University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
28-4
Missouri
27-6
Minnesota Moves On To Regional Final
12/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated No.15 Missouri in four sets Friday night, 25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 25-14, to advance to the NCAA Regional Finals. The Gophers improve to 28-4 on the season, and remain undefeated at home.
"Very happy to be advancing into the next round of the tournament," head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. "I'm proud of our performance tonight. Missouri is one heck of a team. They played some wonderful volleyball and I was impressed we were able to make some adjustments throughout the match to be successful at the end. Very happy to be moving on and proud of the team and the effort they put forth."
As a team, Minnesota had 67 kills, hitting .351 and adding 71 digs. Sarah Wilhite had 16 kills on the match, with four digs and two aces. Hannah and Paige Tapp both had 14 kills putting up a combined six blocks, while Molly Lohman had 11 kills and Alexis Hart had ten. Dalianliz Rosado had a team-high 15 digs, Katie Schau had 14, and Alyssa Goehner followed with 12. Samantha Seliger-Swenson put up another double-double with 52 assists and 10 digs.
The Gophers will face the winner of the UCLA/North Carolina match on Saturday night at 9 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota had 17 kills to Mizzou's eight to take a 1-0 lead. After Missouri opened with a 3-1 early lead, Minnesota came back and rattled off an 8-1 run for a 9-4 lead. After four-straight points for Minnesota (three kills, one ace), Missouri called its second timeout as the Gophers lead, 15-8. The Tigers battled back to cut the Gopher lead to 15-12. Minnesota then went on a 5-0 run, and a 20-12 lead. The Gophers closed off the set with four kills and an ace from Wilhite to a 25-15 win.
Set 2: Missouri hit .378 to Minnesota's .257 to win, 25-21. After the two teams tied at 10-10, Missouri went up 13-10 before the Gophers took a timeout. After the Tigers took a 14-10 lead, tied it up at 14-14 during a P Tapp serve rotation. After a block by Lohman/H Tapp and a 15-14 Gopher lead, Mizzou called its first timeout of the set. The Tigers came back and tied the set at 16 and again at 17-17 before they took a 19-17 lead and forced Minnesota to use its second timeout. Minnesota came out of the break with back-to-back kills to tie it at 19-19 before the Tigers pushed it back to a 23-19 lead. The Tigers finished off the set with a kill to tie up the match, 1-1.
Set 3: The Gophers hit .341 in the third to take a 25-19 set win. Minnesota opened the third set with an 8-3 lead as the Tigers called a timeout. The Gophers took a 14-6 lead off a Wilhite kill. Missouri came back and cut the lead to 14-10 before the Gophers called a timeout. The Gophers came out of the break and built an 18-12 lead. Mizzou cut the deficit to 18-15, but the Gophers pushed the lead to 20-15 off a Wilhite kill and forced the Tigers to call its second timeout. A P Tapp/Wilhite block put the Gopher lead to 22-16. After a Lohman kill for set point, the Tigers fought off set point to push it to 24-19, but another Lohman kill put away the set and a 2-1 lead.
Set 4: Minnesota hit a commanding .667 to win the fourth set 25-14 and take the match. The Gophers opened with an 8-5 lead before Missouri called a timeout. P Tapp put the Gophers up 11-7 off a kill. A solo block from H Tapp put Minnesota up, 15-11, while a one-handed set from Seliger-Swenson to H Tapp put the lead to 16-12. A Wilhite kill pushed the lead to 20-12, finishing a 5-0 run for the Gophers. The Tigers put up two more points but Minnesota went on a 5-1 streak to finish the set and match.
