University of Minnesota Athletics
BRANAGH'S 39 KILLS NOT ENOUGH AS WISCONSIN DEFEATS MINNESOTA
11/13/1999 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Badgers move to within two matches of the Gophers in the Big Ten standings for second place, as Wisconsin improves to 18-8, 11-5 in the Big Ten, while Minnesota has its six-match winning streak snapped and falls to 23-6, 13-3 in the conference.
Branagh tallied the third-most kills in a match in Minnesota history, missing the school record of 41 kills set by Andrea Gonzalez in 1987 and matched by Katrien DeDecker in 1995. She made only five errors in 88 attempts and hit for a .386 hitting percentage. Jenny Maastricht and Kelly Kennedy each had 18 kills for Wisconsin, which had five players with 11 or more kills.
Wisconsin scored the first seven points of the match with efficient offense, not making an error in its run. The Gophers scored six of the next seven points to cut the Badger lead to 8-6. Minnesota pulled to within two points at 10-8 and 11-9, but the Badgers scored four of the last five points to close out the game, 15-10. The Badgers held a .235-.103 edge in hitting percentage, in part to 11 Minnesota errors.
The Badgers started the second game in similar fashion as they did the first, racing out to a 10-0 lead. Minnesota needed 11 serves to score its first point of the second game. The Gophers ran off six straight points to reduce the Badger lead to 10-6, but could get no closer in the 15-9 Wisconsin victory. The Badgers had a 22-11 advantage in kills, leading to a .386 hitting percentage in the second game for Wisconsin.
Minnesota began the third game with a run, scoring six of the first seven points. Branagh had five kills and two blocks in the Gopher rally. Wisconsin scored five of the next six points to shave the Gopher lead to 7-6. Minnesota reasserted control of the game with four of the next five points to take an 11-7 lead, but the Badgers closed to within 12-10. Two Badger errors and a block by Branagh and Stephanie Hagen ended the third game for Minnesota, 15-10. Branagh had 13 kills and no hitting errors in the third game for Minnesota.
The Gophers jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth game, scoring the first three points of the game on the serve of Susan Shudlick. Wisconsin turned the tide decisively, scoring 13 of the match's final 15 points.
The Gophers return home to the Sports Pavilion to face top-ranked Penn State on Friday at 7 p.m.
BIG TEN STANDINGS Penn State 16-0 26-1 Minnesota 13-3 23-6 Wisconsin 11-5 18-8 Illinois 10-6 14-8 Michigan St. 8-8 18-10 Ohio State 7-8 13-9 Indiana 7-9 16-9 Purdue 7-9 15-10 Michigan 4-11 12-12 Iowa 3-13 4-19 Northwestern 1-15 3-23 Friday's Matches Minnesota d. Purdue, 3-0 (15-12, 15-8, 15-2) Indiana d. Northwestern, 3-0 (15-8, 15-6, 15-7) Ohio State d. Michigan State, 3-2 (17-15, 13-15, 15-8, 4-15, 15-11) Penn State d. Michigan, 3-0 (15-2, 15-11, 15-6) Wisconsin d. Iowa, 3-0 (15-4, 15-2, 15-0) Saturday's Matches Wisconsin d. Minnesota, 3-1 (15-10, 15-9, 10-15, 15-9) Purdue d. Iowa, 3-0 (15-10, 15-6, 15-7) Penn State d. Michigan State, 3-0 (15-7, 15-10, 15-3) Illinois d. Northwestern, 3-0 (15-2, 15-10, 15-8) Sunday's Match Michigan at Ohio State
