Minnesota Claims Four-Game Victory Over No. 14 Ohio State

The University of Minnesota volleyball team (11-5, 5-1) defeated Ohio State (13-3, 3-3) in four games by scores of 23-30, 30-27, 30-21, 30-28 on Sunday, Oct. 8 at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

With the win, the Golden Gophers are now 5-2 in matches where they have dropped the first game.

Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) led the way hitting .542 (14-1-24) with a team-high 14 kills to go along with 12 digs, two service aces and a pair of blocks. Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) had 13 kills, tied a career-high with three service aces and four blocks in the match.

Sophomore setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) tied a career-high with four kills, along with 47 assists, six digs and three blocks. Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) finished with 18 digs and two service aces, while Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) had 11 digs.

As a team, the Golden Gophers outhit Ohio State .217 to .167, and held a narrow advantage in kills at 59 to 58. Minnesota also had 13 blocks to seven for the Buckeyes. The Golden Gophers had their second-highest service ace total of the season with nine, while Ohio State had five.

With match even at 1-1, Ohio State scored the first point of game three, but Minnesota answered with the next five to take an early 5-1 lead. The Buckeyes cut the lead to 9-7, but Bowman kept Ohio State at bay with back-to-back kills to put Minnesota up 11-7. The Buckeyes scored three of the next four points to cut it to 12-10.

The Golden Gophers answered in a big way with a 9-2 run to go up 21-12. Ohio State scored the next two points to cut the Minnesota lead to 21-14. Hartmann and Jones came right back with consecutive kills to give the Golden Gophers a 23-14 lead. Ohio State scored three of the next four points to make it 24-17, but Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) and Nelson answered with back-to-back kills to make it 26-17. With the score at 26-18, Cumpston delivered a kill and Bowman followed with a service ace to make it a 10-point lead at 28-18. Cumpston had another kill with the score at 28-19 to make it game point.

Ohio State fought off two game point to make it 29-21, before Nelson delivered a kill to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Golden Gophers outhit Ohio State .346 to .065 in the game, and outblocked the Buckeyes 4.0-to-0.0. Minnesota also had four service aces to one for Ohio State.

Ohio State jumped out to an early lead in game four 4-2, but Minnesota answered with four straight points to move ahead 6-4. The Buckeyes tied the score with consecutive points to make it 6-6. Minnesota scored three of the next four points to move ahead 9-7. With the score at 9-8, the Golden Gophers ripped off a 5-0 run to push their lead out o 14-8. Minnesota pushed its lead out to 20-10 with six of the next eight points.

The Buckeyes came streaking back with 13 of the next 19 points to cut the Golden Gophers lead to 26-23. Nelson halted the momentum with a kill to make it 27-23. Ohio State scored three straight points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 27-26. With a chance to tie the game, the Buckeyes committed a service error to make it 28-26. Roehrig followed with a kill to make it game point at 29-26. Ohio State fought off a pair of game points to make it 29-28, but Roehrig finished the match with a kill to give Minnesota the four-game victory.

Minnesota jumped out to an early 3-1 lead over Ohio State, but the Buckeyes scored nine of the next 11 points to move ahead 10-5 to force a Golden Gopher timeout. Out of the timeout, Ohio State scored three straight points to push the lead to 13-5 to finish an extended 11-2 run.

Hartmann ended the Buckeye run with a solo block, and Nelson followed with a service aces. Minnesota scored the next point to cut the Ohio State lead to 13-8. The Buckeyes responded with three straight points to move back ahead by eight points 16-8. Hartmann had a kill and Roehrig and Jones combined on a block to cut it back down to six points at 16-10. However, Ohio State responded with five of the next seven points to take a nine-point lead at 21-12.

The teams exchanged the next six points to make it 24-15. Minnesota trimmed it to 26-21 with six of the next eight points. However, the Golden Gophers would get not closer as Ohio State closed out the game with four of the final six points to claim game one 30-23.

Ohio State narrowly outhit Minnesota .190 to .184 in the first game. The Buckeyes also had 16 kills to 13 for the Golden Gophers, and three service aces to one for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers were led by Bowman who hit 1.000 (5-0-5) in the game with five kills and six digs.

Minnesota jumped out to an early 8-7 lead in game two, but Ohio State scored three straight points to take a 10-8 lead. The teams exchanged the next two points to make it 11-9. Bowman followed with a kill, and Vatterrodt and Nelson also added kills to give the Golden Gophers a 12-11 lead. Ohio State responded with four straight points to move ahead by three points 15-12.

Vatterrodt and Hartmann came back with consecutive kills to make it 15-14. Ohio State pushed it to 16-14, but Minnesota rattled off four of the next five points to take the lead at 18-17. Roehrig started the run with a kill, and Nelson tied with a service ace at 16. After a Buckeye point, Hartmann and Roehrig had back-to-back kills to make it 18-17. The Golden Gophers moved it to 19-18, before Ohio State scored consecutive points to move ahead 20-19. Vatterrodt tied the game at 20 with a kill, but Ohio State moved back ahead 21-20.

Minnesota scored the next point, and Vatterrodt had a solo block on an attempted dump by Main to give the Golden Gophers a 22-21 lead. The teams exchanged the next six points to make it 25-24. Ohio State tied the game at 25, but Bowman and Jones combined on a block to put Minnesota ahead 26-25. Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) followed with a service aces that put the Golden Gophers up by two for the first time in the game, and forced Ohio State to call a timeout. Out of the timeout the Buckeyes cut it to one to make it 27-26 to force a Golden Gopher timeout. Ohio State scored the first point out of the timeout to tie the game at 27.

Bowman responded with back-to-back kills to give Minnesota game point at 29-27. Peniata delivered a service ace to give the Golden Gophers game two 30-27 to tie the match at one game apiece.

Minnesota outhit Ohio State .225 to .175, and narrowly edged the Buckeyes in kills 16 to 15 in the second game. The Golden Gophers also outblocked Ohio State 3.0-to-1.0 in the game, and tallied three service aces to none for the Buckeyes. Vatterrodt led the way offensively with four kills for the Golden Gophers.

The Buckeyes were led by Anna Szerszen who had 20 kills. Minnesota also helped force Szerszen into making 13 errors. Danielle Meyer had 11 kills and 10 digs, while Briana McCarthy had 10 kills. Marisa Main finished with 49 assists, two kills, five digs and three blocks.

Minnesota will return to action on Friday, Oct. 13 when it hosts Indiana at 7 p.m. in the Sports Pavilion. The Golden Gophers will then host No. 9 Purdue in their annual match at Williams Arena on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.