The 16th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-0) defeated Creighton (0-1) 3-0 by scores of 25-14, 25-20, 25-16 in the Bluejay Invitational at Omaha, Neb. in its season opener on Friday, Aug. 29. With the win, the Golden Gophers have now won their last five season openers and are 10-3 to open the season under Mike Hebert.
Sophomore outside hitter Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) led the way hitting .429 (14-2-28) with 14 kills and five digs. Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) also had seven kills, five digs and two blocks on the night.
In her Minnesota debut, Pamela Luiz (Limeira, Brazil) hit .333 (7-2-15) with seven kills and two blocks. Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) also had eight kills in her return to her home state.
Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) had a match-high 18 digs, while Hailey Cowles had nine digs and a match-high three service aces. Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) also finished with 34 assists and 10 digs. Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) had a team-high four blocks.
The Golden Gophers outhit Creighton .311 to .150 on the night, and had 40 kills to 29 for the Bluejays. Minnesota also outblocked Creighton 7.0-to-2.0, and had 50 digs to 36 for the Bluejays. The Golden Gophers finished with five service aces, while Creighton did not have a service ace and had 15 service errors.
Minnesota jumped out to an early 4-2 lead, but Creighton answered with three straight points to make it 5-4. With the Bluejays leading 6-5, Schmidt delivered a solo block to tie the game. Cowles served the Golden Gophers to five straight points to complete a 6-0 run that gave Minnesota an 11-6 lead.
Creighton cut the lead to 12-8, but Dieter answered by sandwiching a pair of kills around a combined block by Hartmann and Gibbemeyer to give Minnesota a 15-8 lead. The Golden Gophers scored seven of the next 11 points, and extended the lead out to 22-12 on a Luiz kill. The Bluejays cut the lead to 22-14, but Minnesota scored the next two points to make it game point at 24-14. Luiz and Schmidt combined on a block to give the Golden Gophers game one 25-14.
Minnesota limited Creighton to a -.054 hitting percentage in the first set, and had 10 kills to six for the Bluejays. Dieter led the way fro the Golden Gophers with five kills, and hit .444 (5-1-9) in the set. Tan also had 13 digs in the first game.
In the second set, Minnesota jumped out to a 7-5 lead, but Creighton scored four of the next five points to take a 9-8 lead. Dieter tied the game at nine with a kill, and Cowles put the Golden Gophers ahead 10-9 with a back row kill. Minnesota scored the next point to make it 11-9, but the Bluejays cut it to 13-12 with three of the next five points.
The Golden Gophers responded with four of the next five points to take a 17-13 lead. With the score at 20-16, Minnesota put together back-to-back points and took a 22-16 lead on a kill by Dieter. The Golden Gophers moved it to game point at 24-19 on a kill by Gibbemeyer. After Creighton fought off the first game point, Schmidt delivered a kill to give Minnesota the second set 25-20.
Minnesota outhit Creighton .478 to .310 in the second set. Gibbemeyer had three kills in as many attempts in the set, while Roehrig also had three kills.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to a 9-5 lead in game one, but Creighton answered with the next three points to cut the lead to 9-8. Dieter answered with back-to-back kills, followed by a Gibbemeyer and Luiz rattling off kills to make it 13-8. Creighton cut the lead to 14-10, but Dieter sandwiched a kill and a service ace around a Gibbemeyer kill to make it 17-10.
With the score at 21-13, Cowles unleashed back-to-back service aces to push Minnesota out to a 23-13 lead. The Bluejays scored the next point, but Dieter followed with a kill to make it match point. Creighton fought off a pair of match points, but Dieter delivered a kill to give Minnesota the sweep.
Minnesota will be back in action on Saturday, Aug. 30 when it faces Texas A&M at 12 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also face No. 21 LSU at 5:30 p.m.
