Minnesota Defeats Iowa in Five Sets
The 12th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (25-6, 15-4) won its seventh straight match as it defeated Iowa (14-17, 6-13) in five sets by scores of 25-15, 21-25, 26-24, 11-25, 15-13 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 26. With the win, Minnesota clinched at least a share of second place in the Big Ten this year.
Minnesota was led by Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) who had a career-high 18 kills to go with 19 digs on the night. Freshman Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) made her third career start, and hit .385 (14-4-26) with a career-high 14 kills and four blocks.
Senior Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) had 13 kills and six blocks, while Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) finished with 11 kills, six blocks and three assists. Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 52 assists and 11 digs on the night for the Golden Gophers.
Freshman Ashley Suapaia (Bloomington, Minn.) made her first career start and had a career-high 19 digs, while Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) had a match-high 20 digs.
Minnesota led 2-1 going in the fourth set, but the Hawkeyes won the fourth set 25-11. The Golden Gophers trailed 11-7 in the fifth set, but rallied to score eight of the final 10 points to claim the five-game victory. The Golden Gophers are now 4-3 in five-set matches this year.
The Golden Gophers had 85 digs to 69 for Iowa, and also had 67 kills to 60 for the Hawkeyes. Iowa outhit Minnesota .204 to .185 on the match, and also outblocked the Golden Gophers 13.0-to-10.0.
In the fifth set, Minnesota jumped out to a 4-3 lead after a kill by Vatterrodt. However, Iowa scored three straight points to take a 6-4 lead. The Golden Gophers answered with three of the next four points, and cut the lead to 8-7 on a kill by Roehrig.
Iowa answered with three straight points to take an 11-7 lead. Roehrig responded with a kill, and the Hawkeyes committed an attack error to make it 11-9 top force an Iowa timeout. Cowles followed with back-to-back kills, and Filho delivered a kill to put Minnesota ahead 12-11 to force a second Hawkeye timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Golden Gophers score on an Iowa attack error to close out a 6-0 run that put them up 13-11. The Hawkeyes answered back with consecutive points to tie the set at 13 to force a Minnesota timeout. Out of the timeout, Iowa committed a service error to make it match point, and Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to give the Golden Gophers the five-set victory
Minnesota jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set after a kill by Gibbemeyer. Iowa responded with nine of the next 12 points to take a 10-8 lead over the Golden Gophers. Minnesota answered with consecutive points and tied the set on a kill by Roehrig. The Hawkeyes moved ahead 11-10, but Roehrig delivered a kill and then combined on consecutive blocks with Gibbemeyer to make it 5-1 run to put the Golden Gophers ahead 13-11.
The two teams exchanged the next four points to make it 15-13, but Minnesota score the next two points to move ahead 17-13. Iowa answered with consecutive points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 17-15. Vatterrodt sandwiched a pair of kills around a Hawkeye attack error to make it 20-15.
With the score at 21-15, Filho delivered a kill and combined on a block with Hartmann to make it 23-15. Gibbemeyer delivered a service ace to make it set point, and the Hawkeyes committed an attack error to give the Golden Gophers eight straight points to close out the set.
Minnesota outhit Iowa .188 to -.023 in the first set, and had 13 kills to eight for the Hawkeyes. The Golden Gophers also outblocked Iowa 4.0-to-0.0 in the set, and had 22 digs to 12 for the Hawkeyes. Individually, Roehrig led the way for the Golden Gophers with four kills in six swings, and three blocks. Suapaia also had seven digs in the set.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the second set, but Filho helped the Golden Gophers scored three of the next four points with three kills during that stretch. The Hawkeyes pushed the lead out to a14-9, but Cowles delivered a kill and a service ace to make it 14-11. The Golden Gophers scored the next point to cut the Hawkeye lead to two points, but Iowa responded with five of the next six points to take a 19-13 lead.
Minnesota rattled off four of the next five points, including a kill and a solo block by Filho to cut the lead to 20-17. Iowa scored four of the next six points to make it set point at 24-19. Gibbemeyer answered with a kill, and the Golden Gophers fought off a second set point to cut the lead to 24-21. Katie Kennedy gave Iowa the set with a kill to tie the match at one set apiece.
The Hawkeyes outhit Minnesota .265 to .216 in the set, despite the fact that the Golden Gophers had 15 kills to 14 for Iowa. The Hawkeyes did have five blocks to two for Minnesota in the set. It was the first set that Iowa had taken from the Golden Gophers since 2002. Cowles had five kills and four digs in the set, while Filho had four kills in seven swings.
Minnesota jumped out to an 8-3 in lead in the third set, but Iowa reeled in the Golden gophers with six of the next seven points to tie the set at nine. The two teams exchanged the next six points to tie the score at 12. Filho and Roehrig combined on a block, and Pam Luiz (Limeira, Brazil) delivered her first kill of the match to make it 14-12. The Golden Gophers scored the next two points, and took a 16-12 lead on a kill by Filho.
Iowa answered with six of the next eight points to tie the set at 18. Cowles and Filho had consecutive kills to put Minnesota ahead 20-18. After the Hawkeyes cut it to 20-19, they committed a blocking error, and Filho and Cowles followed with consecutive kills to take a 23-19 lead. Iowa cut it to 23-21, but Filho and Roehrig combined on a block to make it set point at 24-21.
The Hawkeyes fought off a three set points to tie the score at 24. However, Gibbemeyer answered with a kill and combined on a block with Luiz to give the Golden Gophers the third set 26-24.
Minnesota outhit Iowa .311 to .244 in the set, and had 19 kills to 16 for the Hawkeyes. The Golden Gophers also narrowly outblocked Iowa 3.0-to-2.0 in the set. Filho led the way with six kills and hit .625 (6-1-8) in the set.
Iowa stormed out to an 11-1 lead to start the fourth set. The Golden Gophers scored four of the next five points to the lead to 12-5 on a kill by Cowles. The Hawkeyes responded by score eight of the next nine points to take a 20-6 lead. Iowa moved on to claim the fourth set 25-11 to send the match to a fifth set.
The Hawkeyes outhit Minnesota .412 to .000 in the set, and had 15 kills to nine for the Golden Gophers. Iowa also outblocked Minnesota 4.0-to-1.0 in the set.
Megan Schipper led Iowa with 19 kills on the night. Catherine Smale finished with 10 kills and 16 digs, while Emily Hiza had a team-high 18 digs.
Minnesota will wrap up the regular-season when it travels to Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 5:30 p.m. (CT).
