University of Minnesota Athletics
No. 2 Volleyball Defeats Iowa in Three Games
10/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Minnesota has also defeated Iowa in 18 straight matches dating back to 1995.
Lindsey Taatjes (Prinsburg, Minn.) had her first double-digit kill match in her career with 10, along with 24 assists and a team-high four blocks. Erin Martin (Ames, Iowa) had a match-high 17 kills, and hit .391 (17-5-31) for the match. Trisha Bratford hit .400 (12-2-25) with 12 kills on the night. Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara', Brazil) had a match-high 19 digs for Minnesota.
Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) also had 12 digs, 27 assists and seven kills, while Lisa Reinhart (White Bear Lake, Minn.) had 11 digs. Freshman middle blocker Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) hit .857 (6-0-7) and had a career-high six kills.
The teams were tied at three early in game one, before Iowa went on a 7-1 run to move the Hawkeyes ahead 10-4. Iowa pushed the lead out to 13-7, but Minnesota answered with a 7-0 run to take the lead at 14- 13. Iowa scored the next two points to reclaim the lead at 15-14. Minnesota came right back with the next four points to take an 18-15 lead. The Hawkeyes cut the lead to 20-18, but Minnesota ran off nine of the next 11 points to put it at game point at 29-21. Nelson put the game away with a kill to give Minnesota a 30-21 game one victory.
Minnesota held Iowa to a .000 (7-7-39) for the game. The Golden Gophers also had 18 kills to seven for the Hawkeyes. Martin led the way with seven kills in the game for Minnesota.
In game two, Minnesota jumped out to an early 11-5 lead. The Golden Gophers expanded their lead to 19-6 with an 8-1 run. Iowa cut it to 19-9 with three straight points, but Minnesota scored six of the next nine points to move ahead 25-12. The Golden Gophers moved ahead 29- 16, and freshman middle blocker Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) put down a kill to close out the game at 30-16. Minnesota moved ahead 2-0 in the match with the win in the second game.
The Golden Gophers outhit Iowa .404 to .111 in the second game. Minnesota also had 21 kills to nine for the Hawkeyes. Martin paced the Golden Gophers with eight kills in the game, while Gentil had eight digs.
In game three the two teams were tied at seven in the early going, before Minnesota put together at 5-0 run to go up 12-7. Iowa answered back with seven of the next 10 points to cut the lead to 15-14. With the score at 17-16, the Golden Gophers ran off seven of the next 10 points to go up 24-19. Iowa scored three of the next four points to cut the lead to 25-22. The scored moved to 28-25, before Jones put down a kill to make it match point at 29-25. Taatjes and Jones combined on a block to give Minnesota the game at 30-25, which gave the Golden Gophers the match.
Minnesota outhit Iowa .312 to .109 for the night. The Golden Gophers doubled the Hawkeyes kills with 63 to Iowa's 30. Minnesota also outdug Iowa 65 to 45.
The Golden Gophers have won 10 straight games within the last four matches, dating back to fifth game of the Penn State match.
Iowa was led by Carolyn Giese who hit .500 (9-1-16) with nine kills for the match. Laura Simpson had 10 digs and five kills on the night.
Minnesota will return home to take on No. 23 Illinois at Williams Arena on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers will try to break their attendance record of 6,046 set on Sept. 28, 1990 against Purdue. The Minnesota-Illinois match will also be a tape-delayed telecast on Fox Sports Net North on Sunday, Oct. 17 at 2 p.m.