University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
1-2
Louisville
2-2
Santana's 39 Kills Spark Gopher Win
9/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Boxscore 
Paced by senior Daly Santana's 39 kills, the University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated Louisville, 3-2, tonight in Louisville, Ky., at the KYC Yum! Center. With the win (23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 26-28, 15-13) the Golden Gophers earned their first win of the season and now sit at 1-2 this year.
Santana, broke a previous career-best (23) by the third set tonight when she totaled 39 in five sets played. On the night, Santana had 39 kills, in 93 swings to hit .280. She also contributed 11 digs, two assists and a solo block. The last time a Gopher had 30 plus kills in a match was Ashley Wittman (Penn State, 2011) and the last time a Gopher had 39 was Nicole Branagh in 1999.
Paige Tapp hit .500 when she had 11 kills in 20 attempts, while Hannah Tapp had 12 kills and hit .323. Samantha Seliger-Swenson added a career-best 59 assists and 15 digs. Dalianliz Rosado had a team-best 18 digs.
Minnesota plays No. 18 North Carolina tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Louisville took a 1-0 lead off a 25-23 first set win. As the Gophers were down 10-4, they called a timeout. From that point on, Minnesota cut the Card lead to two at 13-11. The Gophers then went on a five-point run to come back and take an 18-15 lead, started off by an overpass kill and a block from Molly Lohman. The Cardinals responded with a run of their own to take a 20-22 lead. The Cards would take a 23-21 lead, before the Gophers would tie up the set at 23-23 as Louisville took a timeout. The Cards would come out of the timeout with back-to-back kills to finish out the set for an early lead. In the first set alone, Santana had 13 kills to hit .500, while the team hit .350.
Set 2: The Gophers knotted the match at 1-1 on a convincing 25-14 set win. Minnesota jumped out to a 7-3 lead after a four-point run, forcing the Cards to take a timeout. As Louisville cut the deficit to 13-10, Minnesota went on a five-point run on a Katie Schau serve rotation to take a 17-10 lead. Minnesota continued to push the lead to 21-13 on a Santana kill. Seliger-Swenson and Lohman connected for their second block of the set to take a 23-14 lead. Santana added a solo block for set point, while the Gophers finished off the set on a Cards attack error to put the match at 1-1.
Set 3: Minnesota erased an early deficit to come back and win the set, 25-20. Louisville came out of the intermission with a 7-3 lead. As the Gophers called a timeout, they would battle back and tie the set. The Gophers would then take a 9-7 lead off a combined block from Hannah Tapp and Lohman. As Santana added her 23rd kill of the match, the Gophers went up 15-13, while she surpassed her career high on the Gophers' 17th point. Louisville came back to tie the set at 18, but Minnesota fought back and took a 21-18 lead off three-straight kills from Hannah Tapp. The Gophers closed out the set on a block from Paige Tapp and Alyssa Goehner and a kill from Paige Tapp to take a 2-1 lead.
Set 4: The two teams traded points and leads until the Gophers took a 16-14 lead as Louisville called a timeout. Louisville would again close the gap and tie the set at 17-17. Santana added her 30th kill of the match when she put the Gophers up, 20-18 in the fourth set. Santana continued to tack on additional kills, including the Gophers' 23rd and 24th point. Louisville, however, tied up the set at 24 on back-to-back kills as the Minnesota called a timeout. After two match points for Minnesota, the Cards battled back and after the two teams tied at 24, 25 and 26, Louisville closed out the set with a kill and a Gopher attack error.
Set 5: Minnesota came back from four-point deficit to win the fifth and deciding set, 15-13. Louisville used its fourth-set momentum to open the fifth with a 5-1 lead. As the Gophers trailed 6-2, Minnesota started to chip away at the deficit. Trailing, 9-5, Hannah Tapp had a kill, followed by a Paige Tapp block for a 9-7 score. Minnesota continued the momentum with a kill from Santana, while a Goehner kill put the score at 10-9. Santana tied the set at 11, while Lohman and Kayla Buford added a block for a 12-11 lead. The Cards took a timeout, but the Gophers would keep the momentum going and finished off the set with a Santana kill, a Louisville attack error and another Santana kill for their first win of the season.
