University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
12-1, 1-1Big Ten
Michigan State
9-2, 2-0Big Ten
Gophers Fall to Michigan State in Three
9/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The No. 1 University of Minnesota volleyball team fell, 3-0, to Michigan State, today, at Maturi Pavilion. The Golden Gophers (12-1, 1-1 in Big Ten) dropped their first contest of the season and broke their 40-match win home win streak.
Michigan State hit .282 in the match and limited the Gophers to 20.8 percent. MSU had 55 kills to Minnesota's 34 and held a 52-42 dig advantage. Minnesota was led by Stephanie Samedy, who had 11 kills and hit .407, while Molly Lohman added five blocks, hit .417 and had six kills.
Minnesota is on the road for the next four matches as it travels to Nebraska and Iowa, Sept. 29-30. Friday's match against the Cornhuskers is televised on Big Ten Network, 5 p.m., in Lincoln, Neb. The Gophers then travel to Iowa City, Iowa and are set for a 7 p.m. match against the Hawkeyes.
Set Breakdown:
First Set: Michigan State hit .310 to Minnesota's .229 to take the first set, 25-18. After the two teams traded points through 9-9, the Spartans took control of the set by going on two serving runs to push the lead to 17-12 after the Gophers called a timeout. Minnesota called another timeout as the Spartans built a 19-12 lead. Minnesota attempted to climb back into the set as they went on a 5-2 run as MSU called a timeout as the Gophers cut the lead to 23-18. However, MSU finished off the set with two straight points to take a 1-0 lead.
Second Set: MSU earned a 25-23 set win. Tied at 8-8, Minnesota went on a 3-0 run and went up, 11-8 as MSU called a timeout. The Spartans came out of their break and went on a run of their own and tied the set at 11-11. The two teams traded points until Minnesota gathered back-to-back points for a 17-15 lead as MSU called its second timeout of the set. Again, MSU responded and later took a 22-21 lead off an overpass for a 22-21 lead as the Gophers used their first timeout of the set. MSU added another point as the Gophers called its second timeout of the set. However, the Spartans finished off the set to take a 2-0 lead.
Third Set: Minnesota came out of the intermission and went on a 7-2 lead in the third set. It forced MSU to call its first timeout of the set. A Lohman kill pushed the Gopher lead to 13-6, while she added another at 15-7. After a kill by Jasmyn Martin, the Spartans took their second timeout. MSU came out of their timeout and rattled off four-straight points and cut the Gophers lead to 16-11 as Minnesota called a timeout. The Spartans continued to go on their run as Minnesota called a timeout as MSU came within one at 16-15. MSU tied the set at 17-17, and later took a 21-19 lead off an ace. The Spartans continued their run and finished off the match with a 4-2 run to take the match in three.
Gopher Volleyball Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon:
On the home game winning streak...
"It speaks to some consistency and it speaks to a lot of great fan support. It proves that this is one of the best places to play in the country. Like I have been saying all along, we try not to get caught up in that, we are trying to do what we have to do today. It was a good ride."
On how Michigan State's serve impacted their offense...
"Obviously we like to play fast and when you are off the net it makes it a little more challenging. Our out of system swings need to be a little bit better. People may be a little surprised or disappointed, but it is no surprise to us that Michigan State is that good. They are senior heavy, were a Sweet 16 team last year, they kept everyone and added a couple of nice players, so they are the real deal. As much as everyone wants to buy into the national rankings, it's a deep league and that is a team that will do well."
On things they are looking to improve upon for next week...
"We can look at serving and passing for us, and certainly working on our out of system and transition offense. It seems like we will have a lot of opportunities to get better and we learned a lot today. As uncomfortable as it is to lose, 1.) It is an occupational hazard and 2.) It gives you lots of chances to get better, so we will hopefully take advantage of those."
