The Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-11, 6-8) dropped a five-game match to
Michigan (18-7, 6-7) by scores of 30-28, 23-30, 32-30, 22-30, 15-11 at Cliff Keen Arena on Friday, Nov. 2.
Senior middle blocker Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had a career-high 11 blocks to go with a season-high 17 kills. The 11 blocks also tied a Golden Gopher season-high. It was Jones' first double-double of the year, and the second of her career.
Freshman middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) had a career-high 19 kills, tied a career-high three service aces, had seven digs and three blocks. Junior Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) also had 14 kills and seven blocks on the night.
Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) had 11 digs and nine kills. Junior setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 63 assists, 10 digs, four kills and four blocks on the night, while Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) finished with 24 digs and two assists.
Minnesota outhit Michigan .249 to .206 on the night, but the Wolverines had 80 kills to 72 for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota outblocked Michigan 18.0-to-11.0 on the night. The Golden Gophers were narrowly out dug 69 to 68 for the match.
Michigan took a 2-1 lead in the match after winning game three 32-20, but the Golden Gophers stormed back to claim the fourth game 30-22 to send the match to a fifth game.
Roehrig delivered a kill to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead to start the fifth game. Michigan scored the next two points, but Jones followed with a kill to tie the game at 2-2. The Wolverines seized control of the game with eight of the next 10 points to make it 10-4. After a pair of Michigan attack errors, the Golden Gophers cut the lead to 10-6. The teams exchanged the next six points to move the score to 13-9.
Jones and Dieter combined on a block to make it 13-10, but a Golden Gopher attack error gave Michigan match point at 14-10. Dieter delivered a kill to make it 14-11, but another attack error gave the Wolverines the five-game victory.
The Wolverines moved to 5-2 in five-game matches on the year, while Minnesota dropped to 1-4.
Michigan jumped out to a 9-7 lead in the first game, but the Golden Gophers scored consecutive points to tie the game at nine. Minnesota took its first lead of the game at 14-13 on a kill by Dieter, but Michigan scored four of the next five points to take a 17-15 lead.
The Golden Gophers responded with consecutive points to tie the game at 17. Michigan took another two-point lead at 20-18, before Minnesota responded with consecutive points to tie the game at 20. The Golden Gophers reclaimed the lead at 24-23, but the Wolverines answered with back-to-back points take a 25-24 lead. Minnesota responded with consecutive points of its own to take the lead back at 26-25.
Michigan scored the next two points to go up 27-26, but Roehrig delivered a kill to tie it at 27. The teams exchanged the next two points to tie it at 28, however the Wolverines closed out the game with consecutive points to go up 1-0 in the match.
Minnesota outhit Michigan .286 to .279, but the Wolverines had 22 kills to the Golden Gophers' 15. Minnesota went without a block in the game, while Michigan had 2.0. Vatterrodt led the Golden Gophers with five kills, as she hit .500 (5-1-8) for the game.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to an early 9-7 lead in game one, and expanded to 12-7 on three straight kills by Gibbemeyer to make it 12-7. Michigan cut the lead to 13-10, but the Golden Gophers ripped off six straight points to take a 19-10 lead. The Wolverines responded with a 6-0 run of their own to cut it to 19-16.
Jones had a kill and Roehrig delivered a solo block to put Minnesota up 21-16. After the Wovlerines cut it to 21-17, Roehrig delivered a kill to start a run off three straight points to make it 24-17. The Golden Gophers pushed it to 28-20 after a kill by Dieter. After Michigan made it 28-21, Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-21. The Wolverines fought off a pair of game points, before Gibbemeyer put down a kill to tie the match at one game apiece.
Minnesota outhit Michigan .184 to .125 in the game, while each team had 15 kills. The Golden Gophers outblocked the Wolverines 6.0-to-4.0 in the game. Gibbemeyer hit .667 (6-0-9) in the game with a team-high six kills.
Michigan jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the third game, and held a five-point lead at 13-8. Roehrig answered with a kill, and Kelly Roysland (Fosston, Minn.) had a service ace to make it 13-10. The Golden Gophers got it to a two-point lead at 14-12 when Jones and Roehrig combined a block. Michigan kept that two-point lead at 16-14, before Dieter and Vatterrodt delivered back-to-back kills to tie the score at 16. The two teams exchanged the next eight points to tie the game at 20.
Michigan scored to go up 21-20, Roehrig followed with a kill to tie the game at 21. The Golden Gophers scored the next two points to go up 23-21. Michigan responded with back-to-back points to tie the game at 23. After exchanging a pair of points, Minnesota went up 26-24 when Gibbemeyer delivered a kill and Vatterrodt and Gibbemeyer combined on a block.
The Wolverines scored the next three points to reclaim the lead at 27-26. Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to tie the game at 27. Michigan moved ahead 28-27, but Roehrig tied it with a kill. The Golden Gophers made it game point at 29-28 after a Wolverine ball handling error. Michigan fought off the first game point, but Jones delivered a kill to make it 30-29. The Wolverines fought off game point, and scored the next two points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Michigan outhit Minnesota .306 to .273 in the game, and had 22 kills to 16 for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota outblocked the Wolverines 4.0-to-1.0 in the game. Jones hit .429 (5-2-9) with a team-high five kills in the game.
Minnesota raced out to an 8-3 lead in game four, but Michigan came back with five of the next six points to cut the lead to 9-8. Gibbemeyer and Roehrig had back-to-back kills to help Minnesota scored three points in a row to make it 12-8. The Wolverines responded with four of the next five points to make it 13-12.
The Golden Gophers answered that run with six straight points, punctuated by a Jones' kill, to take a 19-12 lead. Minnesota pushed it out to eight points at 23-15 after another Jones' kill. Michigan scored four of the next five points to cut the lead to 24-19, but Gibbemeyer answered with a kill and Roehrig followed with a solo block to make it 26-19.
Minnesota pushed it to game point at 29-21 on a kill by Jones. Michigan fought off the first game point, but Jones and Dieter combined on a block to send the match to a fifth game.
The Golden Gophers outhit Michigan .341 to .068 in the game, and had 19 kills to 12 for the Wolverines in the game. Minnesota also outblocked Michigan 6.0-to-3.0 in the game. Jones and Gibbemeyer had six and five kills respectively in the game to lead the way for Minnesota.
Katie Bruzdzinski led Michigan with 23 kills and 14 digs on the night. Beth Karpiak also had 16 kills and five blocks, while Lyndsay Miller finished with 17 kills and six blocks. Veronica Rood also had 13 kills for the Wolverines.
Minnesota will be back in action when it travels to Indiana on Friday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also face Purdue on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. Both matches can be heard live on gophersports.com.
