Sophomore Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) had a career-high 22 kills and six blocks in her first collegiate match in her home state of Nebraska, as the University of Minnesota volleyball team (2-2) rallied to defeat No. 25 Cal Poly (5-2) in four games by scores of 21-30, 35-33, 30-17, 30-25 in its first match of the Ameritas Players Challenge at the Nebraska Coliseum on Friday, Sept. 8.

Roehrig hit .375 (22-7-40) and eclipsed her previous career-high in kills by seven with 22. Senior Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) led the team with 13 digs and had 11 kills in her first match of the year. Junior Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) hit .526 (11-1-19) with 11 kills and three blocks on the night.

Senior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) chipped in with nine kills, seven blocks and six digs. Katie Vatterrodt (Bloomington, Ill.) also had eight kills. Krista Chin (Wheeling, Ill.) and Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) finished with 11 and 10 digs respectively for Minnesota. Sophomore setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 52 assists, eight digs and tied a career-high with four blocks.

Minnesota dropped the first game 30-21 and was in danger of falling behind 2-0 when it trailed game two 28-26. However, the Golden Gophers fought off three games points and claimed the second game 35-33 to even up the match at a game apiece.

The Golden Gophers carried that momentum into game three, as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Cal Poly cut the lead to 10-4, before Minnesota rattled off eight of the next 10 points to push its lead out to 18-6. The Golden Gophers opened up the lead all the way out to 25-12 on their way to claiming game three 30-17. It was the largest margin of the victory in a game for Minnesota this year.

Minnesota outhit Cal Poly .600 to -.034 in the third game, and had 16 kills to nine for the Mustangs. For the second straight game, Roehrig had nine kills, and also added three blocks. The Golden Gophers outblocked Cal Poly 5.0-to.-1.0 in the game.

In game four the Golden Gophers jumped out to an 8-5 lead, but Cal Poly cut it to 9-8. With the score at 10-9, Bowman and Roehrig sandwiched kills around an attack error to take a 13-9 lead. Cal Poly scored the next point, but Jones followed with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota a 15-10 lead. The Mustangs scored three of the next four points to cut it to 16-13, but Bowman delivered a kill and Tan followed with a service ace to make it 18-13. Bowman and Nelson combined on a block to push the lead to 19-13.

Minnesota maintained the six-point cushion at 21-15, but Cal Poly trimmed it to three points at 21-18. The Golden Gophers answered with back-to-back kills by Roehrig and Jones to make it 23-18. Cal Poly followed with a ballhandling error to make it 24-18. The Golden Gophers pushed it to 26-20, but Mustangs came back again with three straight points to make it 26-23. Bowman sandwiched a pair of kills around a Golden Gopher service error to make it 28-24. The Golden Gophers scored two of the next three points to move on to a 30-25 game four win to give them the match.

Cal Poly jumped out to an early three-point lead at 8-5 in game one. The Mustangs maintained that lead at 13-10, before Minnesota scored three straight points to tie it at 13. The Mustangs scored the next point to take the lead at 14-13, but Roehrig delivered a kill to tie it at 14. After Cal Poly hitting error, Minnesota took the lead at 15-14. The Mustangs responded with five straight points to take a 19-15 lead over the Golden Gophers.

Jones followed with a kill, and Minnesota scored the next point to cut the lead to 19-17. Cal Poly followed by ripping off five straight points to take a 24-17 lead over the Golden Gophers. Minnesota got the score down to 27-21, but Cal Poly scored the last three points of the game to take game one 30-21.

Cal Poly outhit the Golden Gophers .263 to .098, and had 15 kills to Minnesota’s 10 for the game. The Mustangs also had three service aces in the game. Nelson and Jones each had three kills for Minnesota in the game.

In the second game, Cal Poly took an early 9-6 lead. Minnesota scored the next four points and took the lead at 10-9 when Nelson and Vatterrodt combined on a block. The Mustangs scored the next point, but Vatterrodt preserved the lead for Minnesota with a kill to make it 11-10. Cal Poly scored consecutive points to take a 12-11 lead. Minnesota grabbed the lead back at 13-12 on back-to-back kills by Roehrig.

The Golden Gophers maintained the one-point lead at 14-13, before Cal Poly wrestled it away with consecutive points to move ahead 15-14. The Golden Gophers scored the next two points, and took the lead back at 16-15 on a Chin service ace. Minnesota moved ahead 17-16, but the Mustangs answered with three straight points to take a 19-17 lead. Nelson answered with a kill to make it 19-18.

After a Cal Poly hitting error tied the game, Bowman delivered a service ace to give Minnesota a 20-19 lead. The Golden Gophers pushed the lead to 21-20, but Cal Poly scored three straight points to push its lead out to 23-21. The Mustangs maintained the two-point cushion by push their lead to 28-26. Bowman and Cumpston delivered back-to-back kills for Minnesota to tie the game at 28. Cal Poly moved it to game point at 29-28 after a Golden Gopher service error.

Minnesota fought off game point to tie it at 29, but the Mustangs got another game point at 30-29. The Golden Gophers tied it again to fend off a second game point to tie the game at 30. On the next point, Jones and Roehrig combined on a block to give Minnesota game point at 31-30. This time, Cal Poly fought off the game point to tie it 31. Roehrig delivered a kill to give the Golden Gophers a second game point at 32-31. However, Cal Poly tied it at 32, and moved ahead 33-32 for the Mustangs third game point. Jones delivered a kill to fight off the game point to tie it at 33. Cal Poly followed with back-to-back hitting errors, as Minnesota completed it’s rally to claim game two 35-33.

Roehrig paced Minnesota in game two with nine kills and a block. The Golden Gophers outhit Cal Poly .341 to .234 in the game, and held a slim advantage in kills at 21-to-19. The game also had 18 ties and 11 lead changes before Minnesota prevailed.

Minnesota outhit Cal Poly .284 to .166 in the match, and had 64 kills to 56 for the Mustangs. The Golden Gophers also outblocked Cal Poly 13.5-to-10.5, and narrowly outdug the Mustangs 57-to-54.

Cal Poly was led by Alicia Waller who had 20 kills, while Kyle Atherstone had 13 kills and eight digs. Ashleigh Bertoni had 11 kills, while libero Kristin Anderson finished with 19 digs.

Bowman returned to the lineup after sitting out the first three matches due to NCAA rules violations. Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) will miss this weekend’s tournament due to NCAA rules violations. Peniata will return to the lineup on Sept. 13 against Northern Iowa in Rochester, Minn.

Minnesota will face No. 20 Louisville on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 4:30 p.m. The Golden Gophers will finish up the tournament at No. 1 Nebraska on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. The Nebraska-Minnesota match will be carried live on CSTV at 2 p.m.