University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Ohio State in Four Sets
11/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The 15th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (23-8, 13-6) ran its winning streak to six straight matches as it defeated Ohio State (21-11, 9-10) in four sets by scores of 25-19, 25-10, 21-25, 25-22 at the Sports Pavilion on Friday, Nov. 26.
Minnesota was led by senior Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) who hit .435 (11-1-23) with 11 kills and five blocks. Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.) also finished with a match-high 12 kills and two blocks. Katherine Harms (Albertville, Minn.), Tabi Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) and Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.) each had nine kills on the night. Wittman also had 10 digs and two solo blocks, while Harms finished with nine digs and two service aces.
Junior libero Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) finished with a match-high 14 digs and a service ace, while Steffi Sooter (Santa Cruz, Calif.) had nine digs. Sophomore setter Mia Tabberson (Muncie, Ind.) finished with 44 assists, nine digs and three blocks.
Minnesota limited Ohio State to a .118 hitting percentage and hit .226 on the way to winning the first set 25-19. In the second set, the Gophers led 15-10 before closing out the set on a 10-0 run to win 25-10.
In the third set, the score was tied at 11 before Ohio State scored five of the next seven points to make it 16-13. The Buckeyes extended the lead to 23-18 after a kill by Kelli Barhorst. After a service error and an attack error by Ohio State, Dixon delivered a kill to cut it to 23-21. After an attack error, Katie Dull put down a kill to give the Buckeyes the third set.
Minnesota trailed 14-11 in the fourth set, before going on a 6-1 run to make it 17-15 after a kill by Harms. Ohio State cut the lead to 21-18, but after a service error by the Buckeyes, Granquist followed with a service ace and Love delivered a kill to make it match point. Ohio State fought off four match points, before Love ended it with a kill.
The Gophers outhit Ohio State .194 (52-26-134) to .110 (44-29-136), and had 52 kills to 44. The Buckeyes outblocked Minnesota 12.0-to-9.0, but the Gophers had 56 digs to 52 for Ohio State.
On the night, the Buckeyes were led by Emily Danks who hit .435 with 11 kills, three blocks and two service aces. Barhorst had eight kills and a match-high seven blocks. Susan Halverson had 12 digs to lead the way for Ohio State.
Minnesota will be back in action when it hosts No. 7 Penn State on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 8:30 p.m. That match can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
