The 12th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (3-2) defeated Eastern Kentucky (1-5) in three games by scores of 30-12, 30-18, 30-11 in the Golden Bear Classic at Haas Pavilion on Friday, Sept. 7. Minnesota limited Eastern Kentucky to a -.163 hitting percentage in the match.
It was the first time a team had a negative hitting percentage in a match against Minnesota since Campbell hit -.026 against the Golden Gophers on Sept. 16, 2006.
For the match, the Golden Gophers hit a season-high .398. Minnesota had 46 kills, while limiting the Colonels to just 15 for the match. The Golden Gophers also outblocked Eastern Kentucky 10.0-to-4.0.
Minnesota was led by Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) who had 12 kills, hit .450 (12-3-20) and had a pair of blocks. Senior Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had nine kills, a match-high six blocks and hit .375 (9-3-16). Freshman Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) saw her double-figure kills streak to start her career come to an end, but finished with nine kills and five blocks.
Freshman Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) finished with a match-high nine digs, had one service ace and played libero in the final two games. Senior Kelly Roysland (Fosston, Minn.) also had seven digs for Minnesota. Junior setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 34 assists, three kills, three digs and two blocks.
Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) hit .556 (6-1-9) with six kills, four digs and two blocks, while Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) hit a perfect 1.000 (4-0-4) with four kills and one block. Kelly Fallon (Burlington, Wis.) also had three digs and a service ace, while Christine Tan had two service aces in one game of play.
Charde Phillips (Elyria, Ohio) and Caitlin Schneider (St. Charles, Ill.) each made their first collegiate appearances of their Golden Gopher career. Schneider had two assists and two digs.
Minnesota ran out to a 6-0 lead in game one and never looked back. Eastern Kentucky briefly cut the lead to 8-4 when it scored four of the next six points. However, the Golden Gophers rattled off 12 of the next 15 points to move ahead 20-7. Minnesota extended the lead out to 28-10, and eventually closed the first game on a block by Jones and Schmidt at 30-12.
The Golden Gophers outhit Eastern Kentucky .429 to -.167 in the game, and had 15 kills to five for the Colonels. Eastern Kentucky was forced into 11 errors in the game, while Minnesota had just three. Roehrig led the way with five kills in the game for the Golden Gophers.
Eastern Kentucky jumped out to an 8-6 lead in game two, but Minnesota scored seven of the next nine points to move ahead 13-10. The Golden Gophers maintained the three-point edge at 17-14. After a timeout, Minnesota ripped off five straight points to move ahead 22-14. After consecutive points by the Colonels made it 22-16, Hartmann dumped over a kill, and Jones followed with back-to-back kills to give the Golden Gophers a 25-16 lead.
The Colonels scored the next point to make it 25-17, but Minnesota ripped off the next four points and made it game point at 29-17 on a Dieter kill. Eastern Kentucky fought off the first game point, but committed a service error to give Minnesota game two 30-18.
Minnesota outhit Eastern Kentucky .267 to -.062 in the game, and had 15 kills to seven for the Colonels. Jones and Dieter each had four kills in the game.
In game three, the Golden Gophers jumped out to an 11-3 lead, before Eastern Kentucky scored three straight to cut it to 11-6. Minnesota rattled off 12 of the next 13 points to move ahead 22-7. The Colonels score the next point, but Schmidt delivered back-to-back kills to make it 24-8. Minnesota pushed the lead out to 28-9, before claiming the third game 30-11.
Minnesota held Eastern Kentucky to a -.292 hitting percentage in the third game, and hit .520. The Golden Gophers had 16 kills to three for the Colonels in the game. Roehrig led the way with five kills in the game.
Eastern Kentucky was led by Bridget Mustard who had four kills, while Amanda Wilson had four blocks. Kate Hendle had 11 assists and two service aces.
Minnesota will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 8 when it faces Utah State at 2 p.m. (CT) and No. 15 California at 9 p.m. (CT). The Golden Gophers' match against Cal will be broadcast on ComcastSportsNet West (Channel 656 on DiRECTV). Both matches will be webcast on gophersports.com.
