Minnesota Defeats Notre Dame in Three Games in Season Opener
Freshman outside hitter Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) had 18 kills and 14 digs in her collegiate debut, as the ninth-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (1-0) swept Notre Dame (0-1) in three games by scores of 30-16, 30-28, 30-28 to open the 2007 season on Friday, Aug. 24 at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind.
Minnesota's three-game victory was the first against Notre Dame in a home-opener at the Joyce Center since 1989, and halted a Notre Dame streak of 17 straight wins in home openers.
Dieter also had three blocks to go along with her double-double. Senior middle blocker Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) hit .611 (13-2-18) with 13 kills and four blocks on the night. Junior Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) also had 17 kills and hit .355 (17-6-31) for the match.
Junior setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 50 assists, four blocks and a service ace while sophomore libero Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) had 10 digs on the match.
Freshman middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) had six kills and five blocks in her collegiate debut. Senior defensive specialist Kelly Roysland (Fosston, Minn.) also had seven digs for Minnesota in her first match with the volleyball program.
The Golden Gophers outhit Notre Dame .282 to .145 on the night, and had 59 kills to 39 for the Fighting Irish. Minnesota also outblocked Notre Dame 12.0-to-9.0.
Minnesota jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the first game. With the scored tied at 2-2, Dieter delivered a kill and a service ace, followed by a Gibbemeyer kill. Notre Dame cut it to 5-3, but the Golden Gophers scored the next three points to make it 8-3.
After another Fighting Irish point, Minnesota rattled off four straight points paced by a pair of Roehrig kills to make it 12-4. With the score at 15-6, Notre Dame responded with six of the next eight points to make it 17-12.
Gibbemeyer and Jones responded with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota the momentum back. That helped spark an 11-1 run that put the Golden Gophers up 28-13. The Fighting Irish scored the next point to make it 28-14, but Roehrig delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-14. Notre Dame fought off a pair of game points before Minnesota closed out the first game 30-16.
The Golden Gophers outhit Notre Dame .389 to .000 in the first game, and had 20 kills to seven for the Fighting Irish. Roehrig hit .500 (6-1-10) with six kills and two blocks in game one. Jones hit .833 (5-0-6) with five kills and two blocks.
In game two, Minnesota jumped out to an early 9-7 lead over Notre Dame. With the score tied at 5-5, Jones had three kills to help account for three of Golden Gophers next four points. That helped Minnesota move ahead 9-6. Notre Dame quickly answered with nine of the next 11 points to move ahead 15-11 to force a Golden Gopher timeout.
Minnesota sandwiched a kill by Dieter, and a block by Gibbemeyer and Hartman around a pair of kills by Roehrig to tie the game at 15. The Fighting Irish answered with three straight points to move ahead 18-15. With the Notre Dame lead at 20-17, Minnesota ripped off three straight points on consecutive kills by Roehrig, Jones and Dieter to tie it at 20.
Jones and Rachelle Hagerty (Defiance, Ohio) gave Minnesota back the lead when they combined on a block to make it 21-20. With the score tied at 22, the Golden Gophers rattled off five of the next six points to move ahead 27-23. Notre Dame cut the lead to 27-25, before Hartmann and Gibbemeyer combined on a block to make it 28-25. The Fighting Irish trimmed the lead to 28-27 prompting a second Golden Gopher timeout.
Out of the timeout, Roehrig delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-27. Notre Dame cut it to 29-28, but Jones delivered a kill to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Golden Gophers outhit Notre Dame .234 to .122 in the second game, and had 22 kills to 12 for the Fighting Irish. Jones and Dieter led Minnesota with seven kills apiece in the game. Jones also hit .667 (7-1-9) in the game. Roehrig added six kills in the second game for the Golden Gophers.
Minnesota raced out to an early 8-3 lead in game one. Roehrig helped push the lead out to five points, when she delivered back-to-back kills when it was 6-3. Notre Dame responded with six of the next nine points to make it 11-9. Dieter followed with a kill and combined on a block with Gibbemeyer to make it 13-9. The Golden Gophers pushed the lead out to five points at 17-12.
Notre Dame cut the lead to 19-16, but Dieter again sparked the Golden Gophers. Dieter sandwiched a pair of kills around a pair of blocks, that she combined on with Gibbemeyer, to give Minnesota a 23-16 lead. The Fighting Irish scored six of the next eight points to make it 25-22. Hartmann dumped the ball over the net for a kill to give the Golden Gophers a 26-22 lead.
After a Roehrig kills made it 27-23, Notre Dame answered with four straight points to tie it at 27. Jones halted the Fighting Irish momentum with a kill to make it 28-27. Notre Dame tied it at 28, but Dieter delivered back-to-back kills to give Minnesota the three-game victory.
Notre Dame was led by Megan Fesl who had 11 kills, while Adrianna Starsiuk had 10 digs.
Minnesota will host its Alumni Match on Sunday, Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. The Golden Gophers will follow that up by hosting the Diet Coke Classic from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Minnesota will face Ohio University on Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m., No. 2 Stanford on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m. and No. 15 San Diego on Sunday, Sept. 2.
