Senior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) had a Gopher career-high 22 kills, as the University of Minnesota volleyball team (13-5, 7-1) won for the 11th time in 12 matches with a four-game victory against Purdue (15-4, 5-3) by scores of 28-30, 30-26, 30-25, 30-22 in front of 8,377 fans at Williams Arena.
The crowd of 8,377 was the third-largest in school history, and the second largest crowd to a see a women’s collegiate volleyball match this year.
“We did a very good job of taking away Purdue’s primary weapons tonight,” said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. “I think we had a good strategy coming into the game and executed it well against a couple of very tough players to contain. We also passed the ball well tonight, which helped us have a very effective attack. To hit .268 against a tough defensive team like Purdue is a big accomplishment. It was well-executed match in a great environment at Williams Arena tonight.
The match will be broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. on ESPN 2.
Cumpston, who had her Gopher career-high in kills, also hit .370 (22-5-46) on the night, had six digs and three blocks. Senior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) finished the night with 17 kills, tied a season-high with six digs and had six blocks. Kelly Bowman had 12 kills, six assists, 17 digs and two service aces.
Kyla Roehrig had 15 kills and two blocks on the night for Minnesota. Sophomore Rachel Hartmann tallied 57 assists, tied a career-high with four kills, had four blocks and a career-high 19 digs. Senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) finished with 22 digs, three assists and two service aces, while Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) had 11 digs.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .268 to .133 on the night, and had 78 kills and to 52 for Purdue. On the weekend, the Golden Gophers had 141 kills to 83 for the opposition. Minnesota also had 85 digs to 68 for the Boilermakers. Purdue did have 11 service aces to five for the Golden Gophers, and narrowly outblocked Minnesota 14.5-to-13.0.
After the Golden Gophers fell behind 1-0 in the match, the Golden Gophers jumped out to a 12-7 lead in game two. Purdue scored eight of the next 12 points to cut the lead to 16-15. Cumpston and Nelson combined a block to temporarily halt the Boilermakers momentum. However, Purdue ripped off the next three points to its first lead of game two at 18-17.
Cumpston and Nelson followed with consecutive kills to give Minnesota the lead back at 19-18. The Golden Gophers scored three of the next four points to push the back to 22-19. Purdue cut it to 22-20, but Roehrig had back-to-back kills to move Minnesota ahead 24-20. Following an attack error by the Boilermakers, Bowman added consecutive kills to close out a 5-0 run to make it 27-20. Purdue rattled off four straight points to cut the lead to 27-24, but Bowman answered with a kill to put the Golden Gophers up 28-24. The Boilermakers made it 28-25, but Bowman followed with a kill to make it game point. Purdue fought off the first game point, but Cumpston delivered a kill to give Minnesota a 30-26 game two victory to tie the match at one game apiece.
Minnesota outhit Purdue .340 to .170 in the game, and had 24 kills to 14 for the Boilermakers. Bowman led the Golden Gophers with eight kills and eight digs in the game.
The Golden Gophers continued to use the momentum to move ahead 18-12 in game three. Minnesota stretched the lead to nine points after a Hartmann kill made it 22-13. Purdue stormed back with seven of the next 10 points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 25-20.
After a service error, the Boilermakers scored four straight points to cut it to 26-24. Bowman halted the Purdue momentum with a kill to make it 27-24. Cumpston followed with a solo block to move the Golden Gopher lead to 28-24. Bowman and Jones followed by combining on a block to make it game point at 29-24. Following a service error, Cumpston ended a second straight game with a kill to put the Golden Gophers ahead 2-1.
The Golden Gophers limited Purdue to a .071 hitting percentage in the third game, and hit .263. The Boilermakers had 13 kills in the game, but 10 errors. Meanwhile, the Golden Gophers had 16 kills. Minnesota also outblocked Purdue 6.0-to-0.0 in the game. Cumpston led the way with five kills, while Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had three blocks.
Minnesota jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead in game four, but Purdue widdled the lead down to 12-10 with eight of the next 12 points. Cumpston followed with a kill and Nelson had a solo block to make it 14-10. Purdue made it 14-11, but Cumpston continued her barrage with back-to-back kills to make it 16-11.
The Golden Gophers pushed the lead out to six at 19-13, and made it 20-14 after a Jones kill. Purdue ripped off four straight points to cut it to 20-18. With the score at 21-19, Minnesota went on a 5-0 run to move ahead 26-19. Cumpston started the run with a kill, followed by an attack error by Purdue. Peniata delivered a service ace, which was followed by a pair of Boilermaker attack errors to finish the run.
Purdue made it 26-20, but Cumpston answered with a kill and Nelson followed with a kill and a solo block to make it match point at 29-20. Following a pair of Purdue points, Nelson finished the match with a kill to give Minnesota the four-game victory.
The Golden Gophers are now 6-2 when dropping the first game of a match this season.
Minnesota jumped out to a 22-18 lead in game one, but Purdue ripped off a 5-0 run to move ahead 23-22. Cumpston delivered a kill to tie the game at 23. Purdue answered with consecutive kills to move ahead 25-23. Cumpston cut the lead to a 25-24 with a kill, but the Boilermakers pushed it out to three at 27-24. The Golden Gophers cut it to 27-26 when Nelson and Hartmann combined on a block, followed by Hartmann and Jones combining on another block. The two teams exchanged the next two points to make it 28-27. Stephanie Lynch and Carrie Gurnell combined on a block to make it game point at 29-27. Bowman and Jones teamed on a block to cut it to one point, but Gurnell delivered a kill to give the Boilermakers game one.
Purdue narrowly outhit Minnesota .200 to .192 in the game, despite the Golden Gophers tallying 20 kills to 14 for the Boilermakers. Purdue had six blocks to three for Minnesota, and tallied three service aces to one for the Golden Gophers. Cumpston and Nelson each had six kills in the game.
The Boilermakers led by Samantha Made who had 14 kills and six digs. Stephanie Lynch had 10 kills and eight blocks, while Kelli Miller finished with 24 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action on Wednesday, Oct. 18 when it faces No. 14 Wisconsin at 7 p.m. That match will broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports Net North on Thursday at 8 p.m.
