University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Texas in Spring Tournament
4/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team defeated Texas in four sets in the final match of its spring tournament by scores of 19-25, 30-28, 25-13, 27-25 at the Sports Pavilion on Saturday, Apr. 10.
"I thought we came out a little slugging in the first set," said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. "However, we did a solid job in the next three sets and played well as a team. I thought this was a fun event. To bring a team like Texas in here and play in front of the crowd we did in a spring match is good to generate excitement for the upcoming season. I thought this was good for our program to generate this type of atmosphere during the spring season."
Minnesota unofficially got 17 kills from freshman Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.), 14 kills and a service aces from Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.), 12 kills and five blocks from Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) and 11 kills and three blocks from Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.).
In the first set, Texas jumped out to a 17-11 lead and never looked back on the way to a 25-19 first-set victory.
Minnesota trailed 20-17 in the second set, before going on a 5-0 run to take a 22-20 lead. Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to tie it at 20, and the Longhorns followed with a pair of errors. Texas moved back ahead 23-22, but Wittman answered with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota set point at 25-24.
Texas answered with consecutive points to make it set point at 26-25. The Golden Gophers fought off set point, but the Longhorns moved it to 27-26. Filho delivered a kill, and Tabitha Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) and Gibbemeyer combined on a block to make it set point at 28-27. Texas fought it off to the set at 28, but Gibbemeyer answered with consecutive kills to give the Golden Gophers the second set 30-28.
Minnesota capitalized on that momentum in the third set. With the lead at 11-9, the Golden Gophers went on an 8-2 run to take a 19-11 lead. Texas cut it to 19-12, but Minnesota responded with a 6-1 run to close out the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Texas ran out to an 18-14 lead in the fourth set, but the Golden Gophers trimmed it down to 21-19 after a Cowles' kill. Texas has set point at 24-21, but Minnesota rattled off three straight points to tie it at 24. Filho followed with a kill to make it set point. Texas tied it at 25, but Wittman delivered a kill to make it match point for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers put away the match when Love and Filho combined on a block to give the Golden Gophers a four-set victory.
Minnesota and Texas played the only best of five set match of the tournament. Marquette had the best record on the day going 3-0 in tournament play.
"I thought we came out a little slugging in the first set," said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. "However, we did a solid job in the next three sets and played well as a team. I thought this was a fun event. To bring a team like Texas in here and play in front of the crowd we did in a spring match is good to generate excitement for the upcoming season. I thought this was good for our program to generate this type of atmosphere during the spring season."
Minnesota unofficially got 17 kills from freshman Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.), 14 kills and a service aces from Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.), 12 kills and five blocks from Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) and 11 kills and three blocks from Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.).
In the first set, Texas jumped out to a 17-11 lead and never looked back on the way to a 25-19 first-set victory.
Minnesota trailed 20-17 in the second set, before going on a 5-0 run to take a 22-20 lead. Gibbemeyer delivered a kill to tie it at 20, and the Longhorns followed with a pair of errors. Texas moved back ahead 23-22, but Wittman answered with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota set point at 25-24.
Texas answered with consecutive points to make it set point at 26-25. The Golden Gophers fought off set point, but the Longhorns moved it to 27-26. Filho delivered a kill, and Tabitha Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) and Gibbemeyer combined on a block to make it set point at 28-27. Texas fought it off to the set at 28, but Gibbemeyer answered with consecutive kills to give the Golden Gophers the second set 30-28.
Minnesota capitalized on that momentum in the third set. With the lead at 11-9, the Golden Gophers went on an 8-2 run to take a 19-11 lead. Texas cut it to 19-12, but Minnesota responded with a 6-1 run to close out the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Texas ran out to an 18-14 lead in the fourth set, but the Golden Gophers trimmed it down to 21-19 after a Cowles' kill. Texas has set point at 24-21, but Minnesota rattled off three straight points to tie it at 24. Filho followed with a kill to make it set point. Texas tied it at 25, but Wittman delivered a kill to make it match point for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers put away the match when Love and Filho combined on a block to give the Golden Gophers a four-set victory.
Minnesota and Texas played the only best of five set match of the tournament. Marquette had the best record on the day going 3-0 in tournament play.
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball2025 Season Recap
Tuesday, January 27
Best of Julia Hanson
Monday, December 22
Gophers Preview NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Tuesday, December 09
Cinematic Recap: Gophers Reach Sweet Sixteen
Tuesday, December 09