In this issue
Hello
from inside Camp Gopher VB!
I
am sure that many of you are asking “What is going on?” This is how we WANT our
fans to feel after some disappointing losses. We expect success and we want you
to have the same expectations.
But
let me see if I can lay out for you the “coaches’ perspective” on where things
stand right now.
First
of all, we played better at Northwestern and
The
match ended late and we didn’t get back to the hotel from dinner until after
midnight. We now had 15 hours until our match at MSU. They scheduled an early
6:30pm start for the match. Plus, we were losing an hour as we traveled east.
We were scheduled to depart
Now
comes the tough part. MSU plays the match of their season (from what some MSU
people told me) and wins in a match that could have gone either way. They were
unconscious and celebrated afterward as though they had won a conference title.
I was disappointed with the loss. But I was proud of the way our team fought
after such a tiring and distracting day of travel. But these things happen on
the road in the Big Ten!
There
has been a theme for the past three matches. We are giving off the “wounded”
scent to opponents who are tired of losing to us for the past several years. It
is like a feeding frenzy. There is no easy match for us in the conference this
year. We are the blood in the water and these other teams are the sharks. Yeah,
I know that none of our conference opponents will feel sorry for us. They all
want to stomp on us. This is one of the great challenges in athletics. These
are the times that call for coaches and players to reveal character. And I want
to assure you all that this is exactly what we plan to do.
As
I told the team on Saturday night, growth is measured in many ways. Sometimes
progress is hidden if a team is evaluated only on wins and losses. Sometimes
progress occurs despite losing a close match. I feel very strongly that our
team is getting better even though our win-loss record may not reflect this.
The
road ahead is difficult. We know what we are up against. It would be a great
time for all of you to extend your full support for the team as we take on
I
hope we see each and every one of you at the Pavilion on Friday night, and at
Williams Arena on Saturday.
Go
Gophers.
From
Coach Hebert:
Head Coach
From Larry
Mickelson:
It was like the lyrics straight out of a bad
country/western song - my wife had just left me, my daughter left me earlier in
the week, my pick-up truck was broken down but I still had my dog who loves me
no matter what. But that wasn't the worst of it - my beloved Gopher
volleyball team had just dropped a five game heartbreaker to
Northwestern. Now THAT depressed me.
OK, OK, OK. My wife only left for a girls’
weekend. My daughter went up north to spend time with family and
friends. I don't have a pick-up truck, I have a four door sedan but it
does need a new alternator. And I'm pretty sure my dog was looking at me
with love in his eyes only because I was eating a snack at the time. So
it was more like a suburban/western song. But when the Gophers lost to
Northwestern I was depressed.
We have been spoiled over the past few years by our
volleyball team. Outside of
And what better way to show our support for the team
than to be loud this weekend as they host
So round up your friends and neighbors and invite
them to come out this weekend to see the team in action. Take care of
your voices because you will need to be loud on Friday and Saturday
nights.
Looking forward to seeing all of you this weekend!
Point U!
Larry Mickelson, President, Golddiggers
Rachel
Hartmann (Rachel Hartmann)
Note: Photos courtesy of the
This is your third season in the Gopher volleyball
program. How do you feel about coming
into this season vs. your sophomore season?
If anything I have come into this
season with a lot more experience and confidence. Each year I have had a little more
responsibility put on my shoulders and this year I finally have a lot more
responsibilities then in the past. I am
now an upperclassman and can no longer worry about how I’m playing; I have a
whole team to carry with me. Also last
year we had so many studs on the team so all I needed to do was get my job
done. This year I have picked up more of
an offensive position, I’m trying to score a few points each game to contribute
a little more to the team.
What aspect of your game do you feel is most improved
from when you first arrived in the program?
It’s hard to pinpoint just one
aspect. I think my defense has improved
tremendously and will continue to improve.
I also think my overall game knowledge and presence has improved. I used to be a quiet player who could
disappear in a match. I am still not an
overly excited loud player but I think the girls can feel me on the court.
A setter’s timing with the middles is extremely
important. Outside of repetitions, what
do you do to improve your connecting with the middles? How difficult is it to have to change on the
fly between Jones and Gibbemeyer?
Timing is very important. It’s difficult because so many things can go
wrong and not just with the set. If the
middle is late I have to set higher. If
they are early I might have to set it faster, but if I can not tell where they
are and I have to guess, that is when the most mistakes happen. The most important thing to fix these
mistakes is communication. What I think
is a good set might not be what they want or I might set a great ball and they
were not on time. As long as we talk
after the set and figure out what went wrong we can fix it fairly easy. Gibbemeyer and Jones are two different
players who have different strengths and their different strengths happen to be
different sets so I can easily get in a rhythm with each player and stay that
way throughout a match because they usually hit different sets.
What do you feel is the most important trait a setter
must have?
I think the most important trait is a
setter’s presence on the court.
Teammates need to feel that the setter is working hard and leading by her
example. A setter touches the ball
almost every time it comes over the net, not many players get to be that
involved so having a presence and confidence to lead your team is very
important.
Describe the recruiting process you went thru and how
you decided on
First of all I’ll just say that I do
not like making decisions! Ask anyone
who knows me. In saying that, I visited
You are a captain on this year’s team. What added responsibility does that add? What do you try to bring to that position?
When you are a captain you are always
in the eyes of your teammates: they are always looking to you. The kinds of responsibilities I have are
leading by example and helping the younger girls adjust to the way we play
volleyball at
When did you start playing volleyball? When did you decide that this was the sport
for you?
I started playing volleyball in fifth
grade because my sister played so I thought I would try it out. I always wanted to play basketball in college
so volleyball was just something I did because everyone else played. Once I went to Fusion and started playing for
my coach, Eric, I really started to enjoy setting and playing the game even
more then playing basketball. I would
come in extra, almost everyday, to work on setting and everything else. I really loved being in the gym! I never knew about the world of college
volleyball until maybe my 16s year of club volleyball at Fusion. My coaches sat me down and told me I was
going to be getting recruited and to be ready. So by my sophomore year I knew I
wanted to play in college, and one year later I was committed to the U!
Kelly Schmidt, Katie V, and yourself all came to MN
from
I think the fact that I have been
playing volleyball against these girls really helped in the transition. The three of us lived together freshmen year,
along with Michele Wilber. It was funny
because we would sit in our living room and make fun of Michele’s Northern
accent and how she played duck, duck, grey duck and we knew it as duck, duck
goose. She was the “outcast” even though
we were in
What’s the deal with you, Kyla, and pink hair
ribbons?
O man.
Here is the story. I think it was
our 18s club year one of the girls on my team bought these hideous pink hair
things, it wasn’t really a ribbon it is hard to explain. But Kyla and I knew we were going to school
together so we would talk at big club tournaments. Well she saw this hair thing and told me how
horrible it was and decided not to let it go.
Needless to stay I stopped wearing it but every time I saw her she asked
where it was. No worries though she
approves of the pink ribbon I wear in my hair now!
What is your major and how is school going for you?
I am doing an ICP major which stands
for the Inter-College Program. It allows
me to pick two schools and major in both of them. So I picked Carlson School of Management and
the College of Continuing Education (CCE).
I am taking all sorts of business, marketing and finance classes at
Carlson and I am focusing on Construction Management at CCE. I am hoping to go to grad school for
Architecture once I graduate. I have
always wanted to be an architect but with my schedule it is hard to major in
right now. So I decided Construction
Management is the other side of designing so I would enjoy that and I combined
it with business which is another thing I am very interested in. I really like my classes and how found that
Finance is something I am also interested in.
What are the challenges you face in balancing
schoolwork with volleyball?
Obviously time management is very
important while playing a sport. This
came pretty easy to me because in high school I played AAU basketball, high
school basketball and volleyball and club volleyball. I am used to having to squeeze a lot in a
very little amount of time. I think the
hardest part is coming home from class, lifting, and practice and being
motivated to do homework. Some days we
are just so exhausted all we want to do is relax but we don’t have much time to
just sit around and watch TV. It might
sound rough but I wouldn’t have it any other way. When we are done with the season we have
about a week of classes left with no practices.
We get so bored! No joke we get home from class and are like, “What do
we do now?” I couldn’t imagine being a
normal student, I would not know what to do with my time and I should
definitely get straight A's!
Which team do you enjoy playing against and why?
I think my favorite team to play is
probably
Will the Golddiggers ever get to see the “Hartmann
Dance”?
That is a good questionJ. I will do the dance if the whole team does it and we find some
way to get the music up in club room.
Plus my parents have not been at the last few home games so I couldn’t
do it without them there, I would never hear the end of that!
OK, now we get personal!!
If I didn’t play volleyball I would…….be playing basketball!
I always joke with Roysland about how jealous I am of her to get to play
both in college!
When I need to relax I…….watch
Grey’s Anatomy, call my mom, or take a nap.
My favorite food is……anything
my grandma makes. She is Hungarian and
makes the best food ever!
The movie I could watch again and again is…..well I don’t really like to watch movies more then once
but If I had to it would probably be
“She’s the Man” because I love Channing Tatum and I think the movie is
really a kind of stupid/funny that I enjoy.
If I could go anywhere in the world for vacation I
would go to…..
What people don’t know about me is……
I love root beer, I am an aunt, I can
eat a whole can of black olives, I can speak some French, I love cities, I
still get nervous when flying on planes and even though I may seem quiet I talk
a lot!
Reception
We will be holding a Golddigger reception after the
+ + +
Bus Trip to
Don’t forget about the road trip to
See JT to sign up.
+ + +
Chalk Talk Scheduled
for this Friday, October 26th!!!
The always popular Chalk Talks featuring Associate Head Coach Scott Swanson are
tentatively scheduled for the Williams Arena Media Room on the following dates:
Friday,
October 26th Prior to the
Saturday,
November 17th Prior to the
Northwestern match 5:30-6:15 PM
These are great opportunities to find out what the
team’s strategy will be for that night.
Very good stuff!
Please note:
You will need to enter thru the Daily Entrance area along
+ + +
Also, we would very much like to hear
from YOU! Former Gophers, out-of-town members, Hollywood
celebrities -- whomever -- please email us at the address below, let us know what you are up to, pass on suggestions or questions for the Point U!(betcha), or hammer the coaching staff for
their time-out usage -- it’s up to you. The
coaching staff has also generously offered to answer questions submitted to
them through this newsletter. We look forward to all your input.
Mark Eastom demanded to be told “What’s the big deal
with substitutions? Every time I look up from my copy of Emily Dickinson’s Poems
for Almost Any Occasion, Except, Perhaps, Volleyball I see players
scurrying on and off the floor. Is this legal?”
Yes, it is. As a matter of fact, they are compelled to scurry, since dawdlers
could earn their team a Dreaded Yellow Card. (Consult your back issues of this
newsletter for a detailed explanation of the Dreaded Yellow Card and the Rare
But Even More Dreaded Red Card.)
The rules pertaining to substitutions are complex and
only fully understood by a couple of retired referees living in
First thing they did was define “substitution”: A substitution is the act by which the
referees authorize a player to leave the court and a substitute to occupy that
position. Substitution of one or more players is permitted at the same time.
This seemed pretty obvious to everyone involved. Some
wanted to specify that it had to be another player
occupying the original player’s position, since there was nothing anywhere in
the definition prohibiting the team from sending in a duck (for example) in
place of the departing player. The argument raged for several days, until, on a
6-5 vote, they decided to go with the wording above.
Next, they decided to place limitations on the whole
substitution practice. First, each team was to be entitled to only 15
substitutions per game, with one of those subs used every time a player legally
enters the game. Teams were allowed to bring in a player as many times as they
wanted. In theory, this meant a single player could enter the match 8 times
(replaced 7 times) if that’s what the team wanted to do. Once a player entered
as a substitute, however, she could only re-enter into the same position in the
team’s service order.
There was a lot more, most of it even less
interesting than the previous. Things like exceptional
substitutions, substitution zones,
a whole protocol for the act of substituting, team delays for failing to adhere to that protocol, improper substitutions, what to do with
injured players, what to do with bleeding players, and what to do with players
wielding firearms.
Just as an example, take a gander at this:
An injured player substituted by exceptional substitution may not return
to that game. If an eligible substitution is injured and unable to enter the
game to replace an injured player, an exceptional substitution is allowed.
Neither the injured substitute nor the player replaced by exceptional
substitution may participate in the remainder of the game. Players entering the
game as an exceptional substitution may not be substituted during the remainder
of the game unless that player becomes injured and must be substituted under
the provisions of the exceptional substitution rule.
And, if all else fails, you can always call Chuck.
Hope this answers your question, Mark.
http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2007/2007_w_volleyball_rules.pdf
8 Point Type Disclaimer: Mark Eastom never actually
asked this question, but what’s he going to do? Sue us?
|
School (First-Place Votes) |
Total Points |
2007 Record |
Last Week |
|
|
1 |
|
1500 |
19-0 |
1 |
|
2 |
|
1418 |
18-2 |
2 |
|
3 |
Stanford |
1381 |
19-1 |
3 |
|
4 |
|
1330 |
19-1 |
5 |
|
5 |
|
1228 |
14-3 |
6 |
|
6 |
|
1189 |
17-3 |
4 |
|
7 |
UCLA |
1119 |
16-4 |
7 |
|
8 |
|
1091 |
17-2 |
8 |
|
9 |
|
1052 |
16-4 |
9 |
|
10 |
|
966 |
18-1 |
10 |
|
11 |
|