University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Michigan
Gophers win first match at Michigan since 2005
10/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2011
Trailing two sets to zero, the No. 14 University of Minnesota volleyball team came back to win, 3-2 over the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines, tonight, in Ann Arbor, Mich. The win marked the first time since 2005 the Golden Gophers defeated Michigan on its home court. Minnesota won the match by scores of 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-19 and 15-10. With the win, the Gophers improve to 9-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten Conference.
Minnesota had three in double digit kills in Ashley Wittman (20), Katherine Harms (19) and Tori Dixon (17). Mia Tabberson had 56 assists, while Jessica Granquist had a match-high 22 digs. The Golden Gophers outblocked Michigan by a 15.5 to 5.0 ratio en route to a win.
Although Michigan held the lead throughout the first, Minnesota and Michigan tied the set up eight times, but the Wolverines took the first set, 25-22. After trailing 14-18, Minnesota came back to tie the set at 21-21 on three-straight kills from Harms, Wittman and Dixon. Michigan, however, took a timeout to regroup and had two straight kills, followed by a service error to give the Wolverines a one-point lead. The Wolverines closed out the set with a kill by Lexi Erwin and an attack error by Minnesota to win the first.
Michigan then held the lead in the second set and won it, 25-18. Hitting .441 as a team, Michigan jumped out to a 20-9 lead. The Gophers, however, continued to battle back as they went on a 9-4 run before Michigan closed out the set, with a kill from All-American Alex Hunt.
Minnesota outhit Michigan in the third set, .250 to .188 en route to a win of 25-23. The Gophers jumped out to an early lead at 10-5 and made it 15-10 on a Dixon kill. Minnesota was up 22-15, but the Wolverines battled back and brought it as close to 24-23 on back-to-back kills by Hunt. The Wolverines, however, committed a service error at the end of the set to give Minnesota the third.
The Gophers held a hitting percentage of .394 in the fourth set to take it at 25-19. Minnesota had just three attack errors in the set, capitalizing 16 kills on 33 attempts and just three attack errors to a 25-19 win. Minnesota jumped out to a 15-11 lead and forced Michigan to take a timeout. However, the Gophers came out of the timeout with a kill by Ariana Filho. The Gophers, up 22-18, added three kills from Dixon, Harms and Tabberson to Michigan's one to win the set in the late points.
Minnesota jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the fifth and deciding set and won it, 15-10. Minnesota held a hitting percentage of .714 and had 10 kills on 14 attempts with no errors. Wittman had four kills in seven attempts, while Dixon had three in four attempts and Harms had two.
Minnesota travels to Michigan State, tomorrow night, at 6 p.m. CT. as the Gophers look to add to their win column. Follow the Gophers through the online blog and through their video webcast, both located on gophersports.com.
