University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
21-2, 10-2Big Ten
Rutgers
5-19, 0-12Big Ten
Gophers Defeat Rutgers in Straight Sets
10/28/2017 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The No. 5 University of Minnesota volleyball team earned a 3-0 win over Rutgers, tonight in New Brunswick, N.J. The Golden Gophers won, 25-9, 25-11, 25-14 over the Scarlet Knights, and gained their ninth consecutive win. With the win, Minnesota is now 21-2 overall and 10-2 in Big Ten play.
The Gophers had 13 student-athletes contribute in the win. Taylor Morgan produced a match-best 12 kills and hit .524, followed by Molly Lohman, who had nine kills and hit .818 (9-0-11). Stephanie Samedy, Alexis Hart and Jasmyn Martin all had six kills, while Hart had three aces. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 32 assists, as she and Lohman tied for a match-lead four blocks. Dalianliz Rosado had 15 digs, two assists and two aces. As a team, Minnesota hit .398 and had 43 kills, seven aces, 52 digs and six blocks. Rutgers hit .036, had 25 kills 43 digs and two blocks.
Minnesota hosts Maryland and Ohio State next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 3-4. Both matches are set for 7 p.m. starts and will be streamed on BTN Plus.
Set Breakdown:
First Set: The Gophers tied the set at 3-3 and took the lead at 4-3 en route for a 25-9 set win. Minnesota hit .333 in the first set, while Rutgers was at -.041. Minnesota opened the first set with a 9-4 lead off a Martin kill. After back-to-back kills by Morgan, Rutgers called its first timeout of the set at 13-6. Minnesota pushed the lead to 18-6 off another Morgan kill, while a Rutgers attack error pushed the score the score to 20-9, while a Rosado ace put the lead to 23-9. Minnesota closed out the first set with a Lohman kill to go up, 1-0.
Second Set: The Gophers used a .385 hitting clip in the second to win, 25-11. Minnesota opened the second set with a 9-2 lead off a Lohman ace as Rutgers calls a timeout. A block by Seliger-Swenson and Morgan pushed the lead to 12-3, while Hart added a kill for the 16-7 point. Kayla Buford had a kill as the Gophers took a 19-8 lead, while Morgan later pushed the score to 23-11 off a kill in the middle. Minnesota finished off the second set on a Samedy ace to go up, 2-0.
Third Set: The Gophers committed just one error in the third to hit .484 and win the set, 25-14. After a block to open the third, the Gophers gained seven points off of Rosado's serve rotation to go up, 8-0. Minnesota later went up 11-3 on a Lohman kill, while a Martin kill pushed the score to a 13-6 Gopher advantage. Lohman added a kill for a 16-9 lead, and another kill at the 18-11 mark. Maddie Beal added a kill for a 21-14 lead, while she also produced another for match point, at 24-14, from Sara Nielsen. Sydney Kleinman added the match's final point off a kill and the 3-0 win.
