University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to No. 12 Oregon
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The ninth-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (7-3) lost to No. 12 Oregon (9-0) in five sets by scores of 25-22, 27-25, 22-25, 15-25, 15-10 at the Pioneer Classic on Friday, Sept. 18.
Minnesota was led by junior Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) who hit .484 (16-1-31) with 16 kills and eight blocks. It was Gibbemeyer's third match with eight or more blocks this year. Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) finished with 20 kills, nine digs and five blocks. Dieter collected her first 20-kill match of the season, and the eighth of her career.
Sophomore Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) tied a career-high with 11 kills, tied a career-best seven blocks and hit a career-high .474 (11-2-19). Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) had a match-high 17 digs, while Taylor Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) collected 37 assists, eight digs and five blocks in four sets of action.
Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) also collected nine digs and two kills, while Megan Wilson (Lincoln, Neb.) had four kills, four assists, seven digs and three blocks.
Minnesota outblocked Oregon 16.0-to-8.0, and outhit the Ducks .212 (62-29-156) to .188 (62-31-165). Both teams finished with 62 kills, 57 assists and 60 digs. Oregon had four service aces and six service errors, while Minnesota finished with three service aces and nine service errors.
Oregon took the first two sets 25-22 and 27-25 to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the match. In the third set, the Ducks jumped out to an 11-7 lead. Minnesota reeled off five of the next six points to tie the set at 12. Filho contributed two kills during that run. With the score tie at 13, Gibbemeyer delivered a kill and combined on a block with Dieter to make it 15-13.
The Ducks tied the score at 15, but Wilson delivered a kill and Minnesota scored the next point to make it 17-15. Oregon scored four of the next five points to reclaim the lead at 19-18. Gibbemeyer answered with a kill, the Golden Gophers scored the next point to move ahead 20-19. After Oregon tied it at 20, Filho delivered a kill followed by a pair of Duck attack errors.
Filho made it set point with a kill to move the score to 24-20. Oregon fought off a pair of set points, but Filho answered with another kill to give Minnesota the set at 25-22.
Minnesota outhit Oregon .194 to .093 in the set, and had two blocks to none for the Ducks. Filho paced the Golden Gophers with six kills in seven swings in the set.
The Golden Gophers used the momentum from the third set to run out to a 9-4 lead in the fourth set after a Dieter kill. Oregon cut the lead to 14-10, but Minnesota got a kill from Tabitha Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) and a solo block by Gibbemeyer to make it 16-10. After an error by Oregon, Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to make it 18-10.
Minnesota pushed its lead to nine points at 22-13 after a kill by Dieter. After Dieter made it 23-14 with a kill, the Golden Gophers scored two of the final three points to move on to a 25-15 victory in the fourth set.
The Golden Gophers outhit Oregon .625 (16-1-24) to .080 (8-6-25) in the fourth set. Minnesota also outblocked the Ducks 5.0-to-0.0 in the set. Dieter had six kills in the set, while Gibbemeyer had five kills and three blocks.
Oregon jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the fifth set, but Gibbemeyer delivered a kill and combined on a block with Carico to tie the set at three. The Ducks responded with an 8-1 run to take an 11-4 lead on a kill by Heather Meyers. Filho and Dieter responded with consecutive kills to make it 11-6. Oregon called a timeout after committing an attack error that made it 11-7.
Dieter and Filho combined on a block to cut the lead to 11-8, however Oregon answered with consecutive points to make it 13-8. Sonja Newcombe made it match point for the Ducks at 14-9 with a kill. Filho fought off the first match point with a kill, but Newcombe delivered another kill to give Oregon the five-set victory.
In the first set, Oregon jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, but Minnesota scored five of the next seven points and took a 6-5 lead on a kill by Tabberson. The Ducks scored the next three points to make it 8-6, and pushed the lead to 13-10. The Golden Gophers cut the lead to 14-13, but a kill by Meyers pushed Oregon ahead 17-15.
Filho followed with a kill and Dieter and Gibbemeyer combined a block to tie the set 17. Oregon answered with three of the next four points to move ahead 20-18. Minnesota scored three of the next four points, and tied the set at 21 on a kill by Love. The Ducks scored the next three points to make it set point at 24-21. Love delivered a kill to fight off the first set point, but the Ducks scored the next point to close out the set.
Minnesota fell behind by eight points at 17-9 in the second set. However, the Golden Gophers fought back with seven of the next eight points and cut the lead to 19-16 on a service ace by Tan. Oregon answered with back-to-back points to make it 21-16, but the Golden Gophers scored six of the next seven points to tie the set at 22. After Oregon took a 23-22 lead, Dieter delivered a kill and a solo block to make it set point at 24-23.
Oregon fought off set point, and scored the next point to move ahead 25-24. Gibbemeyer answered with a kill to tie the set at 25. Newcombe delivered a kill to make it set point, and Amanda Westrick delivered a service ace to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Ducks were led by Meyers who had 19 kills and 10 digs, while Newcombe finished with 13 kills and eight digs. Neticia Enesi finished with 11 kills, five blocks and five digs. Setter Nevena Djordjevic had 50 assists, eight digs and four kills.
Minnesota will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 19 when it plays to two matches. The Golden Gophers will face Georgia Tech at 2 p.m. (CT) and host Denver University at 8:30 p.m. (CT). Both matches can be heard live in the Gold Zone, and can be tracked on the live blog on gophersports.com.
