Minnesota Defeats No. 22 Purdue in Three Games
The 10th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (22-7, 16-3) won their fifth straight match by defeating No. 22 Purdue (21-9, 11-8) by scores of 30-22, 30-22, 30-23 at West Lafayette, Ind. on Friday, Nov. 24. With the win, Minnesota put itself in position to tie its school record in Big Ten wins with a victory tomorrow night at Indiana.
Minnesota hit a season-high .430 on the night, and limited Purdue to a .136 hitting percentage. It was the Golden Gophers highest hitting percentage since Sept. 17, 2005 when they hit .434 against Maine. Minnesota also had 55 kills to 34 for the Boilermakers. The Golden Gophers also outblocked Purdue 8.0-to-3.0.
It also marked the first time that the Golden Gophers swept Purdue on the road since 2004.
Senior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) hit .500 (14-0-28) with 14 kills and six digs. Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) hit .500 (10-1-18) and also had double-figure kills with 10. Sophomore Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) had 13 kills on the night as well.
Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) hit .556 (6-1-9) with six kills and nine digs. Senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) had 13 digs and four assists, while Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 44 assists, six digs, three kills and two service aces.
In game one the teams traded leads four times with Purdue jumping out to an early 6-5 lead in that stretch. Minnesota grabbed the lead with three straight points to move ahead 8-6. Purdue cut it to 8-7, but the Golden Gophers got consecutive kills by Jones, Bowman and Roehrig to take an 11-7 lead over the Boilermakers. Purdue scored to make it 11-8, but Bowman and Cumpston sandwiched kills around a service ace by Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) service ace to take a 14-8 lead.
The Boilermakers made it 14-9, before the Golden Gophers ripped off four straight points. With the score at 15-9, Cumpston sandwiched a pair of kills around a Nelson kill to make it 18-9. Purdue move the score to 18-10, but the Golden Gophers answered with consecutive points to push their lead to 10 points at 20-10. Purdue answered with three of the next four points to cut the lead to 21-13. Minnesota responded with back-to-back kills, punctuated by a Nelson service ace to extend the Golden Gopher lead back to 10 at 23-13.
Purdue made it 23-14, but Jones delivered a kill followed by a service ace by Hartmann that gave the Golden Gophers their biggest lead at 25-14. The teams exchanged the next six points to make it 28-17. After Purdue made it 28-18, Hartmann and Nelson combined on a block to make it 29-18. The Boilermakers fought off four game points, but the Golden Gophers closed it out after a Purdue error to claim the first game 30-22.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .372 to .105 in the first game, and had 21 kills to eight for the Boilermakers. Both teams had three service aces in the game. Cumpston led the way with seven kills in 12 swings and four digs in the game. Nelson also had five kills in the game.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to 6-1 lead in game two. The Golden Gophers pushed it out to 14-9, and extended it to 17-9 with three straight points. Cumpston sandwiched a kill and a solo block around a kill by Hartmann to give Minnesota the eight-point lead. Purdue cut the Golden Gopher lead down to 20-14, but Bowman followed with a kill and Jones had a solo block to push Minnesota lead to 22-14. Purdue made it 22-15, but the Golden Gophers scored consecutive points to push the lead out to nine at 24-15. The two teams exchanged the next six points to make it 27-18.
Purdue scored to make it 27-19, but Roehrig delivered back-to-back kills to give Minnesota game point at 29-19. The Boilermakers fought off three game points to make it 29-22, but Bowman delivered a kill to give Minnesota the second game by the score of 30-22.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .556 to .194 in the game, and had 17 kills to 14 for the Boilermakers. The Golden Gophers also outblocked Purdue 4.0-to-1.0 in the game. Roehrig had five kills in the game, while Cumpston had four kills in five swings.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to a 6-3 lead in game three, but Purdue answered with three straight points to tie it at six. Minnesota answered five of the next six points to take an 11-7 lead. The Boilermakers cut the lead to 12-9, but Minnesota scored four straight points with bookend kills from Jones and Nelson to make it 16-9. The two teams exchanged the next six points to make it 19-12.
Purdue scored to make it 19-13, but Jones answered with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota a 21-13 lead. Roehrig followed with a kill and a solo block to move the Golden Gopher lead to 23-13. The Boilermakers scored six of the next eight points to cut the lead to 25-19. Cumpston answered with a kill and Minnesota scored the next point to make it 27-19. The Golden Gophers pushed it to match point at 29-20. Purdue fought off three match points to make it 29-23, but Roehrig delivered a kill to give Minnesota the three-game victory.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .405 to .122 in the game, and had 17 kills to 12 for the Golden Gophers in the game. Roehrig led the way with five kills for the game.
Purdue was led by Brittany Dildine who had eight kills and seven digs. Kelli Miller also had 17 digs on the night and five assists.
Minnesota will finish the regular-season at Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers will then return home to watch the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, Nov. 26 somewhere in the range between 2 and 3 p.m. (CT) on ESPNews.
