University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
13-1, 1-0Big Ten
Indiana
8-4, 0-1Big Ten
Gophers Kick Off Big Ten Season With a Win
9/25/2013 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Sept. 25, 2013
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
The No. 9 University of Minnesota volleyball team opened Big Ten play with a 3-0 win over Indiana, tonight at the Sports Pavilion. With the win, the Golden Gophers are 13-1 on the season and 1-0 league action.
Daly Santana provided a season-high five aces, while Ashley Wittman established her 1,500 career kill to help the Gophers to the win. Santana and Wittman added nine kills, as Tori Dixon had a match-high 11 kills. Santana and Wittman also tied a match-high eight digs as Alexandra Palmer provided 32 assists. Minnesota out blocked the Hoosiers, 9.5 to 4.0 as Hannah Tapp led the team with a career-high seven blocks.
Minnesota hit over .300 for the 11th time this season, including a .393 clip tonight. The Gophers had 40 reception attempts and did not commit an error.
Notables:
-Ashley Wittman established her 1,500 career kill in the win. Wittman had 1,492 career kills entering tonight's match and is now sitting at 1,501.
-Minnesota had a 100 percent side out ratio in the first set, 80 percent in the second and 78 in the third.
-Santana had five aces in the match; however, it is two shy of her career high. Santana had seven against Miami (OH) in 2012.
-Dixon added her 11th double-digit kill night of the season in 14 games played.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota took a 10-6 lead after a Karlie Hauer and Tapp block and an Indiana attack error. Minnesota increased its lead 15-9 on another block, this time from Wittman and Tapp. After back-to-back kills from Tapp and Hauer, it forced Indiana to burn its first timeout, but Minnesota came out of the break with a block from Dixon and Hauer to put the set at 20-12. The Gophers ended the set on an ace from Santana and an Indiana attack error to take a 1-0 lead. Minnesota hit .457 with its only error in the match off of a net violation. The Gophers did not allow back-to-back points for the Hoosiers in the first set. Dixon had six kills, followed by Wittman had four.
Set 2: With the Gophers and Hoosiers tied at 12-12, Santana rattled off eight points in her serve rotation as the Gophers went on a 9-0 run. In that span, Santana had two aces, Wittman had two kills, a block from Dixon and Wittman, while Indiana had two attack errors. The run propelled the Gophers to a 25-15 set win as Hauer added the set point and Santana and Tapp combined for a block. Wittman and Hauer each had three kills as the Gophers hit .308 in the second set. Santana added three aces in the set in 10 attempts.
Set 3: Minnesota and Indiana only had one tie score at 1-1 and from there, the Gophers closed out the match with a 25-18 win. Santana led the charge with four kills in seven attempts and hit .571 in the third. Minnesota went up 15-10 with a block from Tapp and Wittman. The Hoosiers battled back as it added three-straight points at 15-13. However, the Gophers got another block at 17-13 with another block off the Tapp and Wittman. Minnesota would end the night on a five-point run, four of which came on Santana's serve rotation. After Santana had a kill, the Hoosiers would have an attack error. Dixon added her 11th kill, followed by Santana's fifth ace and it finished with a Wittman kill.
