University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
16-11, 6-10
Penn State
26-3, 14-2
Gophers Drop 3-0 Contest to No. 6 PSU
11/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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The University of Minnesota fell, 3-0, tonight to No. 6 Penn State in University Park, Pa. With the loss the Golden Gophers drop to 16-11 overall, 6-10 in the Big Ten. PSU improves to 26-3 overall and 14-2 in league action. The Nittany Lions improve their win streak to 10-straight, including nine that have been won in straight sets.
Minnesota's kill leader was Daly Santana, who had eight kills, while Paige Tapp hit .429 and had a team-high five blocks. Tapp also had seven kills, while Goehner had five and a team-high eight digs. As a team, PSU outhit the Gophers .315-.080, had a 9.5-7.0 block advantage and a 38-26 digs lead.
Minnesota will play at Maryland, Wednesday night at 6 p.m.
Set 1: Penn State took a 25-20 win to go up, 1-0. The Gophers had four blocks in the set, but hit .097 to PSU's .290. Minnesota opened the first set with a 10-6 lead, which forced Penn State to take a timeout. Penn State would come back and eventually tie up the set at 14-14. As the two teams tied at 15-15, PSU went on a 4-0 run to cushion their lead for the remainder of the set.
Set 2: PSU hit .387 in the second set to take a 2-0 lead. Penn State opened the second set with a 9-4 lead to force the Gophers to call a timeout. The Nittany Lions would push the score to 17-9 with back-to-back kills from Aiyana Whitney. Minnesota would back two points off of PSU attack errors, while Alyssa Goehner had a kill to put the score at 20-11, but PSU ended the second set on a 5-1 run to close out the second set and take a 2-0 lead.
Set 3: PSU capped off the win with a 25-23 third set win. Minnesota opened the third set with an 8-2 lead, capped off by Paige Tapp. As PSU closed the gap to 9-6, Minnesota pushed the score to 13-7 on a 4-1 run, which forced PSU to call a timeout. PSU, however, would use a run off of PSU setter Micha Hancock's serve rotation to tie the set at 13-13. The two teams would exchange points and leads until PSU took a 21-19 lead off a block. Minnesota, however, responded with a kill from Goehner, a PSU attack error and a kill from Santana to take a 22-21 lead as PSU called a timeout. PSU, however, finished off the set when it tied up the set, 23-23 and closed out the match with an ace for its 26th win of the season.
