University of Minnesota Athletics
VB: Minnesota Defeats Central Florida in Three Games
9/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Xavier defeat North Dakota State in four games in the first match by scores of 30-32, 30-26, 30-19, 30-27. The Musketeers moved to 2-0 in the tournament with the win, while North Dakota State fell to 0-2. Xavier will face Minnesota for the tournament championship at 7:30 p.m., while North Dakota State and Central Florida will play at 5 p.m.
Minnesota led 8-4 in the early going of game one, and pushed it out to 18-7 with a 10-3 run. The Golden Gophers expanded on that run with 11 of the next 16 points to move ahead 29-12. Minnesota finished off game one 30-13.
The Golden Gophers outhit Central Florida .448 to -.079 in the game. Freshman Katie Vatterrodt (Bloomington, Ill.) had four kills in the game along with junior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.).
In game two, Minnesota jumped out to an early 13-4 lead on the Golden Knights. Minnesota pushed out to double digits at 27-17, before claiming the game 30-21.
The Golden Gophers limited Central Florida to a -.068 hitting percentage in the game. Junior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) had a team-high six kills in the game. Senior Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara’, Brazil) and Vatterrodt had seven digs in the game.
Central Florida jumped out to an 8-3 lead in game three, but Minnesota ripped off the next five points to tie the game. The two teams stayed two points of each other until the Golden Gophers moved ahead 22-19. Minnesota moved out to a 24-21 lead, before the Golden Knights scored the next three points to tie it at 24. Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) answered with two straight kills to give Minnesota a 26-24 lead. The Golden Gophers scored three of the next four points to push it to 29-25, before Minnesota claimed the game 30- 26.
Minnesota outhit Central Florida .225 to .103 in the game. Bowman hit .714 (6-1-7) with a team-high six kills in the game.
Bowman, Cumpston and Vatterrodt led the attack with eight kills apiece. Bowman hit .467 (8-1-15) with 19 assists in the match. Vatterrodt had 10 digs to go with the eight kills. Freshman Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had a match-high 21 assists, two kills and tied a match-high with three blocks. Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) also tied with a match-high three blocks and had four kills.
Gentil had 21 digs and two service aces for the match, while Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) had 10 digs for Minnesota.
Minnesota held Central Florida to a -.017 hitting percentage for the match. It marked the first time the Golden Gophers had held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage since they did so against Michigan State on Sept. 24, 2004. Minnesota had 44 kills to 30 for the Golden Knights, and hit .261 on the match.
Central Florida was led by Maina Heming who had 10 kills on the match. Katie Kohnen had 15 digs, while Lindsay Randazzo had 13.
