Minnesota Defeats Purdue in Four Games
For a second straight night, Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) had a career-high with 24 kills as the Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-11, 8-8) defeated Purdue (15-12, 8-8) in four games by scores of 30-24, 24-30, 31-29, 30-26 at the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility on Saturday, Nov. 10. With the win, Minnesota moved into a three-way tie for third place in the Big Ten at 8-8.
The Golden Gophers have now won three of their last four Big Ten contests.
Dieter, who had 23 kills last night against Indiana, collected 24 tonight and had her eighth double-double of the season with 13 digs. She also hit .326 (24-9-46) for the match. Dieter's 24 kills were the most since Meredith Nelson had 24 against Michigan State on Oct. 1, 2006.
Junior outside hitter Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) finished with 20 kills and tallied six blocks (three solo blocks). Dieter and Roehrig became the first Golden Gopher combo to tally 20 kills or more in a match since Nelson and Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had 24 and 22 kills respectively in a five-game win over Michigan State on Oct. 1, 2006.
Jones had 15 kills and a match-high seven blocks on the night, while freshman middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) had 14 kills and four digs.
Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had the second-highest assist total of her career with 70 to go with eight digs. Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) also had 14 digs on the night for the Golden Gophers. Freshman Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) finished with a career-high four kills, seven digs and one service ace, while Kelly Roysland (Fosston, Minn.) had six digs and one service ace.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .260 to .225 on the night, and had 80 kills to 64 for the Boilermakers. The Golden Golden Gophers also outblocked the Boilermakers 12.0-to-10.0, and had 61 digs to Purdue's 56. Each team had three service aces.
After splitting the first two games, Purdue jumped out to a 13-10 lead in the third game. Minnesota answered with five of the next six points, including a pair of back row kills by Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.), to take a 15-14 lead. Purdue scored the next two points, but Dieter, Cowles and Gibbemeyer responded with three straight kills to put Minnesota up 18-16.
Purdue cut the lead to 20-19, but the Golden Gophers scored consecutive points to take a 22-19 lead. The Boilermakers scored the next two points to cut the lead to 22-21. Roehrig and Jones answered with consecutive kills to put Minnesota up 24-21. The Boilermakers reeled in the Golden Gophers with six of the next nine points to tie the game at 27.
Dieter gave Minnesota the lead at 28-27 with a kill, but Purdue scored the next two points to make it game point at 29-28. Minnesota tied the score at 29 when Purdue was called for a net violation. Roehrig followed with a kill, and then had a solo block to give the Golden Gophers the third game 31-29.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .348 to .302 in the third game, and had 24 kills to the Boilermakers 19. Roehrig paced the Golden Gophers with six kills and two solo blocks in the game.
In the fourth game Minnesota jumped out to a 10-7 lead, before Purdue answered with six of the next seven points to take a 13-11 lead. Roehrig followed with a kill, and Hartmann and Jones combined on a block to tie the game at 13. The Boilermakers moved ahead 16-14, but Jones followed with a kill and the Golden Gophers scored the next point to tie the game at 16.
After Purdue went up 17-16, Minnesota got back-to-back kills from Dieter and Cowles to move ahead 18-17. The Boilermakers tied it at 18, but Dieter followed with a kill and Roysland delivered a service ace to make it 20-18. The Golden Gophers pushed the lead out to 22-19, closing out a stretch where they scored six of eight points.
The Boilermakers cut the lead to 22-20, but Roehrig and Jones answered with consecutive kills to take a 24-20 lead. Purdue cut it to 25-23, but Jones followed with a kill to make it 26-23. After the teams exchanged the next two points, Dieter delivered a kill to make it 28-24. Purdue made it 28-25, but Dieter answered again with a kill to make it match point. The Boilermakers fought off the first match point, but Dieter finished the match with a kill to give Minnesota a four-game victory.
Minnesota jumped out to 14-12 lead in game one, before Purdue answered with three of the next four points to tie the game at 15. The Golden Gophers moved back ahead 17-15 with back-to-back points, but Purdue scored the next two points to tie it at 17.
With the score tied at 18, the Golden Gophers ran off four consecutive points and went up 22-18 on a Roehrig kill. Purdue cut the lead to 24-21, but Jones and Dieter had back-to-back kills to help Minnesota score three straight points to go up 27-21. Purdue cut the lead to 28-23, but Dieter responded with a kill to give Minnesota game point at 29-23. The Boilermakers fought off the first game point, but Dieter delivered a kill to give Minnesota the 1-0 lead in the match.
Minnesota had 26 kills to 12 for Purdue in the first game, and outhit the Boilermakers .413 to .229 in the game. Dieter hit .917 (10-0-11) with a 10 kills and a team-high four digs in the first game for the Golden Gophers. Gibbemeyer also hit .455 (6-1-11) with six kills, while Roehrig also had six kills for Minnesota.
Purdue jumped out to a 14-6 lead in game two, but the Golden Gophers answered with five of the next six points to cut it to 15-11. The Boilermakers pushed the lead back out to eight points at 22-14. Minnesota scored the next three points, and cut the lead to 22-17 on a kill by Dieter. Purdue answered with four of the next five points to take a 26-18 lead.
Gibbemeyer answered with a block and Roehrig had a solo block to cut the Boilermaker lead to 26-20. Purdue answered with consecutive points to go up 28-20 Roehrig responded with a kill and Gibbemeyer had a service ace to cut it back to 28-22, but Purdue scored to make it game point at 29-22.
Jones had a kill and then combined on a block with Roehrig to help the Golden Gophers fight off a pair of game points. However, Purdue scored the next point to close out the game and even the match at one game apiece.
Purdue limited Minnesota to .098 hitting percentage, and hit .250 in the second game. The Boilermakers also had 18 kills to 12 in the game. The Golden Gophers did outblock Purdue 5.0-to-3.0 in the game. Dieter led the Golden Gophers with four kills and five digs in the game.
Purdue was led by Danita Merlau, who had 17 kills on the night. Carrie Gurnell also had 16 kills, while Samantha Mader finished with 13 kills, five digs and three blocks. Stephanie Lynch finished with 12 kills and five blocks. Kelli Miller also had a match-high 17 digs, while Anne Mastandrea finished with 15 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action when it hosts Michigan State on Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion. The Golden Gophers will also face Northwestern on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. Following the match against Northwestern, Minnesota will host senior day festivities honoring Jessy Jones and Kelly Roysland. Both matches can be heard live on gophersports.com.
