University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to Cal in Regional Semifinal
12/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team (26-9) saw its season come to an end as it fell to seventh-seeded Cal in three sets by scores of 26-24, 25-23, 25-23 in the NCAA Regional Semifinals at Seattle on Friday, Dec. 10.
It was a frustrating night for the Gophers as they led late in each of the three sets, but failed to close out each of them.
"It was an unusual match in which we felt like we were winning the whole night, and then we look at the end of the night and we lost," said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. "You have to hand it to Cal they scored the right points at the right time. I am extremely proud of this team for coming through what they have this year. It has been a great ride to watch this team step up and play the way they did at the end of the season. I am sitting up here with in my opinion one of the best players in the country Lauren Gibbemeyer. She has done a great job leading out team this year. Jessica Granquist also did an excellent job on defense for us tonight."
Minnesota fell behind 17-11 in the first set after a kill by Cal's Tarah Murrey. The Gophers stormed back with seven of the next eight points and cut the Golden Bears led to 19-18 on an attack error by Murrey. Cal responded with consecutive points to push its lead to 21-18, but the Gophers scored three straight and tied it at 21 when Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) and Mia Tabberson combined on a block.
Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to tie it at 22, and the Gophers took their first lead of the set at 23-22 on an attack error by Correy Johnson. After a kill by Cal's Shannon Hawari, Tabi Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) answered with a kill to make it set point at 24-23. Minnesota had a chance to close out the set, but Cal's defense kept the play going and Carli Lloyd and Johnson combined on a block to tie the score at 24. Adrienne Gehan delivered a kill to give Cal set point, and the Golden Bears claimed the set after a Gopher attack error. Both teams hit .306 and had two blocks in the set.
The Gophers ran out to a 16-12 lead in the second set after a kill by Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.). Minnesota pushed it out to 22-17 when Tabberson delivered a solo block on Hawari. Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.) put Minnesota within two points of winning the set at 23-18 with a kill. Johnson answered with consecutive kills for Cal to force a Gopher timeout at 23-20. Hawari delivered a kill out of the timeout, and Gehan had consecutive kills to tie the set at 23 to force a second Minnesota timeout.
Johnson followed with a kill and Murrey delivered a service ace to give Cal the set, as the Golden Bears closed it out on a 7-0 run to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Wittman had eight kills and seven digs in the set, while Tabberson had 19 assists. Minnesota had 20 kills in the second set, while Cal had five blocks.
Cal and Minnesota played a tight third set, as neither team led by more than two points after a Cal service error tie it at 23. After an attack error by Lloyd and a kill by Love, the Gophers took a 23-21 lead. Following a timeout, the Golden Bears got a kill by Kat Brown and an error by Minnesota to tie the set at 23. After a Minnesota timeout, Lloyd made match point with a kill and Gehan closed it out with a kill.
Minnesota was outhit .319 (48-10-119) to .289 (53-18-121) in the match, and Cal also had nine blocks to six for the Gophers. The Golden Bears also had four service aces to none for Minnesota. The Gophers had 57 digs to 44 for Cal.
"It was tough because I felt like we executed at a higher level tonight, but they played a little more steady," said Granquist. "We had higher highs and lower lows, but they stayed steady and made the big points when they needed to."
Love finished with a match-high 15 kills and hit .433 (15-2-30), and Gibbemeyer had 14 kills, hit .400 (14-4-25) and had two blocks. Gibbemeyer finish a school-record 593 total blocks and was also ninth on the school's all-time list in kills at 1,421. Wittman had 14 kills and 10 digs for the match to collect her 18th double-double of the season. She finished with 442 kills and 400 digs to become the first freshman in school history to have 400 or more kills and digs in a season.
Junior Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) had a match-high 21 digs on the night. Granquist finished the season with 668 digs, which was the second-highest total in school history. Sophomore Mia Tabberson (Muncie, Ind.) had a match-high 47 assists, two blocks and two kills. Katherine Harms (Albertville, Minn.) had 11 digs, four kills and two blocks, while Steffi Sooter (Santa Cruz, Calif.) finished with nine digs.
Cal was led by Murrey who had 10 kills, five digs and four blocks, while Gehan had 10 kills and hit .364 (10-2-22). Brown also hit .533 (8-0-15) with eight kills and four blocks.
