BloomingtThe 18th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (7-6, 0-1) fell to Indiana (8-4, 1-0) in three games by scores of 30-22, 30-25, 34-32 in the Big Ten opener on Friday, Sept. 26 at University Gym in Bloomington, Ind. The loss was the Golden Gophers first in eight Big Ten road openers under head coach Mike Hebert.

It was Indiana's first victory over Minnesota since Nov. 27, 1999 when the Hoosiers defeated the Golden Gophers in five games at University Gym.

In game one Indiana jumped out to a quick 13-4 lead. The Hoosiers led by at least seven points until the Golden Gophers got within five at 24-19. From that point Indiana scored six of the final nine points in the game to claim game one 30-22, as the Hoosiers went up 1-0 in the match. Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) led the way with four kills in the game. Indiana outhit Minnesota .321 to .176 on its way to the game one victory.

The Hoosiers got out to another quick start in game two jumping out to an 11-5 lead. Minnesota answered with five of the next seven points to cut the lead to 13-10. Indiana opened the lead up to five points at 17-12 and led by at least four points until the Golden Gophers called a timeout at 21-16. Minnesota exploded out of the timeout with three straight points, and forced Indiana to respond with a timeout of their own after Trisha Bratford's (Reseda, Calif.) kill made it 21-19. Minnesota cut the lead to 21-20 after the Hoosier timeout, but Indiana answered to make it 22-20. The two teams exchanged points until the Hoosiers lead got to 24-22. From that point Indiana took control scoring six of the next nine points to take game two 30-25. Bratford paced the Golden Gophers with five kills in the game. Indiana outhit Minnesota .345 to .203 to claim the second game and go up 2-0 in the match.

The third game was tightly contested with eight ties and three lead changes before Minnesota led 13-12. Indiana answered with five straight points to go up 17-13, which forced Minnesota to call a timeout. From that point the Hoosiers scored four of the next seven points to open up a 21-16 lead. Indiana took a 22-16 lead, but Minnesota responded with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 22-21. The Hoosiers scored the next two points to go up 24-21. Indiana held the advantage all the way until 29-26 when it had match point. Minnesota fought off three match points and tied the score 29 on a kill from freshman Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.). Indiana went up 30- 29 to force a fourth match point, but Bratford answered with a kill to tie the game at 30. The Hoosiers forced a fifth match point, but again were denied when Busse tallied a kill to tie it at 31. Busse followed up with another kill to put Minnesota up 32-31, but Indiana fought off the game point and scored the next two points to claim the game 34-32.

Busse led the way with 15 kills, eight digs and three blocks on the night. Bratford tallied 15 kills in the match as well. Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara', Brazil) tied with a match-high 10 digs.

Indiana outhit Minnesota .314 to .179 on the match. The Hoosiers also had nine blocks to the Golden Gophers' six on the night.

Indiana was led by Katie Pollom and Christina Archibald who had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Ashley White also tallied nine kills, while two other Hoosiers had eight for the night.

Minnesota will head to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on Purdue in its second match of the road trip on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.