Minnesota Wins Sixth Straight with Three-Game Sweep of No. 24 Ohio State
The University of Minnesota volleyball team (16-5, 10-1) won its sixth straight match, and claimed its 14th win in its last 15 matches as it defeated Ohio State (15-6, 5-6) in three games by scores of 30-22, 30-28, 30-19 at the Sports Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 27. With the win and a Penn State three-game loss to Wisconsin, Minnesota moved into a tie with the Nittany Lions for first place at 10-1.
Minnesota's 10-1 start also matches their best 11-match start in Big Ten play. The Golden Gophers started 10-1 in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
The Golden Gophers will meet No. 2 Penn State on Saturday, Oct. 28 in a matchup of first-place teams. Minnesota’s win gave the Golden Gophers the season sweep of Ohio State. It marked the first time that the Minnesota has swept the Buckeyes since 2003.
Tonight’s match will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports Net North on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 12 p.m.
“I thought we played very well offensively against a good Big Ten team in Ohio State,” said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. “To hit .306 against a team like that speaks to quality performance we had offensively tonight. Another telling part of the story is that we held their two left-side hitters to around a .188 hitting percentage. I also thought we served very aggressively tonight. At times it led to errors, but our aggressive serving kept them off balance and made it hard for them to get a good offensive rhythm going.”
Minnesota was led offensively by Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) who had 16 kills and 11 digs. Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) also had 13 kills on the night, while Kelly Bowman had 10 kills, nine digs, four assists, three blocks and two service aces.
Senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) also had 20 digs, two assist and one service ace. Sophomore setter Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) had 44 assists, nine digs and three kills for the Golden Gophers. Senior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) had eight kills, four blocks and tied a career-high with three service aces.
On the night, Minnesota hit .306, and limited Ohio State to a .151 hitting percentage. The .151 hitting percentage was .131 under the Buckeyes season averaging coming into the match at .282.
It is the sixth match in a row against a ranked team, that the Golden Gophers have held a ranked opponent over .100 points under their season hitting percentage. Minnesota also had 58 kills to 36 for Ohio State. The Golden Gophers outdug the Buckeyes 51 to 34, and outblocked them 7.0-to-5.0. For the second time in three matches, Minnesota did not allow a service ace. The Golden Gophers also had eight service aces of their own.
Minnesota took control of the match right away with a 14-7 lead in game one. Minnesota pushed its advantage to 19-11 following a Jessy Jones’ (Naperville, Ill.) kill. The Buckeyes scored five of the next six points to make it 20-16. However, Bowman ended that stretch with a kill. Bowman combined on a block with Jones to make it 22-16.
Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) followed with a service ace, and Cumpston delivered a kill to give Minnesota a fourth straight point to make it 24-16. The Golden Gophers remained ahead by at least seven points, and pushed it to game point at 29-21 on a Nelson service ace. After a service error, Roehrig delivered a kill to give Minnesota game one 30-22.
Minnesota outhit Ohio State .340 to .289, and had 22 kills to 12 for the Buckeyes in the first game. The Golden Gophers also had four service aces to none for Ohio State. Cumpston and Roehrig each had five kills in the game.
Ohio State jumped out to an 8-5 lead in game two, but Minnesota scored six of the next seven points to take an 11-9 lead. The Buckeyes tied the game at 11 with two straight points. The teams went back and forth tying nine times on its way to reaching a 20-20 score. Minnesota moved ahead on a Hartmann kill. Following an attack error by the Buckeyes, Nelson delivered a service ace to make it 23-20.
The Buckeyes cut it to 24-22, but Jones followed with a kill to make it 25-22. Ohio State rattled off back-to-back points to cut it one at 25-24. However, Bowman delivered a kill to make it 26-24. Minnesota moved up 28-24, following a pair of Buckeye errors. Ohio State made it 28-25, but Cumpston delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-25. The Buckeyes close it to 29-28 by fighting off three game points, but Cumpston closed out the game with a kill to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the match.
Minnesota outhit Ohio State .236 to .127 in the game, and had 19 kills to 16 for the Buckeyes. Cumpston led the Golden Gophers with six kills.
The Golden Gophers took immediate control of game three by jumping out to a 21-9 lead. Ohio State got the Minnesota lead down to 25-16 with seven of the next 11 points. However, the Golden Gophers scored three of the next four points to make it 28-17. With the score at 28-18, Cumpston delivered a kill to make it 29-18. Ohio State cut it to 29-19, but followed with a service error to help Minnesota finish the three-game sweep.
Minnesota limited Ohio State to a .030 hitting percentage in the game, and hit .375. The Golden Gophers also had 17 kills to eight for the Buckeyes. Minnesota also had three services and three blocks, to none in both columns for Ohio State.
Ohio State was led by Anna Szerszen who had 12 kills and seven digs. Danielle Meyer also finished with nine kills and nine digs. Setter Marisa Main had four kills, 28 assists and 12 digs.
Minnesota will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. when it faces No. 2 Penn State at the Sports Pavilion.
