University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to No. 1 Penn State
10/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team (17-6, 8-3) lost in three sets to No. 1 Penn State (24-0, 12-0) by scores of 25-14, 25-16, 25-17 at Rec Hall of Friday, Oct. 30.
With the win, Penn State extended its winning streak to 88 matches dating back to 2007, and 57 straight Big Ten victories.
Minnesota was led by Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) who had six kills and three blocks. Tabitha Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) had five kills and two blocks, while Katherine Harms (Albertville, Minn.) had four kills and two blocks. Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) also had four kills, six digs and a service ace.
Setter Mia Tabberson (Muncie, Ind.) finished with 15 assists, two blocks and two digs, while Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) and Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) had six and five digs respectively.
Penn State outhit Minnesota .341 to .011, and had 40 kills to 24 for the Golden Gophers. The Nittany Lions also had 37 digs to 28, and outblocked the Golden Gophers 9.0-to-7.0.
In the first set, Penn State jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Minnesota scored three of the next four points paced by a pair of kills by Gibbemeyer to make it 6-5. With the score at 7-5, the Nittany Lions scored 12 of the next 14 points to take a 19-7 lead. Minnesota cut it to 22-13 on a kill by Gibbemeyer, but Penn State scored three of the final four points to win the first set 25-14.
The Nittany Lions outhit Minnesota .414 to .000, and had 15 kills to eight in the first set. Gibbemeyer had three kills in three swings in the set.
Penn State jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the second set, but Harms delivered a kill and Wilson and Gibbemeyer combined on a block to make it 10-9. The Nittany Lions answered with a 6-0 run to take a 16-9 lead. Penn State pushed the lead out to a 21-12 on a kill by Megan Hodge. Minnesota went on a 4-0 run and cut the lead to 21-16 on a kill by Harms. The Nittany Lions responded by closing the out the set with a 4-0 run to take the second set 25-16.
In the third set, Penn State jumped out to a 13-10 lead, but the Golden Gophers answered with four of the next five points to tie the set at 14. Tabberson delivered a kill to make it 14-13, and Hodge committed an error to tie the set. The Nittany Lions responded with a 7-0 run to take a 21-14 lead. Minnesota cut the lead to 22-16 on a kill by Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.), but Penn State finished with three of the final four points to claim the third set 25-17.
Penn State was led by Hodge who had 19 kills, hit .429 (19-4-35), had five digs and two blocks. Darcy Dorton also hit .636 (8-1-11) with two blocks. Setter Alisha Glass had 36 assists, six digs and three blocks, while Cathy Quilico finished with a match-high 12 digs.
Minnesota will return to action when it travels to Ohio State on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. (CT). That match can be heard live in the Gold Zone.
