University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
22-4, 14-3Big Ten
Michigan State
23-6, 12-5Big Ten
No. 2 Minnesota Defeats MSU in Five Sets
11/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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The No. 2 ranked University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated No.13 Michigan State in five sets Friday night, at the Sports Pavilion.
Minnesota won the first two sets, 25-17, 25-18, fell in the third and fourth 21-25, 19-25, but rallied back to win the fifth set, 18-16. The Golden Gophers improve to 22-4 and 14-3 in the Big Ten, and remains undefeated at home. Michigan State falls to 23-6 overall and 12-5 in league action.
As a team, the Gophers had 60 kills, 67 digs and four blocks. Alexis Hart led the team with 20 kills, hitting .419. Sarah Wilhite followed with 18 kills, adding seven digs. Hannah Tapp had eight kills with three blocks, and Molly Lohman hit six kills with three blocks. Paige Tapp added four kills. Dalianliz Rosado led the match with 21 digs, Katie Schau had 14, and Alyssa Goehner had nine. Samantha Seliger-Swenson added 45 assists and seven digs.
Minnesota will face Michigan at home on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Set 1: The Gophers hit .359 in the opening set and held a 77 sideout percentage to win, 25-17. Minnesota opened with a 6-3 lead in the first set. Seliger-Swenson pushed the score to 9-6 off a kill, while P Tapp added a kill for a 10-8 lead. The Gophers built a 13-9 lead off a Hart kill, and forced MSU to call its first timeout. After the Gophers went up, 16-12, MSU battled back and cut the lead to 16-14, before Minnesota responded with four-point run and a 20-14 lead. Lohman added back-to-back kills for a 23-16 lead as the Spartans called their second timeout. The timeout, however, didn't deter Lohman as another kill put it at set point, while Hart finished off the set for a 1-0 lead.
Set 2: Minnesota earned a 25-18 second set win. Tied at 6-6, Minnesota went on a 4-1 run for a 10-7 lead. A Rosado ace pushed the Gopher lead to 14-10. MSU responded and cut Minnesota's lead to 15-14, but the Gophers went on three-point run and an 18-14 lead as the Spartans called a timeout. The Gophers, however, added to their lead and came out of the timeout with another four points and a 22-14 lead. Minnesota closed out the set on a kill from Hart, a block from Lohman and H Tapp and a kill from Hart to go up, 2-0.
Set 3: The Gophers dropped their first set in seven matches as the Spartans won the third, 25-21. Tied 5-5, Michigan State took an 8-5 lead, which forced Minnesota to take its first timeout of the match. The Gophers responded and tied the set and later took a 10-8 lead off three-straight MSU attack errors. MSU took a 12-10 lead off back-to-back aces, but the Gophers later tied the set with a P Tapp kill and 15-13 lead on a Wilhite kill. The Spartans came back and tied it at 15-15 on a kill, and later went up 17-15 as Minnesota called a timeout. After MSU built a 19-15 lead, a Wilhite kill ended the MSU run. MSU led 22-17 off an ace and closed out the set with three kills for a 25-21 win and cut Minnesota's lead to 2-1.
Set 4: The Spartans hit .400 to Minnesota's .207 to win, 25-19. MSU took a 7-3 lead early in the fourth as Minnesota called a timeout. MSU continued its momentum and built a 10-3 lead before H Tapp had a kill for 10-4 deficit. MSU took a 13-6 lead off an ace and the Gophers called their second timeout of the set. The Spartans pushed their lead to 17-9 off a kill from the touch. MSU continued to put on the pressure and went up 21-11. As the Spartans led, 23-12, Minnesota strung together three-straight as MSU called a timeout. Minnesota cut the lead to 23-18, but the Spartans closed out the set with a pair of kills to tie the match at 2-2.
Set 5: Minnesota rebounded and won a tight fifth set, 18-16 as it hit .308 in the set. With the two teams tied at 4-4, Minnesota went up 6-4 off two errors by MSU as the Spartans called a timeout. The Gophers went up 8-4 on back-to-back Wilhite kills as the two teams switched sides. As the Gophers led 10-7, MSU responded and added two kills for a one-point Gopher lead as Minnesota called a timeout. The Spartans took an 11-10 lead as Minnesota called its second timeout of the set. The two teams tied at 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. Wilhite added a kill to help Minnesota pull ahead for set point, and a MSU hitting error ended the match, Minnesota's 10th win at home.
