The 13th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (18-5, 8-3) lost in three sets to No. 1 Penn State (23-0, 11-0) by scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 at Rec Hall on Friday, Oct. 31.
With the win, Penn State ran its Big Ten winning streak to 36 matches and won its 49th match in a row. Minnesota’s 53 points on the night tied for the most by a Nittany Lion opponent at Rec Hall on the season.
The Golden Gophers were led by Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) who had eight kills and two blocks. Brook Dieter (Bloomington, Minn.) had six kills, a team-high nine digs and three blocks on the night.
Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) and Jessica Granquist (Blaine, Minn.) finished with eight and six digs respectively. Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) also had 23 assists and tied a match-high with two service aces.
In her first career Big Ten start, freshman Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) had three blocks and a pair of kills, while Kyla Roehrig finished with five kills.
Penn State outhit Minnesota .348 to .103, and had 45 kills to 26 for the Golden Gophers. The Nittany Lions also outblocked Minnesota 9.0-to-5.0. Penn State, who has outblocked the Golden Gopher twice this year, is the only team to do so on the year.
Minnesota jumped out to an early 3-2 lead after a kill by Gibbemeyer. Penn State scored the next two points to go ahead 4-3. The Nittany Lions scored the next points, and the teams exchanged the next four points to tie the set at six. Penn State ran off six of the next seven points to take a 12-7 lead.
The Golden Gophers answered with back-to-back kills by Roehrig and Luiz, and added another point to cut the lead to 12-10. The Nittany Lions scored five of the next eight points to move ahead 17-13. Minnesota responded quickly with four consecutive points to tie the set at 17. Dieter and Ariana Filho (Monument, Colo.) combined on a block, and Hartmann delivered a service ace to tie the set and force a Nittany Lion timeout.
Out of the timeout, Penn State scored seven straight points to make it set point at 24-17. Roehrig answered with a kill, and Minnesota cut the lead to 24-19 before the Nittany Lions put away the set away.
Penn State outhit the Golden Gophers .188 to .036 in the first set, and had 13 kills to eight in the first set. Both teams had 3.0 blocks in the set. Gibbemeyer led the way for Minnesota with threes kill in three swings and two blocks.
For the second set in a row, the Golden Gophers jumped out to a 3-2 lead. Penn State answered with seven of the next eight points to take a 9-4 lead. Minnesota scored four of the next six points to cut the lead to 11-8. Penn State moved it to 13-8, but the Golden Gophers answered with a consecutive points and made it 13-10 on a kill by Dieter. The Nittany Lions scored seven of the next seven of the next 11 points to take a 20-14 lead. Dieter made it 20-15 with a kill, but Penn State scored the next three points. Minnesota cut the Nittany Lion lead to 24-17, but had a service error to give them the second set.
Penn State outhit Minnesota .536 to .174 in the second set, and had 17 kills to eight for the Golden Gophers. Dieter led Minnesota with four kills and a block in the set.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to 3-1 lead in third set, but Filho and Roehrig delivered consecutive kills to tie it at three. The teams exchanged the next two points, but Penn State followed with four straight points to take an 8-4 lead. Gibbemeyer sandwiched kills around a kill by Hartmann to make it 8-7. The teams exchanged the next four points.
Penn State had consecutive points to move ahead 12-9, but Minnesota scored consecutive points on a service error and a kill by Dieter. With the score at 14-13 after a Roehrig kill, the Nittany lions went on a 4-0 run to go ahead 18-13. Penn State moved ahead 21-14, but Minnesota scored three of the next four points and made it 22-17 on a backrow kill by Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.). The Nittany Lions closed out the match with three straight points to win match in three sets.
Penn State was led by Nicole Fawcett who had 12 kills and three blocks, while Megan Hodge hit .476 (11-1-21) with 11 kills and six digs. Blair Brown also hit .421 (10-2-19) with 10 kills and three blocks. Roberta Holehouse had a match-high 14 digs and two service aces, and Alisha Glass finished with 37 assists and five digs.
Minnesota will be back in action when it travels to Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. (CT). That match can be heard on gophersports.com
