University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Win Regional! On to National Semifinals
12/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team (28-8) defeated Florida State (31-3) in four sets by scores of 25-20, 25-7, 18-25, 25-17 to advance to the National Semifinals at the Sports Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 12.
Minnesota will face Texas in the National Semifinals on Thursday, Dec. 17 at either 6 or 8 p.m. Tickets for the National Semifinals will go on sale on Monday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. Orders for tickets will be taken until noon.
The trip to the National Semifinals will be the third in school history for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota advanced to the National Semifinals previously in 2003 and 2004. It will also be fifth trip for Golden Gopher Head Coach Mike Hebert.
With the victory, Minnesota also moved to 7-1 in its last eight NCAA Regional matches. The Golden Gophers are also 4-0 NCAA Regional matches in the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota won both NCAA Regional matches against Georgia Tech and Ohio State in 2004 to get to the Final Four.
"I knew it was going to be a very warm entertaining evening early in the match," said Hebert. "We continued to play, as we have for the past month, team volleyball particularly in the final points of each set. We seemed to have the instinct to play well when it really counts, and that's something this team has really shaped on its own."
Freshman outside hitter Tabitha Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) was named the Minneapolis Regional Most Outstanding Player. Love averaged 5.38 kps and hit .402 in the two NCAA Regionals. Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) and Taylor Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) were also named to the All-Tournament. Florida State's Mira Djuric and Rachael Morgan also received honors, along with Lauren Rapp (Kentucky) and Tessa Nelson (Colorado State).
"I felt like this weekend we knew the matches would be really tough," said Love."We knew we had to step up, and it's really rewarding to win. Getting kills is secondary, going to Tampa was our goal and we accomplished that."
Love paced the Minnesota attack for a second night in a row, as she hit .370 (21-4-46) with 21 kills. Gibbemeyer hit .464 (15-1-28) with 15 kills, six digs and three blocks on the night. Senior libero Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) collected 24 digs and three assists to help secure a trip back to her homestate for the National Semifinals.
"I'm so excited, not because I am going home, but because I get to take my team with me," said Tan. "I always thought before that it was who you had on your roster and how stacked your team was, but it is really not. It is the team you have together, and how well you play together. This team has played so well together, and I'm so happy right now."
Carico also had seven kills, 44 assists and 13 digs for the match. Junior outside hitter Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) collected 11 kills, 13 digs and three assists on the match.
Minnesota outhit Florida State .331 to .179, and had 66 kills to 45 for the Seminoles. The Golden Gophers also collected 73 digs to 56 for Florida State and outblocked the Seminoles 8.0-to-5.0.
"We pushed real hard to win the first two sets, and they pushed back hard in the third set," said Hebert. "Instead of freaking out, we just became more and more solid. I thought we won kind of going away. That's not easy to say after a Regional Final. The toughest matches on the road to the National Semifinals are the regional matches. I think we won the serve and pass game, and I thought we were the better ball control team. Those three things usually determine who wins and loses and we're tickled to death to be going down to Tampa."
Minnesota jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set after a kill by Love. The Golden Gophers expanded the lead to 12-5 after a kill by Gibbemeyer. Cowles helped keep the seven-point lead with a kill to make it 14-7. Florida State answered with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 14-12. The Golden Gophers answered with three straight points to make it 17-12 when Gibbemeyer and Love sandwiched kills around a Florida State attack error.
The Golden Gophers maintained a four-point lead at 20-16, before the Seminoles scored consecutive points. Katherine Harms (Albertville, Minn.) answered with a kill to make it 21-18. The Seminoles cut it to 21-19, butGibbemeyer responded with back-to-back kills to make it 23-19. After Florida State scored to make it 23-20, Gibbemeyer and Love delivered consecutive kills to close out the set at 25-20.
Minnesota outhit Florida State .342 to .205 in the set, and had 19 kills to 13 on the night. Love hit .545 (7-1-11) with seven kills, while Gibbemeyer had six kills in eight swings.
The Golden Gophers put forth a dominant effort in the second set, as it held the Seminoles to the lowest point total by a Minnesota opponent since the rule change that made sets go to 25 points. The Golden Gophers raced out to a 10-1 lead in the second set after Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) and Love combined on a block. The Golden Gophers stretched the lead out to 16-3 at one point, and pushed it to 20-6 after a kill by Gibbemeyer.
After Florida State scored the next point, Minnesota rattled off the final five points of the set to win it 25-7. After a pair of Florida State attack errors, Gibbemeyer and Carico combined on a block to make it 23-7. Cowles followed with a kill to make it set point at 24-7, and the Seminoles committed an attack error to close out the set.
Minnesota outhit Florida State .609 to -.111 in the set, and had 15 kills to four. The Golden Gophers also outblocked the Seminoles 4.0-to-0.0 in the set. Love led the way with five kills in seven swings.
Florida State responded to the 2-0 deficit by jumping out to a 16-9 lead in the third set. The Golden Gophers cut the lead to 17-12 with a kill by Love, but Florida State stretched it back out to 21-12 with four straight points. Minnesota scored six of the next eight points, and made it 23-18 on a kill by Cowles. The Seminoles closed the set out on consecutive kills by Brianna Barry and Stephanie Neville.
In the set, Florida State outhit Minnesota .350 to .159 and had 16 kills to 13 for the Golden Gophers. Love led Minnesota with five kills in the set.
The Golden Gophers ran out to a 11-7 lead in the fourth set after a kill by Cowles. Florida State scored two of the next three points to cut it to 12-9. After the Seminoles made it 13-10, Love and Cowles had kills, and Florida State had an attack error to make it 16-10.
The Seminoles cut it to 17-14 on a kill by Neville, before Minnesota imposed its will with a 5-0 run to make it 22-14. Gibbemeyer sandwiched a pair of kills around a Seminole attack error to make it 20-14. Carico followed with a kill and then combined on a block with Gibbemeyer to make it 22-14.
Gibbemeyer pushed the Golden Gophers to two points away from the National Semifinals with a kill that made it 23-16. After a Seminole point made it 23-17, Florida State committed a ballhandling error to make it match point. Fittingly, Love closed out the match with a kill to send Minnesota to its third National Semifinal appearance.
"Tabi has been gradually improving all season long," said Hebert. "When I say gradually, I mean very gradually. It is not just about getting kills, it is the body language. She is losing that tentativeness that she had early on, and now if the ball is airborne she is going to take a swing at it. When you get that level of readiness, you become a player. I think in the last two weekends, she has shown that she wants to play and is going to become a very good player."
The Seminoles were led by Djuric who had 11 kills and four digs. Barry also had eight kills, hit .350 and collected four digs. Jenna Romanelli finished with a team-high 15 digs, while Fatma Yildirim had six kills and 12 digs.
