University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
9-8,5-4Big Ten
Rutgers
9-10,1-8Big Ten
Gophers Rack Up 10 Blocks in Sweep over Rutgers
10/20/2023 9:05:00 PM | Volleyball
Landfair led Minnesota with nine kills on .368
MINNEAPOLIS --The Minnesota volleyball team totaled 10 blocks en route to a sweep (25-23, 25-17, 25-9) over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Friday at home at Maturi Pavilion.
"I thought we dealt with some pretty tough service pressure in the first set and some errors early on in the second set," said head coach Keegan Cook. "I thought we did a good job on serve receive and dealt with hitting against a big block all night. Melani did a great job distributing the ball to our middles and spreading it around."
With the win, Minnesota's record improved to 9-8 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten action as the team earned its third straight victory.
Taylor Landfair finished with nine kills on the night to lead the Golden Gophers while Mckenna Wucherer posted eight kills and 10 digs. Melani Shaffmaster did a little bit of everything with five kills, 24 assists and six digs. Defensively, Minnesota had two players reach double figures in digs as Kylie Murr had 14 while Arica Davis contributed seven blocks.
As a team, Minnesota hit .253 with 39 kills, 49 digs, 10 blocks and five aces while Rutgers hit .046 with 27 kills, 37 digs, nine blocks and two aces.
Alissa Kinkela led Rutgers with eight kills, seven digs and five blocks.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Golden Gophers opened up an early one set to none lead, winning a hard-fought first set, 25-23. Minnesota grabbed the advantage for good at 20-19 in a set that showcased four lead changes before the Golden Gophers took over in the second half of the frame.
SET 2 | Minnesota continued to roll after a set-one win by earning a 25-17 victory in the second. The Golden Gophers were propelled by a solid showing on the attacking end, putting together a .320 attack percentage with 11 kills in the set win. The Gophers ended on a strong note, stretching their lead to its largest point in the set to finish out the stanza. The Minnesota offense also got a boost from three of its five aces on the match.
SET 3 | Minnesota closed the match with 3-0 sweep after a dominating third set. The 'U' grabbed an early lead and never looked back in the set to secure a 25-9 victory. Minnesota ended on a high note, claiming its biggest lead, 16 points, to close out the set. Minnesota's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking six Rutgers attacks in the stanza and capitalizing on 10 Scarlet Knights'Â attacking errors on the way to victory.
Game Notes
» The Gophers moved the all-time series to 11-3 against Rutgers.
» Julia Hanson had a career-high three aces in the win.
» Arica Davis had a team-high seven blocks, tying her season-high.
» The Minnesota front row did a great job defensively, picking up 10 blocks in the match.
» Minnesota never trailed on the way to winning the third set 25-9.
» Taylor Landfair had a match-high nine kills for Minnesota. She hit .368 for the night, her third time in the last four games hitting over .300.
» Minnesota got a match-high 14 digs from Kylie Murr, her 17th-straight double digit dig matches.
» Minnesota attackers were helped by a match-high 24 assists from Melani Shaffmaster.
Up NextÂ
Minnesota (9-8, 5-4 Big Ten)Â hosts Michigan State (13-7, 5-4 Big Ten) on Sunday at 2 p.m. on B1G+.
