University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
27-4
Oregon
23-10
Gophers Fall to Oregon in the Regional Semifinals
12/7/2018 6:41:00 PM | Volleyball
The No. 2 seeded University of Minnesota volleyball team fell in four (25-21, 39-41, 14-25, 24-26) to No. 15 Oregon. With the loss, the Gophers ended the season with a 27-4 record.
Alexis Hart led the team with 20 kills and hit a team-best .340. Stephanie Samedy had 17 kills and led the team with career-high 24 digs. Adanna Rollins tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 13 digs, while Regan Pittman chipped in 12 kills. Samantha Seliger-Swenson registered 55 assists and ten digs to record her 12th double-double this season and 52nd of her career. CC McGraw had 18 digs and two aces, while Lauren Barnes had 13 digs. Taylor Morgan had a team-high five blocks. As a team, the Gophers hit .260 and had 71 kills, 86 digs and eight blocks. Oregon hit .313 with 82 kills, 96 digs and 11 blocks.
The Gopher seniors closed out their careers tonight in front of a crowd of 5,187. Four-year starter Samantha Seliger-Swenson finished her career with 5,674 assists, ranking fourth all-time in Gopher volleyball history.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota hit a stifling .465 in the opening set to win it, 25-21. After trading points through 7-7, Minnesota took a 10-7 lead off a block from Morgan and Samedy. After another block from Morgan and Samedy for the 12-8 point, the Ducks called their first timeout of the set. The Gophers took a 15-10 lead off a Rollins kill and a 17-14 advantage off a Pittman kill. Samedy added a kill for the 20-17 point. Rollins added a roll shot at 23-20 as Oregon called its second timeout of the set. Hart pushed it to set point, and finished it off for a 1-0 lead.
Set 2: After 26 ties and 11 lead changes, Oregon took the second set, 41-39. Minnesota opened the second set on a 4-0 run as Oregon called a timeout. Oregon responded a tied the set at 7-7 off a kill. The two teams traded points through 13-13 before Oregon went up 15-13 off a block as the Gophers called its first timeout of the match. Minnesota tied the set at 15-15 off an Oregon attack error, before the Ducks went on a 4-0 run and a 19-15 lead as the Gophers called their second timeout. The Gophers cut the lead to two at 17-19 on a pair of kills. On back-to-back kills from Hart and a one-point deficit at 20-21, Oregon called its second timeout. The Gophers, however, tied the set at 21-21 off a Morgan/Hart block. Tied at 23-23, the two teams tied an additional 16 times. Oregon had eight set points, while Minnesota had nine. Oregon, finally put away the set, 41-39 and tied the match, 1-1.
Set 3: Oregon used its momentum in the second to take the third, 25-14. Leading from the get-go, Oregon opened with a 5-0 lead as the Gophers called a timeout. As the Ducks built a 10-2 lead, Minnesota used its second timeout. Hart added a kill for the 7-13 score. A block by Samedy and Morgan put the Gophers at 8-17. Minnesota had a kill at 10-19 from Samedy. Hart added kills at 13-23 and 14-24, but Oregon closed out the set on a kill for a 2-1 lead.
Set 4: Minnesota opened the fourth with a 4-0 run. Oregon called a timeout at 3-0 off a Rollins service ace. A pair of Samedy kills put Minnesota up, 7-4. Minnesota went up, 12-8 on a Pittman kill. Oregon, however, tied up the set at 14-14 and took a 15-14 lead off back-to-back blocks as the Gophers called a timeout. Oregon took an 18-16 lead off a kill. Minnesota came back to tie the set at 19-19 on a Pittman solo block. Minnesota took a 22-19 lead off a Samedy kill, however, Oregon came back to tie the set at 23-23 as Minnesota called a timeout. The two teams tied at 24-24 off a Rollins kill, but Oregon closed out the set and the match off a Gopher service error and Duck kill for a 3-1 win.
Quotes from the University of Minnesota
Minnesota Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon
Opening Statement…
"Congratulations to Oregon on a great performance and a great match. They played well and today they were the better team. It's disappointing, obviously, for a lot of reasons. I don't know how the athletes feel but from my perspective, this group worked incredibly hard and I felt that they deserved a chance to compete at the end of this thing. But that's not going to be our lot in life, so we've got to deal with what is and we'll move on. It's disappointing, but we also understand it's an occupational hazard when you compete, sometimes this happens. Overall the body of work with our team was impressive, I think it's still a phenomenal season for us, even if it's not the end that all of us wanted. But like I said, sometimes when you compete for a living, it doesn't work out the way you want."
On impact of the second set and Minnesota's response…
"I thought it was critical, yes, and I didn't think we responded particularly well. I thought Sam was pretty confident that she pancaked that ball and that we got it. So we thought we'd won it. A little bit of a bait and switch there. But that's the way that it works out, and we got our hearts broken a little bit. It took us a while to recover, I think that was clear. The start of the third set would be indicative of that."
Comparisons to September's match…
"I thought it was a better match than September. They played better, we played better. They're a scrappy team, they play with a lot of emotion and they dug a lot of good balls, did a good job on defense holding us down. Pretty similar. But somehow maybe the perception of the loss in September was that somehow we blew it or something, but you can see that they're a good team and they can play well.
Taylor Morgan
On Oregon's block…
"They figured out our tendency. We were hitting low, I feel like. Obviously moving forward into next season and next spring season, we're just going to have to work more on that. They just figured out our tendency and stuck with it. They weren't doing anything special, we were just hitting into the block."
On if Oregon's defense was different…
"No, we do that every day in practice. They're a scrappy team and they play with a lot of emotion. They were just playing volleyball. They were doing what they were supposed to do. In defense, that's what you're supposed to do, you're supposed to dig a ball. No, I don't think they were doing something we've never seen before, we see it every single time throughout the Big Ten and in this tournament and in our gym."
Samantha Seliger-Swenson
On Minnesota's defense…
"I think they run a very unique offense. They have a lot of people running at random places, and that's something that we tried to work on this week in practice and scout. I think it's a very unique offense that they have, and people fly around, so I think at times we were just not picking up on the hitter in our zone as blockers and we weren't in the best defensive spaces. But it's a good offense and they hit well."
