University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Northern Iowa in Four Games in Rochester
9/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team (3-4) defeated Northern Iowa (7-5) in four games by scores of 30-16, 30-22, 25-30, 30-21 on Wednesday, Sept. 13 in Rochester, Minn. at the Mayor Civic Center. With the win, the Golden Gophers have won the last four meetings between the teams overall, and the last four meetings in Rochester.
In her first match back, senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) became just the second player in school history to record 40 digs in a match, as she had 41 on the night. It was the most digs by a Minnesota player since Paula Gentil had 41 against Georgia Tech in the NCAA Regionals at the Sports Pavilion on Dec. 10, 2004.
Sophomore Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) led Minnesota with 19 kills and three blocks on the night. It was the third time in four matches, that Roehrig has had 19 or more kills for the Golden Gophers. Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) also had 13 kills for Minnesota, while Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) had her fourth straight double-double with 10 kills and a season-high 20 digs, along with five blocks.
Setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) finished with 59 assists and seven digs, while Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) posted double-figure digs for the seventh time in as many career matches with 10.
Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) also had a career-high five service aces to go with five kills, while Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had a team-high seven blocks and nine kills.
For the match, Minnesota limited Northern Iowa to a .034 hitting percentage, and hit .218. The Golden Gophers also had 68 kills to 41 for the Panthers. Minnesota also outdug Northern Iowa 89-to-80. The Golden Gophers was outblocked for the first time on the season, as Northern Iowa narrowly edged them 14.5-to-14.0.
Northern Iowa jumped out to 6-4 lead in game one, but Minnesota responded by rattling off an 8-1 run to take a 12-7 lead. The Panthers scored the next point to make it 12-8, but Minnesota came back with a string of four points in a row. That string started with kill by Bowman. Jones and Bowman combined on a block, followed by a Jones’ kill to give the Golden Gophers a 15-8 lead. Bowman and Jones again combined on a block to finish the run to make it 16-8.
Minnesota scored five of the next seven points to push the lead out to 21-10. The Golden Gophers expanded the lead all the way to 25-11, pushing the extended Minnesota run out to 21-7. Northern Iowa scored back-to-back points to cut the Golden Gophers lead to 25-13. Minnesota responded with back-to-back points punctuated by a Roehrig kill to make it 27-13. With the score at 28-14, sophomore Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-14. Northern Iowa fought off two game points, before Schmidt put down a kill to give Minnesota the game at 30-16.
The Golden Gophers outhit Northern Iowa .389 to .091 in the first game, and had 19 kills to nine for the Panthers. Minnesota also had three service aces in the game, and outblocked Northern Iowa 4.0-to-3.0. Roehrig led Minnesota with six kills and hit .750 (6-0-8), while Jones, Bowman and Nelson all had three kills.
Minnesota jumped out to a 6-1 lead in game one behind a pair of kills from Nelson and a solo block and kill from Vatterrodt. Northern Iowa responded with four straight points to cut it to 6-5. However, the Golden Gophers ripped off the next six points to take a 12-5 lead. Northern Iowa scored the next point to cut it to 12-6, but Nelson delivered a kill and the Golden Gophers scored again to push it to 14-7.
Northern Iowa answered with 10 straight points to wrestle the lead away from Minnesota at 17-14. The run finally ended on a service error to cut the Panther lead to 17-15. Jones and Bowman combined on a block to cut it to 17-16, and Roehrig delivered a kill to tie the game. Northern Iowa scored the next point to move ahead 18-17, but Minnesota scored the next four points to reclaim the lead and move ahead 21-18. After calling timeout, the Panthers scored next two points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 21-20. However, Jones, Nelson and Bowman delivered three straight kills to push the Minnesota lead out to 24-20.
The Panthers cut the lead to 24-21 with the next points, but Bowman came right back with a kill to start a 5-0 run to make it game point at 29-21. Northern Iowa fought off game point to make it 29-22, but Vatterrodt had a solo block to give Minnesota game two 30-22.
Minnesota limited Northern Iowa to a -.061 hitting percentage in the second game, and hit .141 as a team. The Golden Gophers also had 15 kills to the Panthers’ eight. Peniata had 18 digs in the second game for Minnesota, while Nelson led the Golden Gophers with six kills in the game.
Northern Iowa jumped out to an 11-6 lead in game three, but the Golden Gophers got consecutive kills from Bowman and Cumpston to make it a three-point lead. The Panthers answered with three straight points to push their lead out to 14-8 to force a Minnesota timeout. Out of the timeout, the Golden Gophers scored three straight points to cut the Northern Iowa lead to 14-11. The two teams exchanged the next points to make it 15-12, before the Panthers went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 20-12.
Minnesota scored to break the run to make it 20-13, but Northern Iowa answered with consecutive points to open up its lead to 22-13. The Golden Gophers came back with five of the next six points to cut the Panther lead to 23-18. Northern Iowa responded with three straight points to push its lead back up to 26-18. Minnesota scored consecutive points to make it 26-20. Northern Iowa pushed the lead out to 27-20, before Nelson delivered a kill and combined on a block with Vatterrodt to make it 27-22. The two teams exchanged the next four points to make it game point at 29-24. Roehrig delivered a kill to fight off game point, but Northern Iowa scored the next point to claim game three 30-25.
Northern Iowa outhit Minnesota in game three .094 to .073, and narrowly had more kills with 15 to the Golden Gophers’ 14. Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) led Minnesota with five kills in the game, while Peniata had 11 digs in the game.
In game four, Minnesota jumped out to a 13-6 lead, but Northern Iowa scored three straight points to cut it to 13-9. The Golden Gophers came back with four of the next six points, and moved ahead 17-11 on a Roehrig kill. The two teams exchanged the next six points to make 20-14. Northern Iowa scored the next point to make it 20-15, but Minnesota ripped off the next four points to make it 24-15. Roehrig started the run with a solo block, and finished it with back-to-back kills.
With the score at 26-18, Roehrig delivered another kill, which was followed by a push-kill by Peniata to give Minnesota a 28-18 lead. Jones had a solo block to give Minnesota game point at 29-19. Northern Iowa made it 29-21, before Minnesota closed out the match 30-21.
Northern Iowa was led by Laura Rowen who had nine kills and 13 digs, while Trista Humpal had nine kills and seven blocks. Stephanie May led the team with 29 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 15 when it faces UConn in the Diet Coke Classic at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also face Tulane on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 12:30 p.m., and finish up against Dayton on Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
In her first match back, senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) became just the second player in school history to record 40 digs in a match, as she had 41 on the night. It was the most digs by a Minnesota player since Paula Gentil had 41 against Georgia Tech in the NCAA Regionals at the Sports Pavilion on Dec. 10, 2004.
Sophomore Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) led Minnesota with 19 kills and three blocks on the night. It was the third time in four matches, that Roehrig has had 19 or more kills for the Golden Gophers. Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) also had 13 kills for Minnesota, while Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) had her fourth straight double-double with 10 kills and a season-high 20 digs, along with five blocks.
Setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) finished with 59 assists and seven digs, while Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) posted double-figure digs for the seventh time in as many career matches with 10.
Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) also had a career-high five service aces to go with five kills, while Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had a team-high seven blocks and nine kills.
For the match, Minnesota limited Northern Iowa to a .034 hitting percentage, and hit .218. The Golden Gophers also had 68 kills to 41 for the Panthers. Minnesota also outdug Northern Iowa 89-to-80. The Golden Gophers was outblocked for the first time on the season, as Northern Iowa narrowly edged them 14.5-to-14.0.
Northern Iowa jumped out to 6-4 lead in game one, but Minnesota responded by rattling off an 8-1 run to take a 12-7 lead. The Panthers scored the next point to make it 12-8, but Minnesota came back with a string of four points in a row. That string started with kill by Bowman. Jones and Bowman combined on a block, followed by a Jones’ kill to give the Golden Gophers a 15-8 lead. Bowman and Jones again combined on a block to finish the run to make it 16-8.
Minnesota scored five of the next seven points to push the lead out to 21-10. The Golden Gophers expanded the lead all the way to 25-11, pushing the extended Minnesota run out to 21-7. Northern Iowa scored back-to-back points to cut the Golden Gophers lead to 25-13. Minnesota responded with back-to-back points punctuated by a Roehrig kill to make it 27-13. With the score at 28-14, sophomore Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-14. Northern Iowa fought off two game points, before Schmidt put down a kill to give Minnesota the game at 30-16.
The Golden Gophers outhit Northern Iowa .389 to .091 in the first game, and had 19 kills to nine for the Panthers. Minnesota also had three service aces in the game, and outblocked Northern Iowa 4.0-to-3.0. Roehrig led Minnesota with six kills and hit .750 (6-0-8), while Jones, Bowman and Nelson all had three kills.
Minnesota jumped out to a 6-1 lead in game one behind a pair of kills from Nelson and a solo block and kill from Vatterrodt. Northern Iowa responded with four straight points to cut it to 6-5. However, the Golden Gophers ripped off the next six points to take a 12-5 lead. Northern Iowa scored the next point to cut it to 12-6, but Nelson delivered a kill and the Golden Gophers scored again to push it to 14-7.
Northern Iowa answered with 10 straight points to wrestle the lead away from Minnesota at 17-14. The run finally ended on a service error to cut the Panther lead to 17-15. Jones and Bowman combined on a block to cut it to 17-16, and Roehrig delivered a kill to tie the game. Northern Iowa scored the next point to move ahead 18-17, but Minnesota scored the next four points to reclaim the lead and move ahead 21-18. After calling timeout, the Panthers scored next two points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 21-20. However, Jones, Nelson and Bowman delivered three straight kills to push the Minnesota lead out to 24-20.
The Panthers cut the lead to 24-21 with the next points, but Bowman came right back with a kill to start a 5-0 run to make it game point at 29-21. Northern Iowa fought off game point to make it 29-22, but Vatterrodt had a solo block to give Minnesota game two 30-22.
Minnesota limited Northern Iowa to a -.061 hitting percentage in the second game, and hit .141 as a team. The Golden Gophers also had 15 kills to the Panthers’ eight. Peniata had 18 digs in the second game for Minnesota, while Nelson led the Golden Gophers with six kills in the game.
Northern Iowa jumped out to an 11-6 lead in game three, but the Golden Gophers got consecutive kills from Bowman and Cumpston to make it a three-point lead. The Panthers answered with three straight points to push their lead out to 14-8 to force a Minnesota timeout. Out of the timeout, the Golden Gophers scored three straight points to cut the Northern Iowa lead to 14-11. The two teams exchanged the next points to make it 15-12, before the Panthers went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 20-12.
Minnesota scored to break the run to make it 20-13, but Northern Iowa answered with consecutive points to open up its lead to 22-13. The Golden Gophers came back with five of the next six points to cut the Panther lead to 23-18. Northern Iowa responded with three straight points to push its lead back up to 26-18. Minnesota scored consecutive points to make it 26-20. Northern Iowa pushed the lead out to 27-20, before Nelson delivered a kill and combined on a block with Vatterrodt to make it 27-22. The two teams exchanged the next four points to make it game point at 29-24. Roehrig delivered a kill to fight off game point, but Northern Iowa scored the next point to claim game three 30-25.
Northern Iowa outhit Minnesota in game three .094 to .073, and narrowly had more kills with 15 to the Golden Gophers’ 14. Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) led Minnesota with five kills in the game, while Peniata had 11 digs in the game.
In game four, Minnesota jumped out to a 13-6 lead, but Northern Iowa scored three straight points to cut it to 13-9. The Golden Gophers came back with four of the next six points, and moved ahead 17-11 on a Roehrig kill. The two teams exchanged the next six points to make 20-14. Northern Iowa scored the next point to make it 20-15, but Minnesota ripped off the next four points to make it 24-15. Roehrig started the run with a solo block, and finished it with back-to-back kills.
With the score at 26-18, Roehrig delivered another kill, which was followed by a push-kill by Peniata to give Minnesota a 28-18 lead. Jones had a solo block to give Minnesota game point at 29-19. Northern Iowa made it 29-21, before Minnesota closed out the match 30-21.
Northern Iowa was led by Laura Rowen who had nine kills and 13 digs, while Trista Humpal had nine kills and seven blocks. Stephanie May led the team with 29 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 15 when it faces UConn in the Diet Coke Classic at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also face Tulane on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 12:30 p.m., and finish up against Dayton on Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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