The 12th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-6, 11-2) won for the 15th time in 17 matches as it defeated Michigan State (15-7, 6-7) in three games by scores of 30-16, 30-25, 30-25 at Jenison Fieldhouse on Friday, Nov. 3. With the win, the Golden Gophers are now 5-1 in Big Ten road matches, and 20-6 on the road in conference play since 2004.
Senior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) had a match-high 15 kills on the night. Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) finished with 11 kills and five blocks on the night. Nelson is just one block away from becoming only the third player in school history to record 500 career blocks. Nelson also hit .500 (11-3-16) on the night)
Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) finished with 10 kills, six digs and five assists. Senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) had a match-high 16 digs and two service aces. Sophomore setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) also had 41 assists, six digs and two service aces.
Minnesota outhit Michigan State .263 to .131, and had 51 kills to 35 for the Spartans. The Golden Gophers also had seven service aces to one for Michigan State. Minnesota also outdug the Spartans 40 to 31, and outblocked Michigan State to 9.0-to-7.0.
The Golden Gophers grabbed the early momentum in game one by taking an 8-5 lead. Minnesota extended the lead with three straight points to make it 11-5. With the score at 9-5, Hartmann delivered a service ace followed by Bowman and Jones combining on a block to make it 11-5. The Spartans responded with three straight points of their own to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 11-8.
Bowman ended Michigan State's momentum with a kill, and Jones followed with a kill to make it 13-8. After the Spartans made it 13-9, Jones and Cumpston followed with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota a 15-9 lead. Michigan State scored two of the next three points to cut the lead to 16-11.
The Golden Gophers seized control of the game with seven straight points to take a 23-11 lead. Minnesota extended the lead out to 28-14. After Michigan State scored the next two points to make it 28-16, the Golden Gophers closed out the game with consecutive points to win 30-16.
Minnesota limited Michigan State to a .000 hitting percentage, and hit .355 for the game. The Golden Gophers also had 16 kills to eight for the Spartans. Minnesota outblocked Michigan State 3.0-to-1.0 in the game, and had two service aces to none for the Spartans. Cumpston led the way with six kills, while Nelson had four kills in five swings.
Michigan State jumped out to a 10-5 lead in game two, but the Golden Gophers answered with four straight kills to cut it to a 10-9 lead to force a Spartan timeout. Michigan State scored the first point out of the timeout to make it 11-9, but Minnesota responded with six straight points to take a 15-11 lead. The Spartans cut it to 15-12, but Nelson followed with a kill and Bowman delivered a service ace to make it 17-12. That closed out an extended 12-2 run for the Golden Gophers.
The team exchanged the next two points to make it 18-13. Michigan State responded with six of the next eight points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to one at 20-19. Jones halted the Spartans' momentum with back-to-back kills to make it 22-19. After Michigan State made it 22-20, Bowman followed with a kill and Cumpston had a solo block to make it 24-20.
The Spartans scored consecutive points to make it 24-22, but Bowman delivered a kill to make it 25-22. Minnesota pushed it to 26-22, before Michigan State followed with back-to-back points to make it 26-24. Cumpston pushed Minnesota's lead back up to three points at 27-24. The Golden Gophers scored the next two points and made it game point at 29-24 on a Nelson kill. Michigan state fought off the first game point, but Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) delivered a solo block to give Minnesota game two 30-25.
Minnesota outhit Michigan State .159 to .103 in the second game, and had 17 kills to the Spartans' 12. The Golden Gophers also had two service aces to none for Michigan State. Nelson and Jones led the way with five kills apiece in the game.
The Spartans jumped out to an early 4-3 lead, but Minnesota went on a 5-0 run to move ahead 8-4. Michigan State scored two of the next three points to make it 9-6. The Golden Gophers rattled off six of the next seven points to take a 15-7 lead over the Spartans to force a Michigan State timeout. Hartmann started the run with a service ace, followed by solo block by Jones to make it 12-6. Michigan State cut the lead to 12-7, but Bowman sandwiched a pair of kills around a Cumpston kill to give the Golden Gophers a 15-7 lead to force a timeout by the Spartans.
Out of the timeout, Michigan State ripped off five straight points to make it 16-12 to force a Minnesota timeout. Out of the timeout, the Spartans scored four straight points to close out a 9-0 run to take a 16-15 lead. Bowman evened the game at 16 with a kill. The teams exchanged the next six points to tie the game at 19.
Minnesota scored the next two points to take a 21-19 lead. The Spartans scored four of the next six points to tie the game at 23. Bowman and Cumpston followed with back-to-back kill to give Minnesota a 25-23 lead. Nelson followed with a solo block on an Allison Ianni dump attempt to push the Golden Gopher lead out to 26-23. Michigan State cut it to 26-24, but Nelson and Cumpston delivered a kill to move ahead 28-24. The Spartans got a kill from Ashley Schatzle to make it 28-25, but the Spartans followed with a service error to make it match point at 29-25. Roehrig finished the match with a kill to give Minnesota the three-game victory.
Michigan State was led by Schatzle who had 12 kills and five digs. Ianni had 25 assists, three kills and four blocks. Nicole Colaluca also had nine digs.
Minnesota will finish its road trip at Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. (CT). That match will be webcast on gophersports.com.
