VB: Sixth-Ranked Minnesota Volleyball to Host No. 1 Nebraska on Sept. 5 - GOPHERSPORTS.COM - The Official Athletic Site of the Minnesota Gophers

VB: Sixth-Ranked Minnesota Volleyball to Host No. 1 Nebraska on Sept. 5
The Minnesota volleyball team (3-0) will host No. 1 Nebraska (4-0) on Monday, Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. in a special Labor Day match at the Sports Pavilion. It will be the first meeting for the two

prograThe Minnesota volleyball team (3-0) will host No. 1 Nebraska (4-0) on Monday, Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. in a special Labor Day match at the Sports Pavilion. It will be the first meeting for the two programs since 1990.

Prior to the match at 11 a.m. there will be tailgating in front of the Sports Pavilion. The tailgating will be free for U of M students and $3 for fans. There will also be free admission to the match for all students. During the match there will be a drawing to win tickets to the Rolling Stones concert, including one pair of tickets in the front row.

Sixth-ranked Minnesota is coming off winning its fourth straight Diet Coke Classic championship this past weekend, and it enters the matchup 3-0 on the season. Nebraska is 4-0 with wins against No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Hawai’i, No. 12 Ohio State and Michigan this season.

The Golden Gophers are led in kills by freshman Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) who averaged 3.57 kpg in three matches during the Diet Coke Classic. Roehrig also led the team with 1.57 blpg this past weekend.

Junior setter Kelly Bowman was named the Diet Coke Classic MVP after averaging 2.67 kpg, 7.67 apg and 2.22 dpg this past weekend. Bowman recorded her 10th career triple- double against Xavier on Sept. 3 in the what ended up being the championship match of the tournament.

Senior libero Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara’, Brazil) and Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) were also named to the All-Tournament team this past weekend. Gentil averaged 7.11 dpg and 0.44 sapg in the three matches, while Nelson had 3.29 kpg and 1.29 blpg.

As a team, Minnesota held its three opponents to a .014 hitting percentage this past weekend.

Nebraska enters the week hitting .354 with 18.00 kpg in four matches this season. The Cornhuskers are led by Chris Houghtelling who is averaging 4.00 kpg, 2.33 dpg and 1.17 blpg. Sarah Pavan is also averaging 3.75 kpg, 1.58 dpg and 1.67 dpg.

This match marks the fourth time that Minnesota has hosted the No. 1 team in the nation at the Sports Pavilion. The last time came when the Golden Gophers lost in four games to Stanford in the NACWAA Classic Championship in 2002. Minnesota also hosted a No. 1 ranked Penn State team in 1998 and 1999 at the Sports Pavilion.