University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
6-6,2-2Big Ten
Penn State
10-3,4-0Big Ten
Golden Gophers Drop Four Set Battle to No. 15 Penn State
9/30/2023 10:58:00 PM | Volleyball
Landfair paced the Gophers with 16 kills
MINNEAPOLIS --The No. 13 ranked Minnesota volleyball team lost a four-set battle Saturday night to the Penn State Nittany Lions. PSU posted a 3-1 (14-25, 25-23, 20-25, 26-28) victory over Minnesota at Maturi Pavilion.
"I thought Penn State was physical, they served well and caught us on our heels a little bit in the opening set," said head coach Keegan Cook. "It happened and we moved on quickly with the rest of the match. We got things going in the next few sets, we just came up a couple swings short in the fourth."
The Golden Gophers offense was paced by Taylor Landfair, who finished with 16 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .394. McKenna Wucherer added 15 and Lydia Grote chipped in with 10 as part of a balanced Minnesota attack. Defensively, Minnesota had two players reach double figures in digs as Kylie Murr had 14 and Julia Hanson had 10.
As a team, Minnesota (6-6, 2-2 Big Ten) hit .247 with 54 kills, 47 digs, eight blocks and six aces while Penn State (10-3, 4-0 Big Ten) hit .346 with 62 kills, 64 digs, nine blocks and seven aces.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Golden Gophers fell behind early, dropping a tough first set 25-14. Minnesota trailed by as many as 13 points as Penn State led wire-to-wire in a convincing first set victory.
SET 2 | Minnesota rallied after dropping the first set to take set two 25-23, evening the match at one set apiece. The Golden Gophers took the lead for good at 10-9 in and led by as many as four before closing it out with a kill from Landfair to even it up.
SET 3 | Penn State responded to win set number three, putting Minnesota in a two sets to one hole. The Golden Gophers lost the set 25-20 in spite of a solid performance on the attacking side. Minnesota put together a .385 attack percentage with 14 kills in the set loss.
SET 4 | Minnesota dropped the fourth set 28-26 to finish off the match. The Golden Gophers came up short in a back-and-forth set, losing in a stanza that featured five lead changes and was tied 12 times. Neither team opened up a lead of more than four points along the way. Minnesota had set point opportunities at 25-24 and 26-25 but could not break through to tie the match.
Game Notes
» Mckenna Wucherer had a team-high two aces in the loss. It was her second time in the last four games with multiple aces. She also tallied 15 kills for her 10th double digit kill match of the season.
» Lydia Grote posted an ace for the fifth time in the last six matches.
» Taylor Landfair had a team-high 16 kills for Minnesota, her sixth double digit kill match of the season and second 15+ kill match.
» Minnesota got a team-high 14 digs from Kylie Murr, her 12th-straight double digit dig match.
» Minnesota attackers were helped by a team-high 45 assists from Melani Shaffmaster. The Gophers are 24-9 as a team during Shaffmaster's career when posting 40+ assists.
Up Next
Minnesota travels to Maryland and Rutgers on Friday and Saturday for road games on the East Coast. Friday's game will be at 7 p.m. CT on BTN.
