University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Advances to Regional Finals
12/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team (27-8) defeated Colorado State (25-6) in four sets by scores of 25-22, 29-27, 23-25, 25-18 at the Sports Pavilion in the NCAA Regional Semifinals on Friday, Dec. 11. With the win, the Golden Gophers reached their fourth NCAA Regional Final in seven years.
Minnesota is also 6-1 in its last seven NCAA Regional Final matches, including trips to the Final Four in 2003 and 2004, along with a win against Florida and a five-set loss to Nebraska in 2006.
The Golden Gophers will play the region's top seed, Florida State, on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 5:30 p.m. That match will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
Fans who are coming to tomorrow's match are encouraged to arrive early to try to beat departing traffic from the Minnesota-St. Joseph's men's basketball game at 3 p.m. on Dec. 12.
"Obviously it's great to play in front of your own fans," junior middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer. "The turnout was great tonight, and we are so thankful to our fans. It is definitely a great home-court advantage, and we are looking forward to have that support tomorrow."
Minnesota outdug Colorado State 86 to 66, and had 73 kills to 55. The Rams outblocked the Golden Gophers 13.0-to-11.0, but Minnesota outhit them .242 to .205 on the night.
"I thought the match was evenly played in the serve and passing game," said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. "Defensively I thought we were a little bit better, and we were able to convert more often than they did. I was very impressed with how well coached Colorado State is. They had a great plan for our attack, particularly against Lauren (Gibbemeyer). We are really happy to moving on to play tomorrow."
Minnesota was led by senior setter Taylor Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) who tied a career-high with 13 kills, hit .647 (13-2-17) with 47 assists and 12 digs. It was the first triple-double by a Golden Gopher of the season, and the first in the NCAA Tournament since Kelly Bowman and Lindsey Taatjes each had them in the Regional Finals in 2004.
Freshman outside hitter (Dauphin, Manitoba) collected a career-high 22 kills and hit .429 (22-4-41) on the night. Love is 4.72 kps in her three NCAA Tournament matches this year. Junior outside hitter Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) also had 13 kills, a season-high nine digs and three blocks.
"A lot of people have heard about Tabitha Love, but I think she came into her own tonight," said Hebert. "She had 22 kills and did a great job of being our go-to hitter throughout the night."
Sophomore defensive specialist Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) had a career-high 21 digs and also collected four assists. Junior outside hitter Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) also had 10 kills and 14 digs, while senior
Megan Wilson tallied 15 digs, seven kills and four assists. Sophomore Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) collected eight kills and seven blocks, and senior libero Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) had 12 digs and four assists.
"I thought we played really well as a team tonight," said Love. We really came together, and we did a good job feeding off each other tonight. I thought that was a big key in our victory tonight."
Minnesota jumped out to a 8-6 lead after kills by Love and Filho. After Colorado State scored the next point, the Golden Gophers answered with a 4-0 run, started by a solo block by Filho and a kill by Cowles, to make it 12-7. The Rams responded with a 6-1 run to tie the score at 13.Cowles answered by sandwiching a kill and a service ace around a kill by Carico to make it 16-13. With the score at 16-14, Carico and Love delivered kills to push the Golden Gopher lead to four points.
Colorado State cut the lead to 18-15, but Cowles and Filho came back with consecutive kills to move Minnesota ahead 20-15. The Rams scored four straight points to cut the lead to 20-19, but committed a service error to make it 21-19. Filho moved the score to 22-19 with a kill. With the score at 23-20, Colorado State scored consecutive points to make it 23-22. Wilson delivered a kill to make it set point, and Carico and Gibbemeyer combined on a block to give Minnesota the first set 25-22.
Minnesota was outhit by Colorado State .222 to .209, but had 16 kills to 14 for the Rams. Colorado State outblocked the Golden Gophers 3.0-to-2.0, but Minnesota won the serving battle with two service aces and no service errors while Colorado State had one service ace to three service errors.
In the second set, Colorado State jumped out to a 7-5 lead before Minnesota scored consecutive points to tie it at seven on a kill by Love. The Rams answered quickly with eight of the next 10 points to move ahead 15-9. After a Wilson kill, Colorado State answered to move ahead 16-10. Wilson responded by sandwiching a kill and a service ace around a kill by Gibbemeyer to make the score 16-13.
Colorado State moved ahead 17-13, but the Golden Gophers answered with five of the next six points to take a 19-18 lead. The Rams scored the next two points to move ahead 20-19, but Carico and Filho had back-to-back kills to give Minnesota a 21-20 lead. The Golden Gophers moved ahead 22-21 after a kill by Love, but Colorado State answered with consecutive points to take a 23-22 lead.
Filho tied it at 23, but Danielle Minch delivered a kill to make it set point at 24-23. Carico tied with a kill, but Minch answered with a kill to make it set point at 25-24. Carico answered with a kill, and following a Rams attack error Minnesota made it set point at 26-25. Minch answered with a kill, and Jacque Davidson followed with a kill to give Colorado State set point at 27-26. Gibbemeyer tied the score at 27 with a kill, and Filho had a solo block to make it set point at 28-27. Minnesota claimed the set on the next point to move ahead 2-0 in the match.
Minnesota outhit Colorado State .205 to .174 in the set, and had 18 kills to 16 for the Rams. Gibbemeyer led the way with five kills, while Carico had four kills in four swings in the set.
Colorado State jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set. Minnesota answered with eight of the next 10 points and took a 9-7 lead on a kill by Love. The Rams scored four of the next five points to claim an 11-10 lead, but Cowles answered with a kill and combined on a block with Filho to give the Golden Gophers the lead back at 12-11. Minnesota led 13-11, before Colorado State answered with seven of the next eight points to take an 18-14 lead.
The Rams pushed the lead to 21-16, but the Golden Gophers answered with five of the next seven points and cut it to 23-21 after a kill by Carico. Colorado State made it set point at 24-21, but Wilson and Filho responded with kills to make it 24-23. Davisson and Tessa Nelson put away the set for the Rams when they combined on a block.
Minnesota was outhit .270 to .200 in the set, and the Rams had 19 kills to 13 for the Golden Gophers. Love had eight kills in 12 swings in the set.
The Golden Gophers jumped out to an 8-6 lead in the fourth set after a kill by Gibbemeyer. Colorado State scored four of the final five points to take a 10-9 lead. With the scored tied at 12, Love and Filho combined on a block, and Colorado State committed an attack error to make it 14-12.
Minnesota expanded the lead to four points at 17-13 on another kill by Carico. Colorado State cut it to three points at 17-14, but the Golden Gophers pushed the lead up to five points at 20-15 after a kill by Wilson. Cowles then delivered a block, and Gibbemeyer and Carico followed by combining on one to make it 22-15. Carico delivered a kill to move the lead out to 23-15. Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to make it match point at 24-16, and two points later Love closed out the match in four sets with a kill.
