WOW very impressive sweep. Gros and Booth need to stay the middle choices.
Gros was amazing tonight. Hitting back slides and blocking. Shaffmaster had one of her best setting matches that I can remember. Hoping Michigan can step up and knock off Nebraska tomorrow. :)
 

WOW very impressive sweep. Gros and Booth need to stay the middle choices.
How they weren't all season .... either has to be injury related or just absolute awful coaching decisions.

Hopefully the former.

Gros did not transfer here to sit on the bench.

Husemann, bless her heart, she wasn't even a scholarship player, she walked on here.
 

Yeah obviously we had a very tough schedule to start out.

We just need some of these "easier" wins to flush that crap play out of our system and start playing with confidence.
 




How they weren't all season .... either has to be injury related or just absolute awful coaching decisions.

Hopefully the former.

Gros did not transfer here to sit on the bench.

Husemann, bless her heart, she wasn't even a scholarship player, she walked on here.
She's a good player. She has a lot to be proud of as a player for the Gophers.
 



Husemann is a pretty solid blocker, if not below-average athletic relative to the Big Ten starting middles. "Blocking instincts" can help a lot, she clearly has them

She was non-existent offensively. Could not connect with Shaffmaster.
 

Husemann is a pretty solid blocker, if not below-average athletic relative to the Big Ten starting middles. "Blocking instincts" can help a lot, she clearly has them

She was non-existent offensively. Could not connect with Shaffmaster.
She would be a great middle for a G5 program or lower tier P5, but for an elite program like Minnesota it's just not gonna cut it. It's nothing against her, she just hasn't had that full season to really showcase her talents.
 

The down ref in today's game takes forever to review a challenge.
 


After the various first set stoppages the Gophers cruised 19, 15, 14 over Sparty.
Gros posted 7 kills in 7 attacks while adding 5 blocks in her return to East Lansing
I think the first stoppage was bc shaffmaster had blood on her hand and the next was a uniform issue for mich state. At times it looked like a practice or scrimmage.
 

The BTN highlights with Gros closing out the match and putting a period on her marvelous day

 


NCAA RPI through Sunday's matches (10-9-22) sets up a #3 versus #7 mid-week showdown

1 Texas
2 Louisville
3 Ohio State
4 Stanford
5 Pittsburgh
6 Nebraska
7 Minnesota
8 Wisconsin

9 San Diego
10 Rice
11 UCF
12 Kentucky
13 Marquette
14 Houston
15 Oregon
16 Washington

19 Purdue
20 Penn State
23 Michigan
34 Northwestern

62 Illinois

91 Michigan State
93 Iowa
 

Gophs move up one spot to 10th in the coaches' rankings, and up three spots to 7th in the RPI, passing San Diego, Oregon, and UCF.


 



No matter how well they prepare, they just don't seem ready for these midweek matchups.
 


A lot of fans there were probably expecting a great match, instead had to witness that. Gophers we're the inferior team and it showed
 





Top Bottom