The 12th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-1) swept Cincinnati (4-1) in three sets by scores of 25-17, 25-13, 25-20 in its second match of the Honolulu Advertiser Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Brook Dieter led the way by hitting .421 (10-2-19), with a match-high 10 kills and tied a career-high with seven blocks. Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) hit .500 (7-1-12), and finished with seven kills and six blocks. Junior setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 26 assists, five kills, five digs and three blocks.
Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) finished with a match-high 16 digs and had one assist, while Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) had eight digs, two service aces and two assists. Freshman Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) also had nine digs and a service ace.
Kelly Schmidt (Champaign, Ill.) had four blocks, while Pam Luiz (Limeira, Brazil) finished five kills, seven digs and three blocks.
Minnesota outhit Cincinnati .296 to .054, and had 33 kills to 31 for the Bearcats. The Golden Gophers outblocked Cincinnati 14.0-to.1.0, and outdug the Bearcats 47 to 32. Minnesota has now had more blocks then its opponents in all five matches this year.
In the first set, Minnesota ran out to a 5-0 lead behind a three blocks by Dieter and Schmidt and a service ace by Granquist. The Golden Gophers scored nine of the next 13 points, and moved ahead 13-4 on a Gibbemeyer kill. After back-to-back points by the Bearcats, Minnesota answered with consecutive points to make it 15-6.
Cincinnati cut the lead to 15-8, but the Golden Gophers scored seven of the next nine points to take a 22-10 lead. Minnesota made it set point at 24-13, but the Bearcats fought off four straight points. The Golden Gophers won the set on Cincinnati service error.
Minnesota outhit Cincinnati .200 to .028 in the first set, despite the fact that the Bearcats had 10 kills to eight for the Golden Gophers. In the set, Minnesota outblocked Cincinnati 6.5-to-0.0. The Bearcats also had six service errors in the first set. Dieter finished the first set with five blocks, while Schmidt had three.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to a 7-6 lead in the second set, and expanded it with six of the next seven points to go ahead 13-7. After Cincinnati scored the next point, Gibbemeyer delivered a kill and then combined on a block with Hartmann. The Golden Gophers added three of the next four points to take an 18-9 lead.
Cincinnati cut it to 18-10, but Roehrig answered with a kill. The teams exchanged the next four points to make it 21-12. After a Bearcat point made it 21-13. Katie Vatterrodt (Bloomington, Ill.) delivered a kill to make it 22-13. Dieter followed with back-to-back kills to make it set point at 24-14. The Golden Gophers claimed the set on an attack error by Cincinnati.
Minnesota outhit the Bearcats .370 to .000 in the second set, and had 13 kills to seven for Cincinnati. The Golden Gophers outblocked the Bearcats 3.5-to-1.0 in the set, and had 17 digs to eight for the Bearcats. Dieter led Minnesota with five kills in the set.
The Golden Gophers ran out to an early 8-4 lead in third set after a kill by Dieter. With the score at 10-7, Luiz delivered a kill and a solo block in back-to-back plays to make it 12-7. Minnesota pushed its lead out to six points after a kill by Gibbemeyer made it 15-9. Cincinnati answered with back-to-back points to make it 15-11.
Gibbemeyer quickly responded with a kill and Cowles followed with a service ace to make it 17-11. Hartmann and Gibbemeyer combined on a block to make it 18-11. Cincinnati responded with three of the next four points to cut the lead to 19-14. Hartmann answered with a kill and a service to put Minnesota ahead 21-14. Cincinnati scored six of the next seven points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 22-20. However, the Bearcats followed with a service error and a pair of attack errors as Minnesota moved on to the three-set victory.
Cincinnati was led by Stephanie Niemer who had eight kills, while Jessica Nevitt had seven kills and two service aces. Missy Harpenau also had six kills and 10 digs.
Minnesota will turn around and face Wyoming at approximately 6 p.m. (CT).
