The Minnesota volleyball team defeated the alumni in three games by scores of 30-27, 30-17, 30-26 on Sunday, Aug. 26 at the Sports Pavilion.
In the first game, the two teams battled to an early tie at 12. Minnesota scored four of the next five points to move ahead 16-13 paced by a pair of kills by Rachelle Hagerty (Defiance, Ohio). The alumni cut it to 17-16, before Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) delivered a kill and Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had a service ace to push the Golden Gophers' lead up to three.
With the score at 20-18, the current Minnesota squad scored four of the next five points led by a pair of kills from freshman Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) to move ahead 24-19. Once again, the alumni made a run as they cut it to 26-24. Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) answered with a kill and a solo block to push it out to 28-24. Minnesota moved it to game point at 29-26. After the alumni fought off a game point, Hagerty gave the current Golden Gopher squad the game with a kill.
In the second game, Minnesota ran out to a 17-6 lead. The current Golden Gophers extended it out to 27-13 for their biggest lead of the game. Following three straight points by the alumni, Jones delivered a kill to make it 28-16. After the two teams exchanged points, Hagerty delivered a kill to give the current squad the second.
Minnesota ran out to a 16-9 lead in game three. The current squad moved that to 21-16, before the alumni rallied with seven of the next nine points to tie it at 23. The teams exchanged the next four points to tie it at 25. Freshman Hailey Cowles delivered her third consecutive kill to give the current team the lead back at 26-25. Krista Chin (Wheeling, Ill.) followed with a service ace, and Caitlin Schneider (St. Charles, Ill.) and Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) combined on a block to make it 28-25.
After the alumni scored to make it 28-26, Cowles delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-26. The alumni committed a hitting error to give Minnesota the third game.
In the third game, Kelly Roysland (Fosston, Minn.) and Cowles played all the way around at outside hitter. Schneider also came in and played setter the entire game as well, while Kelly Fallon (Burlington, Wis.) played libero in the third game. Hartmann was the setter for the first two games.
Minnesota will be back in action on Friday, Aug. 31 when it faces No. 25 Ohio University at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Gophers will face No. 2 Stanford on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m. and No. 15 San Diego on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 1:30 p.m.
All three of those matches will be webcast on gophersports.com. The Ohio University and San Diego matches are also schedule to be shown on live video in the Gold Zone.
