University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
1-0
San Diego
1-1
Gophers Open Season With Four-Set Win
8/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The No. 3 University of Minnesota earned its first win of the 2016 season in a 3-1 victory over San Diego, today, in Palo Alto, Calif. The Gophers took the first two sets, 25-19, 25-21, fell in the third, 29-31, but came back to close out the match, 25-16.
Minnesota hit .314 for the match, while it held San Diego to .227. The Gophers held a 15.5-3 lead in blocks. Leading the way for the Gophers was Sarah Wilhite, who had 23 kills (23-3-57) as she hit .351. Alexis Hart had 14 kills and hit .462, while Paige Tapp had 12 kills and hit .385. Paige, and Hannah Tapp each had seven block assists, while Molly Lohman had two solo blocks and six assists. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 52 assists, seven digs and two aces. Dalianliz Rosado had a team-high 22 digs and five assists.
Minnesota plays host, No. 11 Stanford, tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT.
Set 1: The Gophers took the first set, 25-19. Minnesota did not commit an attack error and hit .552 in the opening set to San Diego's .278. The Toreros and Gophers traded points until Minnesota had back-to-back blocks by Lohman and H Tapp for an 11-9 lead. Minnesota increased its lead when it had back-to-back kills from Wilhite and Lohman to push the score to 18-14. The lead forced San Diego to call a timeout, the first of the match. USD closed the gap to 19-17 before Wilhite added a kill for a sideout and another off a block for a 21-17 lead. Wilhilte pushed the score to 23-18 as the Toreros used their second timeout and the Gophers out the set with Wilhite's seventh kill of the set for a 25-19 score.
Set 2: Minnesota added to its match lead with a 25-21 second set win. The Gophers jumped out to an 8-5 lead off an ace by Paige Tapp, but USD rattled off three-straight points to tie the set, 8-8. Hart recorded her first kill as a Golden Gopher with a short 9-8 lead before USD tied it up again at 9-9. Minnesota added a three-point lead on a P Tapp overpass, as USD called a timeout. Minnesota pushed the lead to 16-12 off a Wilhite block and later 19-15 off another Wilhite kill. Minnesota called a timeout with a 19-17 lead, but San Diego would later tie the set at 21-21. The Gophers responded with another block and a USD bad set for a 23-21 lead, which forced San Diego to use its second timeout. Minnesota, however, earned two aces by Katie Schau to close out the set at 25-21 and a 2-0 lead.
Set 3: The Gophers and Toreros went through 11 tie scores and three lead changes before San Diego earned a 31-29 set win. After a tie 5-5 score, Minnesota responded with a kill from Hart, a block by Lohman and a kill from Hart to take an 8-5 lead. Minnesota went up 11-7 off a Hart kill. USD cut the Gopher lead to 15-13, but the Gophers responded with a Hart kill for a 16-13 lead. Lohman put Minnesota up 18-16 with a kill, but San Diego came back to eventually tie the set, 19-19. The Gophers called a timeout and came out of the break with a Wilhite kill off the block. Tied at 22, Minnesota earned back-to-back points off a Hart kill and a Seliger-Swenson ace to force San Diego to use its second timeout. USD came back and tied the set at 24, as the two teams tied at 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, before San Diego took the third set, 31-29.
Set 4: Minnesota opened the fourth set with an 8-5 lead, capped off with a kill from Hart. Lohman and H Tapp combined for a block to put the Gophers up, 12-7, which forced San Diego to call a timeout. After the Toreros had back-to-back points, Wilhite responded with a kill off the block. That catapulted two more with kills from P Tapp and Lohman for a 15-10 lead. Off of Schau's serve rotation, the Gophers earned seven points. Schau added her third ace of the match to put the Gophers up, 19-12 as San Diego took a timeout. Minnesota took a 23-13 lead. USD came back and earned four points for a 23-16 deficit as Minnesota called a timeout. The Gophers closed out the match as USD had back-to-back attack errors to clinch the win.
