University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Top Michigan State in Five Sets
11/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The 22nd-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (20-8, 10-6) prevailed over Michigan State (12-15, 4-12) in a hard-fought five-set battle by scores of 29-31, 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 15-5 at the Sports Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 13.
With the Gopher victory and a Michigan four-set loss at Iowa, Minnesota is now tied for third place in the Big Ten at 10-6. The Gophers also collected their 20th victory, marking the 12th time that Hebert has led Minnesota to 20 victories in a season.
Freshman Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.) led the way for the Gophers with a career-high 21 kills, had 11 digs and a career-best eight blocks. Senior Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) added 16 kills, two service aces, and 11 blocks to the team totals, marking the second time in the last five matches in which she has collected 10 blocks or more. Freshman Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.) had a career-best 17 kills to go with seven digs and two blocks.
Junior Jessica Granquist ended with 22 digs on the night, marking the 13th time this year she has tallied 20 or more digs and the 14th time in 16 Big Ten matches that she had the match-high in digs. Granquist collected the 22 digs, despite missing most of the first set after colliding with a teammate in the opening moments of the match. Most of her 22 digs came after she returned in the second set. Mia Tabberson finished with a career-high 56 assists, nine digs and two kills, while freshman Steffi Sooter (Santa Cruz, Calif.) added 12 digs.
Minnesota bounced back from a tough 31-29 loss in the first set to limit Michigan State to a .111 hitting percentage (14-9-45) in the second set. Dixon and Wittman collected kills early in the set to give the Gophers a four-point lead at 11-7. They extended their lead to 18-13 after an attack error by Alexis Mathews. Two kills from Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) sandwiched around an attack error by Rathje of Michigan State put away the set to win 25-20.
The Gophers fell behind 18-15 in the third set, before scoring six of the next seven points as they moved ahead 21-19 when Gibbemeyer and Wittman combined on a block. Michigan State cut the lead to 23-22, before Dixon put down a kill to make it set point at 24-22. After Nateli Emro and Alexis Mathews combined on a block to make it 24-23, Dixon put the set away with a kill to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead in the match.
Michigan State outhit Minnesota .414 (15-3-29) to .333 (16-6-30) to claim the fourth set to tie the match at two sets apiece.
In the fifth set, Minnesota outhit Michigan State .385 (6-1-13) to -.200 (4-9-25). The Gophers also had three blocks while the Spartans had zero.
Kills by Dixon, Wittman, and Gibbemeyer early in the set kept the Gophers tied with the Spartans. At 7-4, Wittman served the Gophers to the next six points to make it 13-4 after a string of attack errors by the Spartan. A kill by Gibbemeyer put the score at a set point of 14-5 before Filho again ended the set with a kill to win 15-5.
Minnesota outhit Michigan .230 (67-25-183) to .151 (67-36-205) on the match. The Gophers ended with 17 blocks to the Spartans’ 10. They also outdug the Spartans 85 to 75.
Michigan State was led by Jenilee Rathje who finished with 16 kills, eight digs, and three blocks. Amy Dentlinger, Becca Zlabis, and Alexis Mathews tallied 12, 11, and 10 kills, respectively. Carli Weiler had 21 digs, while Allyson Karaba finished with 19.
Minnesota will be back next weekend when they travel to Wisconsin and Illinois. The Golden Gophers will face the Badgers on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and the Illini on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 4:30 p.m. Minnesota’s match at Illinois can be seen live on the Big Ten Network. Both matches can be heard live in the Gold Zone.
