MThe 13th-ranked University of Minnesota volleyball team (0-4) lost to Kansas (3-1) in five games Friday night at the Sports Pavilion by scores of 30-20, 30-32, 30-21, 20-30 and 10-15. The loss drops Minnesota to 0-1 in the Nike Invitational, and moves Kansas to 1-0. Earlier in the night Dayton defeated Marquette in five games 22-30, 30-28, 21-30, 33-31, 18-16.
Minnesota started out strong taking game one 30-20. The Golden Gophers led by a slim 8-7 margin, but took control with a 9-2 run to go up 17-9. From that point they led by no less then six points the rest of the way. Minnesota outhit Kansas .364 to .027 in the game.
In the second game the Golden Gophers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and led for nearly the whole game. Minnesota weathered four ties to get to game point at 29-28. However, Kansas fought off game point and took their first lead at 30-29. Minnesota fought off game point with Trisha Bratford (Reseda, Calif.) kill to tie it at 30. However, the Jayhawks had two straight points to claim game two 32-30.
Minnesota came right back in game three, as it jumped out to a 17-12 lead and never looked back enroute to a 30-21 victory to go up 2-1.
Kansas took control of game four quickly claiming a sizeable 20-8 lead. From that point on the Golden Gophers got no closer than nine points as Kansas claimed the game 30-20 to send the match to a fifth game.
With the score tied at 2-2 in game five, Kansas took control by scoring four straight points to go up 6-2. Bratford and Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) combined for five kills in a stretch that cut the score to 10-8. From there Kansas scored three of the next four points to push the lead to 13-9, and finished off the match by claiming the game 15-10.
Busse led the way with 19 kills, seven digs and five service aces on the night. Bratford added 18 kills. Sophomore Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara', Brazil) had a match-high 27 digs, which tied her second-highest career output. Lindsey Taatjes (Prinsburg, Minn.) had 50 assists and 17 digs on the night, while freshman Marci Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) had a career-high 16 digs in her first home match at Minnesota.
Meredith Nelson (St. Croix, Wis.) had five kills and four blocks in her home debut as a Golden Gopher, while Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) had three kills and three dig in her home Golden Gopher debut. Minnesota outhit Kansas .186 to .148, but the Jayhawks had 91 digs to the Golden Gophers' 77. Minnesota had nine service aces, but committed 21 service errors on the night.
Kansas was led by Janaina Correa who had 20 kills and 12 digs. The Jayhawks had five players in double figure digs led by Jill Dorsey who had 22 on the night.
In the first match of the evening Dayton rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win in five games, claiming the fifth game 18-16.
Dayton was led by Erin Treadway who had 16 kills and 14 digs, along with Christy Utnage who had 16 kills and 10 digs. Marquette was paced by Theresa Coughlin who had 26 kills and 12 digs.
Marquette outhit Dayton .237 to .200, but was outblocked by the Flyers 14 to 8.
Saturday's action will see four matches. The first will pit Kansas against Marquette at 10 a.m. Minnesota will play Dayton at 12:30 p.m. The night session will feature a 5 p.m. match between Dayton and Kansas, while Minnesota will finish the tournament against Marquette at 7:30 p.m.
