University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to No. 6 Illinois
10/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The 20th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (14-7, 4-5) saw a 2-1 lead disappear as it dropped a five-set decision to No. 6 Illinois (16-3, 8-1) by scores of 25-23, 6-25, 29-31, 25-15, 15-9.
Sophomore Tabi Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) had a career-high 24 kills, nine digs and a service ace. Senior Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) had 11 kills, hit .364 (11-3-22) and had six blocks. Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.) had 12 kills and 12 digs, while Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.) finished with eight kills, five digs, three blocks and a service ace.
Junior Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) had a match-high 28 digs and two assists, while Stephanie Nucci (Gilbert, Ariz.) finished with 43 assists, 12 digs and three assists.
Minnesota jumped out to a 16-14 lead in the first set, but Illinois answered with 5-0 run to go up 19-16. The Gophers cut it to a one-point lead at 23-22 on a kill by Gibbemeyer, but Jazmine Orozco answered with a kill to make it set point at 24-22. Gibbemeyer answered with a kill, but Colleen Ward answered with a kill to claim the set. Illinois outhit Minnesota .302 to .184 in the first set.
The Golden Gophers stormed out of the gates in the second set with a 14-1 run after a kill by Wittman. Minnesota expanded it to 22-4 on the way to claim the second set 25-6. The Gophers had eight blocks, and hit .632 (12-0-19) to -.241 (3-10-29) in the second set. The 25-6 victory was the Gopher largest since the format switched to rally-scoring sets to 25 points.
Minnesota trailed 20-16 in the third set, but went on a 5-1 run to tie the score at 21. Illinois pushed it to set point at 24-23 after a kill by Hillary Haen. Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to tie it at 24. The Gophers fought off a pair of set points, before Dixon put down a kill to make it set point at 27-26. Illinois scored the next two points to make it 28-27. The Gophers tied it at 28 after a service error, but Orozco delivered a kill to make it 29-28. Love answered with consecutive kills to make it set point at 30-29. Gibbemeyer finished the set with a kill to put the Gophers up 2-1 in the match.
With the score tied at 11 in the fourth set, Illinois went on an 8-2 run to take a 19-13 lead. The Gophers cut it to 20-15 after a kill by Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.). However, the Illini rattled off five straight points to close out the set. Illinois limited Minnesota to a .050 (11-9-40) hitting percentage, and hit .273 (12-3-33) in the fourth set.
Illinois moved out to a 6-2 lead in the fifth set after a service ace by Haen. Michelle Bartsch pushed the Illini closer to winning the match with a kill to make it 12-5. The Gophers cut the lead to 13-8, but Illinois closed out the set at 15-9 on a Haen kill to win in five sets.
The Illini narrowly outhit Minnesota .188 (57-25-170) to .183 (60-30-164), and had 12 blocks to nine for the Gophers. Minnesota had 77 digs to 63 for Illinois, however the Illini had seven service aces to five for Minnesota.
Illinois was led by Colleen Ward who had 23 kills and 11 digs. Johannah Bangert finished with 10 kills, hit .471 and had five blocks. Haen finished with 40 assists, five digs, five blocks and three kills, while Jennifer Bonilla collected 23 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. when it hosts Wisconsin at Williams Arena. That match can be seen live on BigTenNetwork.com.
