The University of Minnesota volleyball team (15-5, 9-1) won for the 13th time in 14 matches as it defeated Iowa (12-9, 1-8) in three games by scores of 30-19, 30-23, 30-24 on Friday, Oct. 20 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. With the win, the Golden Gophers are 9-1 at the midway point of Big Ten play.
Minnesota's 9-1 record in the first half of the conference season matches their best 10-match conference start in school history. The Golden Gophers also started 9-1 in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) led the way for the Golden Gophers hitting .652 (17-2-23) with 17 kills and two blocks. Senior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) had 14 kills, five digs and hit .352 (14-3-32). Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) also had 12 kills.
Senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) had 20 digs and four assists. Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 44 assists, 10 digs, four blocks and two service aces. Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) had eight kills, 10 digs, five assists and two service aces. Chrisinte Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) also had a career-high four service aces and six digs.
As a team, the Golden Gopher outhit Iowa .331 to .123 and had exactly double the Hawkeyes kills with 58 to 29. Minnesota had nine service aces as a team to six for the Hawkeyes. The Golden Gophers also outdug Iowa 55 to 34.
Minnesota got off to a strong start in game one on back-to-back service aces by Tan. Those service aces helped the Golden Gopher get off to a 5-1 lead. Iowa cut the lead to 5-4, but Minnesota scored the next three points to move ahead 8-4. Nelson and Hartmann combined on consecutive blocks for the final two points.
Iowa cut the lead to 10-8, before back-to-back kills by Jones made it 12-8. The Hawkeyes scored the next two points to make it 12-10, but Jones delivered another kill and Tan fired off another service ace. The Golden Gophers scored the next point to make it 15-10. Iowa cut the lead to 17-14, before Cumpston had a kill and a service ace to put Minnesota back up by five points at 19-14.
The Hawkeyes scored three of the next four points to cut the led to 20-17. However, Minnesota ripped off a 6-0 run to take a 26-17 lead. Iowa scored to make it 26-18, but Roehrig immediately answered with a kill to make it 27-18. Bowman and Cumpston followed with kills to make it 29-18. Iowa cut it to 29-19, but Jones delivered a kill to give Minnesota game one 30-19.
Minnesota outhit Iowa .238 to .167, and had 17 kills to the Hawkeyes 10 in the game. The Golden Gophers also had five service aces to none for Iowa. Jones led the way with seven kills, while Tan had three service aces.
The Golden Gophers raced out to a 7-2 lead in game two, but Iowa cut it to 9-5. Minnesota went on a 5-0 run paced by a pair of kills by Jones to make it 14-5. The Hawkeyes cut to 17-13 with eight of the next 11 points. Minnesota answered with a kill by Cumpston, along with Hartmann and Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) combining on a block to make it 19-13.
Iowa cut the lead to 21-16, but Minnesota rattled off four straight points to go up 25-17. The Hawkeyes scored two of the next three points to make it 26-18, but Minnesota scored back-to-back points to make it 28-18. Iowa scored the next two points to make it 28-20, but Katie Vatterrodt (Bloomington, Minn.) delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-20. The Hawkeyes cut the lead down to 29-23 by fending off three straight game points. However, Roehrig delivered the kill to give Minnesota the second game 30-23.
The Golden Gophers outhit Iowa .368 to .032 in the second game, and had 20 kills to seven for the Hawkeyes. Jones led Minnesota for a second straight game with seven kills, while Cumpston had four kills.
In the third game Minnesota was tied at 17 with Hawkeyes, before it went on a 11-2 run to go up 28-19. Iowa cut it to 28-22, before Bowman delivered a kill to make it match point at 29-22. The Hawkeyes fought off two game points, before Rachelle Hagerty (Defiance, Ohio) finished the match with a kill.
Iowa was led by Megan Schipper who had seven kills and 12 digs. Catherine Smale also had seven kills and seven digs.
Minnesota will return to action Friday, Oct. 27 when it hosts No. 24 Ohio State at 7 p.m. That match will be broadcast on tape-delayed basis on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 12 p.m. on Fox Sports Net North and Comcast Chicago. The Golden Gophers will also host No. 2 Penn State on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.
