Gopher volleyball drops from rankings, but focused on building momentum in second half of Big Ten play
MINNEAPOLIS — It's been an up-and-down season for Gopher volleyball so far this year, though after a pair of untimely losses, they were able to come back and this weekend to pull out wins against Michigan and Northwestern.
Still, Minnesota dropped from the rankings for the first time in eight years. A program that's a steady presence in the top-10 has struggled to put the pieces together, despite having last year's Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in Taylor Landfair and Kylie Murr, respectively.
They're currently 8-8 overall and 4-4 in conference play. Two weekends ago, Rutgers defeated the Gophers for what was the Scarlet Knights' first ranked win in program history, and then lost to Maryland for the first time in 19 meetings.
"I've been unranked before, I've been ranked number one before. You're more concerned about your character than your reputation," Head Coach Keegan Cook said.
He said he's been been taking inspiration from the 2003 Gopher team, who went 7-7 in the preseason but eventually made it all the way to the Final Four. And the last time the Gophers were unranked - in the preseason of 2015 - the ended the season at No. 3.
"Who are we building to become in December?" Cook mused. That's what he's focusing on instead.
There were moments in the 3-2 win against Northwestern that looked like the clean, confident volleyball that could guide the team into a deep run in the tournament. They held Northwestern to a 0.00 hitting percentage in the first set, and Landfair - who earlier this season struggled to produce - took big swings that helped the team close out the set.
But the Wildcats came back in set 2 - thanks to a 14-0 service run by outside Julia Sangiacomo.
"You've got limited options at least in those situations," Cook said. "What you need in that moment is one good play from one player just to end things, and we had a bunch of chances to do that."
The Gophers collapsed during that set; they had trouble in serve receive, and Mckenna Wucherer had difficulty hitting against Northwestern's block. Minnesota runs the majority of its balls to the pins, which puts even more pressure on them in moments when they're out of system.
The team continued to struggle in the third set, even after leading 13-5.
"Momentum is a tricky thing," Cook said. "You can see it when it's not there and you can swear that it's real, as if there's some magical force working against you. Momentum mostly exists in moments where we're mentally weak. And we're susceptible to that so, what are our thoughts in that moment, what are our choices, what is our communication, and how do we get ourselves out of those moments?"
In the end, they were able to: Minnesota came back in set 4, building momentum in the second half of the set. And in the fifth set, Lydia Grote made some big plays - crushing the ball down the line and then going back to serve a pair of aces - and Murr flew around in the back court to keep the ball alive.
Overall, they hit .149 on the night against the Wildcats' .206, but had 12 aces and 12 blocks to make up the difference. Landfair led with 15 kills, Grote with 14, Wucherer with 10, and they were helped by Phoebe Awoleye's seven blocks on the night.
"I think we had a lot of fight," Grote said. "Every team has some ups and downs and points and energy and stuff, but I think overall we had a lot of fight and we had a lot of will to go and work and to win, and that was really fun. I think we celebrated each other a lot too."
The celebration - the encouragement and affirmation from teammates - is something the players have been working on recently. They're focusing in on each other; making clear eye contact and using huddles as a time to be intentional to build each other up.
When December rolls around, those types of intangibles - that don't show up on the rankings or the stat sheet - will be making a difference each night.
What's next
The Gophers face Rutgers again on Friday night, this time at home. When they met two weeks ago, they didn't have Melani Shaffmaster due to an illness, so the game could look quite different with the starting setter in the lineup.
"I think we're going to focus a lot more on ourselves. I think in our first game against Rutgers we kind of focused a little too much on things they could do," Grote said. "So I think we're going to focus a lot more on being good teammates, being there for every point, celebrating each other."
After that, they face Michigan State on Sunday for an Alumni game, where they'll honor the 2003 team that made Minnesota's first ever appearance in the Final Four.
Then they'll go on a tough stretch of road matches at No. 17 Purdue and No. 1 Wisconsin.
