Minnesota Falls to Northwestern in Five Games
The University of Minnesota volleyball team (12-7, 5-4) dropped its fourth straight match as it fell to Northwestern (11-9, 2-7) 30-16, 25-30, 30-27, 27-30, 17-15 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday, Oct. 19.
Minnesota was led by senior middle blocker Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) who hit .435 (16-6-23) had a season-high 16 kills and a season-high nine blocks. Freshman middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) had 15 kills, a career-high 11 digs and seven blocks on the night.
Freshman outside hitter Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) had 11 kills, eight digs and a career-high seven blocks, while junior outside hitter Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) had 14 kills and hit .303 (14-4-33) on the night.
Junior setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 57 assists, 17 digs and three blocks, while Chrstine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) finished with 22 digs.
Minnesota outhit Northwestern .193 to .181, while the Wildcats had more kills with 70 to the Golden Gophers' 67. For the match, Minnesota outblocked Northwestern 17.0-to-13.5. The Golden Gophers also had 70 digs to 56 for the Wildcats. Northwestern had 10 service aces to five for Minnesota.
The Golden Gopher entered game four down 2-1 in the match, but sent the match to a fifth game for the second time in as many years at Northwestern.
Northwestern jumped out to a 5-3 lead in game five, but Jones, Gibbemeyer and Dieter delivered consecutive kills to give Minnesota a 6-5 lead. Northwestern answered with three straight points to reclaim the lead at 8-6. The teams exchanged the next eight points to make it 12-10. Minnesota answered with consecutive points, and tied the game at 12 on a Hartmann service ace.
After a Naomi Anderson kill, Dieter delivered a kill to tie it at 13. Chelsy Hyser delivered a kill to give Northwestern match point at 14-13. Dieter answered with a kill to fight off match point, and after an attack error Minnesota had match point at 15-14. Northwestern fought off the match point, and moved ahead 16-15. Brittani Gray delivered a kill to give the Wildcats the five-game victory.
Northwestern scored the first two points of the third game, but Minnesota answered with a 5-0 run. The Wildcats answered with eight of the next 11 points to take a 10-8 lead. Northwestern pushed the lead out to 19-15, before the Golden Gophers answered with three of the next four points finished off by a Jones kill to make it 20-18.
The Wildcats came back with consecutive points to push the lead to 22-18. With the score at 24-20, Roehrig delivered a kill to make it 24-21. Northwestern responded with three straight points to make it 27-21. Dieter answered with a kill, and combined on a block to make it 27-23. The Wildcats scored consecutive points to make it game point at 29-23. Minnesota fought off four straight points, but Brittney Aldridge delivered a kill to give Northwestern a 2-1 lead in the match.
Minnesota outhit Northwestern .217 to .125 in the game, and had 20 kills to 11 for the Wildcats. However, Northwestern outblocked the Golden Gophers 6.0-to-2.0 in the game, and had three service aces to none for Minnesota. Jones led the Golden Gophers with six kills in the game.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to a 6-5 lead in game four, but Northwestern responded with six of the next nine points to take an 11-8 lead. Minnesota scored the next two points, making it 11-10 on a solo block by Gibbemeyer. The Wildcats scored six of the next nine points to take a 17-13 lead.
Minnesota flipped the momentum with a 6-0 run finished on back-to-back kills by Jones to give the Golden Gophers a 19-17 lead. The Wildcats scored three of the next four points to tie the game at 20. Dieter followed with a kill, and Kelly Roysland (Fosston, Minn.) had a service ace to make it 22-20.
Northwestern tied it at 22, but Hartmann dumped a kill over to give the Golden Gophers the lead back. After a Northwestern error, Gibbemeyer had a kill and combined on a block with Roehrig to make it 26-22. The Golden Gophers scored the next point to close out a 5-0 run. The Wildcats scored the next three points to make it 27-25, but Hartmann delivered a one-handed kill on a ball that was about to go over to Northwestern's side of the net. Minnesota made it game point after an attack error at 29-25. The Wildcats fought off two game points, but the Golden Gophers closed it out on an attack error to send the match to a fifth game.
The two teams were tied at nine in the first game, before Northwestern scored seven of the next nine points to take a 16-11 lead to force a Golden Gopher timeout. Out of the timeout, Minnesota scored three straight points finished off Jones combining with Vatterrodt and then Dieter on blocks to make it 16-14.
Northwestern answered with consecutive points to make it 18-14. Jones answered with a kill to make it 18-15, but the Wildcats finished off the first game with 12 of the final 13 points taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Wildcats outhit Minnesota .176 to -.214, and had 15 kills to four for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota had four blocks to 2.5 for Northwestern in the game. Individually Jones had three blocks for the Golden Gophers.
In game three, the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-4 lead, before Minnesota answered with six of the next seven points to take a 10-8 lead. Northwestern scored consecutive points to tie it at 10, but the Golden Gophers answered with six of the next eight points capped off by Hartmann and Jones combining on a block to make it 16-12.
After calling a timeout, Northwestern scored the next three points to cut the Minnesota lead to 16-15. The Golden Gophers responded with consecutive points and took an 18-15 lead on a Dieter kill. Northwestern cut the Minnesota lead to 20-19, but Gibbemeyer answered with a kill and a solo block to make it 22-19. Minnesota expanded those two points into a 5-0 run to go up 25-19.
Northwestern rattled off the next three points to cut the Golden Gophers lead to 25-22. After exchanging the next two points, Dieter put down a kill to make it 27-23. Minnesota moved it to game point when Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to make it 29-24. After the Wildcats fought off the first game point, Jones answered with a kill to even up the match at one game apiece.
Minnesota outhit Northwestern .357 to .114 in the game, despite the fact that the Wildcats had 16 kills to the Golden Gophers' 15. In the second game, Minnesota outblocked Northwestern 6.0-to-1.0. Gibbemeyer and Vatterrodt each had five kills, while Jones had four blocks.
Lindsay Anderson led the way with 21 kills, nine digs and four service aces for the Wildcats. Hyser hit .405 (18-3-37) with 18 kills and four blocks. Brittney Aldridge finished with 12 kills and a team-high eight blocks. Kate Nobilio also had a match-high 24 digs, while setter Elyse Glad had five kills and 53 assists.
Minnesota will be back in action Saturday, Oct. 20 when it travels to Michigan State to face the Spartans at 5:30 p.m. (CT). That match will be broadcast on gophersports.com.
