University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Wins Duke Invitational
9/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team (8-1) won its fourth straight match as it defeated Duke (8-2) in three sets by scores of 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 to win the Duke Invitational.
Minnesota went 3-0 in the tournament, while Duke was 2-1, Delaware was 1-2 and North Carolina Central finished 0-3. The Golden Gophers have now won all three of the non-conference tournaments they have participated in this year.
Minnesota's Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.), Tabi Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) and Ashley Wittman (Shakopee, Minn.) were all named to the All-Tournament team. Chritiana Gray (Duke), Ali McCurdy (Duke), Katie Dennehy (Delaware) and Belinda Behncke-Biney (North Carolina Central) were all named to the All-Tournament team.
Wittman hit .355 (41-8-93) with 4.10 kps, 4.00 dps and 0.90 blps in three matches in the tournament, while Love had 3.90 kps, 1.70 dps, 0.70 blps and 0.60 saps. Granquist averaged 5.20 dps in three matches in the tournament.
Wittman led the way on the night as she had 12 kills, 11 digs and two blocks. Love finished with 13 kills, five digs, two blocks and two service aces. She finished the day with five service aces in two matches. Granquist finished with a match-high 19 digs, had two assists and her first kill of the season, while Stephanie Nucci (Gilbert, Ariz.) had 32 assists, seven digs, four blocks and three kills.
Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.) finished with a match-high six blocks and five kills, while Katherine Harms (Albertville, Minn.) had four kills and five blocks. Jess Menden (Shakopee, Minn.) had seven digs, and Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) also collected four kills and four blocks.
Minnesota got out of the gates strong in the first set by hitting .371 (16-3-35) and limiting Duke to a .067 (12-9-45) hitting percentage. Love had five kills in the opening set, while Dixon collected four blocks. The Golden Gophers limited the Blue Devils to a .105 (11-7-38) hitting percentage in the second set, and were paced by a balance attack to go with seven digs from Granquist.
In the final set, Minnesota frustrated Duke into hitting -.067 (7-9-32) hitting percentage. Love and Wittman each had five kills, while Harms collected three blocks.
Minnesota outhit Duke .252 (42-16-103) to .044 (30-25-113) on the night, and had 13.0 blocks to 5.0 for Duke. The Golden Gophers also outdug the Blue Devils 50 to 40 on the night.
The Golden Gophers will finish up non-conference play at the San Diego State/USD Tournament on Sept. 17-18. Minnesota will face UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. (CT). The Golden Gophers will also play at San Diego State on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. (CT) and at No. 25 San Diego at 9 p.m. (CT). All three matches can be heard in the Gold Zone and can followed on a live blog on gophersports.com.
