I spoke briefly with Keegan walking out of the gym who thanked us for coming..
He said that IL was 'pretty thin' and that 3 sets were enough.
My impression was that IL's two brightest stars, Brooke & Raina, were out of sorts for what reason I'm not sure. Again, I paid little attention to their side of the court. They weren't smooth, didn't pass as well, and had shining moments few and far between.
IL did put up a better block than any of our previous opps. They were able to give our defense some challenges, but not often enough.
MN served tougher but both team were missing WAY too many serves. MN had a better passing grade over all. I had the impression that IL was coached not to pressure Crowl on serve receive. A generous gesture if true.
MN on serve:
Grote reliably tough
As previously mentioned I think Wookie could be much more dynamic if she got a higher release point. Probably overstepped myself cuz I mentioned that to Keegan. We also agreed that it would be great if John Cook could help Landfair be her best self.
Minatee has a good serve and it seemed kind of nutty to have McGhie come in and miss her first two. Of course, you have back court responsibility after you serve and maybe that's too much to ask of a freshman.
Crowl had an amazing service run when we went from something like 9-14 to 20-14
Hanson serves mostly reliably with pace
Shaff her usual tough serve
MN on attaack
MINATEE the most impressive Gopher on the court imo. nice slides and quicks. not always smooth, but she is and ATHLETE. Unlike any number of other MBs (Husemann, Davis, etc.)she is a terminator.
Hanson is a ball hawk. gets to tips and short balls that TayLa would watch.
Wookie probably her own worst enemy. She has all the shots and maybe expects too much of herself.
Grote isn't Samedy but is a steady leader and presence.
Phoebe makes blocking look easy and we all know getting to the right spot to set a block with your pin is not easy
Sydney had a nice kill well off the line, but didn't get much work today. I don't know what kind of surgery Crowl had, or how that might effect her front court ability, but I wonder if, as an opp in waiting, if a redshirt is in her future.
Setting
I'm not going to comment on what Keegan said about our setting situation because
i'd be paraphrasing and putting personal spin on. I said I didn't know how he could keep Stella off the court. He likes where we're at.
I was very happy to see Stella in a 5-1 with the 'A' team in the second set.
The 6-2 in the 3rd featured Elise & Sydney trading off with Shaff & Grote.
I thought today's contest would have been more energetic. MN generated its own positivity. Keegan said they had a couple of important pieces that weren't there. Good long rallies were few. Keegan intimated that the spring campaign was long and that everyone was ready for a break.