five-gaThe No. 13 Minnesota Volleyball team (8-2) defeated Oregon State (5- 1) 3-0 by scores of 30-20, 30-22 and 30-22 in its first match of the Nike Invitational on Friday, Sept. 13. The win snaps a five-game winning streak for the Beavers and marks the second straight win for the Gophers over a Pac-10 team this season.

In the first game, the Golden Gophers jumped out to a 10-4 lead and never looked back en route to a 30-20 win over the Beavers. Eri n Lorenzen (Pipestone, Minn.), Jes sica Byrnes (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Cas sie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) gathered four kills each. Sophomore setter Lin dsey Vander Well (Prinsburg, Minn.) also stood out collecting 18 assists. As a team, Minnesota recorded 20 kills while hitting an impressive .432.

Tied at 17 in game two, Minnesota used a 10-2 run to move onto a 30- 22 win. The Gophers stingy defense held the Beavers to a mere .043 hitting percentage including seven attack errors. Freshman Pau la Gentil (Fortaleza Ceara', Brazil) led the way for Minnesota with eight digs.

The third game Minnesota outhit Oregon State .316 to .118 as it moved on to a 30-22 win to capture the match in three games.

Byrnes tied her career high with 11 kills on the night. Busse led the team with 12 kills and just one error (.440), while Eri n Martin (Ames, Iowa) had 10 kills and hit .476 with no errors on the match. Vander Well collected 41 assists and 11 digs for the match while Gentil had a match-high 16 digs.

"We played very well offensively tonight," said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. "I thought we did a great job spreading the ball around and that helped us to be effective offensively."

In the opening match of the Nike Invitational, North Carolina (7-0) defeated Ball State (3-5) 3-1 by scores of 22-30, 33-31, 30-23, 30- 23.

North Carolina was led by Katie Wright and Holly Strauss who each had 12 kills. For Ball State, Sarah Obras recorded a match high 16 kills.

Minnesota will be back in action tomorrow in the Nike Invitational facing Ball State at 12:30 p.m. and undefeated North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. The first match of the day will feature No. 20 North Carolina against Oregon State at 10 a.m. The night session will begin at 5 p.m. when Ball State faces Oregon State.