University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Iowa in Three Sets
10/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The 20th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (16-7, 6-5) defeated Iowa (6-14, 1-10) in three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-19, 25-16 at the Sports Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 27. With the win, the Gophers moved into sole possession of fourth place at 6-5.
Senior Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) hit a season-high .556 (11-1-18) and had 11 kills and four blocks. Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.) had 10 kills and five digs, while Tabi Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) finished with 10 kills and two service aces. Katherine Harms (Albertville, Minn.) also had eight kills, 11 digs and two service aces. Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.) also hit .538 (8-1-13) with eight kills.
Junior Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) had a team-high 12 digs, while Stephanie Nucci (Gilbert, Ariz.) finished with 43 assists, eight digs and three kills.
Minnesota ran out to a 21-14 lead when Gibbemeyer and Harms combined on a block. The Gophers made it set point at 24-19 on a kill by Gibbemeyer. After Iowa cut the lead to 24-22, Wittman delivered a kill to give the Gophers the set. Minnesota outhit Iowa .286 to .213, and had 19 kills to 15. Gibbemeyer led the way with six kills in the set, while Harms had eight digs.
The Gophers hit .343 (17-5-35) in the second set on the way to a 25-19 victory. Minnesota ran out to a 10-4 lead and never led by less than four points the rest of the way. Harms and Wittman led the way with four kills in the set. Minnesota limited Iowa to a .086 (10-7-35) hitting percentage in the third set, and hit .324 (14-3-34). The Gophers led by a narrow margin of 11-9, but scored 10 of the next 13 points to take a 21-12 lead. Wittman eventually closed out the match with a kill to give Minnesota three-set victory.
The Gophers outhit Iowa .314 to .186 in the match, and had 50 kills to 38. Minnesota narrowly won the digs (49-to-48) and block (5.0-to-4.0) on the night. The Gophers had five service aces on the night.
Iowa was led by Megan Eskew who had 12 kills and 11 digs. Rachael Bedell also had 10 kills and four blocks. Setter Paige Stevens had 32 assists and six digs, while Bethany Yeager had a match-high 13 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action when it hosts No. 24 Northwestern on Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. That match can be seen live on BigTenNetwork.com, and can be heard in the Gold Zone.
