tThe fifth-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (9-1) defeated Maine (1-9) in three games by scores of 30-19, 30-15, 30-19 in the TCU Tournament at the University Rec Center on Saturday, Sept. 17. With the win, Minnesota has now won six straight matches and is 2-0 in the TCU Tournament.

Junior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) led the way with 13 kills, and hit .455 (13-3-22). Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) hit a career-high .786 (11-0-14), and had 11 kills, three service aces and 30 assists.

Senior Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara’, Brazil) had 11 digs and six service aces in the match. Gentil has not tallied 14 service aces in two matches (six games) in the TCU Tournament. Sophomore Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) also hit .562 (9-0-16) with nine kills.

In game one Minnesota took an early 10-8 lead, an extended it to 17- 10 with seven of the next nine points. Out of a timeout, Maine scored three straight points to cut it to 17-13, but the Golden Gophers answered with seven straight points, six of which came on Kelly Bowman’s (Maple Grove, Minn.), to go up 24-13. Maine cut the lead to 28-19, before the Golden Gophers scored the last two points to take game one 30-19.

Minnesota outhit Maine .441 to .250 in the first game, and had 19 kills to the Black Bear’s 12. Nelson led the way with six kills in the game, while Jones and Bowman each had four kills.

In game two the Golden Gophers fell behind 2-1, before rattling off 15 straight points to take a 16-2 lead. Maine cut the lead to 21-9, but Minnesota scored nine of the final 15 points to claim game two 30- 15.

The Golden Gophers outhit the Black Bears .407 to .083 in game two. Minnesota limited Maine to five kills in the game, and tallied 15 kills of its own. Nelson paced the Golden Gophers with four kills.

Minnesota took an early 10-9 led in game three, and rattled off six straight points to move the lead to 16-9. Maine cut the lead to 19- 14, but Minnesota scored six of the next eight points to go up 25-16. The Black Bears scored three of the next four points to make it 27- 19, but Minnesota rattled off the final three points to claim the third game 30-19.

The Golden Gophers outhit the Black Bears .447 to .192 in game three, had 20 kills to Maine’s nine. Bowman led the way for Minnesota with five kills, while Roehrig had four kills in the game.

Freshman Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) had six kills and hit .500 (6- 1-10), while sophomore Sarah Florian (Holland, Pa.) had five kills in her third match as a Golden Gopher. Senior Jessica Byrnes (Minnetonka, Minn.) had five kills in the match, and is now just eight kills from becoming the 17th Golden Gopher to have 1,000 career kills.

Minnesota outhit Maine .434 to .179 in the match. The Golden Gophers also had 54 kills to 26 for the Black Bears. Minnesota also had a season-high 12 service aces.

Maine was led by Kaili Jordan who had seven kills and hit .429 (7-1- 14). Leah Guidinger also had six kills, while Shelly Seipp had 22 assists.

Minnesota will wrap up their tournament schedule against host TCU at 7 p.m. That match will be webcast on gophersports.com.