Saturday,The 17th-ranked Minnesota volleyball team (20-5, 10-4) won its fourth straight Big Ten match defeating Michigan State (11-13, 4-10) in four games by scores of 22-30, 30-23, 34-32, 30-24 on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Jenison Fieldhouse. With the win, Minnesota has now won 20 matches in four straight seasons, and in eight of head coach Mike Hebert’s 10 years with the program.

It also marked just the second time that the Golden Gophers rallied from a 1-0 deficit to win a match this season.

Sarah Florian (Holland, Ohio) led the way with 16 kills, six digs and five blocks, while junior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) had 15 kills for the Golden Gophers after entering the match in game two.

Junior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) had 11 kills, tied a season-high with eight blocks and had two service aces, while sophomore Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) had 10 kills and six blocks. Senior Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara’, Brazil) had 25 digs, while freshman Kyla Roehrig (Pappillion, Neb.) had nine kills and a career- high six blocks. Junior Kelly Bowman also had a team-high 36 assists and seven digs.

Minnesota had its second-highest team block total of the season at 16.5. The Golden Gophers outblocked the Spartans 16.5-to-6.0.

Michigan State jumped out to a 12-8 lead in game one, but Minnesota scored five of the next six points to tie it at 13. The two teams exchanged the next four points to move it to 15-15. However, the Spartans scored four straight points to take a 19-15 lead to force a Minnesota timeout. Out of the timeout, the Spartans scored five of the next six points to move ahead 24-16 to force a second Golden Gophers timeout. Minnesota cut the lead to 26-20, but Michigan State moved it to game point at 29-22. The Spartans closed out game one at 30-22.

The Spartans outhit the Golden Gophers .347 to .122 in game one, and had 22 kills to Minnesota’s 10. Roehrig led the Golden Gophers with four kills in the game.

Minnesota jumped out to an early 5-4 lead in game one, and pushed it out to 9-4 with a 4-0 run. Michigan State came right back with six of the next eight points to cut the lead to 11-10. Minnesota answered with five of the next six points to take a 16-11 lead. Michigan State scored three of the next four points to cut it to 17-14. However, the Golden Gophers answered with three of the next four points to push the lead out to 20-15. The Spartans scored consecutive points to make it 20-17, but Minnesota pushed it back out to 22-17.

Michigan State rattled off three straight points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 22-20. Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) gave Minnesota the momentum back as she sandwiched a kill and a solo block around Meghan Cumpston’s (Red Bluff, Calif.) kill to give Minnesota a 25-20 lead. After a couple of Michigan State hitting errors, Cumpston closed out a 6-0 run with a kill to make it 28-20. The two teams exchanged points to give the Golden Gophers game point at 29-21. The Spartans fought off two game points to make it 29-23, but Cumpston delivered a kill to give Minnesota game two 30-23.

The Golden Gophers outhit Michigan State .278 to .140, despite the fact that the Spartans had 16 kills to Minnesota’s 15. For the game, the Golden Gophers also outblocked Michigan State 4.5-to-0.0. Cumpston led the way with five kills in the game, while Nelson had four kills in four swings for the Golden Gophers.

In game three, Michigan State jumped out to an 11-7 lead. However, Minnesota scored seven of the next nine points to move ahead 14-13. Michigan State rattled off four straight points to take a 17-14 lead. Minnesota answered with six of the next seven points to take a 20-18 lead. Michigan State scored three of the next four points to tie it at 21. The two teams exchanged the next four points to tie the game at 23. Minnesota took a 24-23 lead, but the Spartans scored the next four points to go up 27-24. The Golden Gophers answered with consecutive points to cut it to 27-26. Bowman delivered a service ace to tie it at 27.

Michigan State scored to go up 28-27, but Bowman followed with a kill to tie it at 28. Florian delivered a kill to give Minnesota game point at 29-28. However, Michigan State fought off the game point to tie it at 29. Nelson and Roehrig combined on a block to give the Golden Gophers a second game point at 30-29, but Michigan State fought it off to tie it at 30. Jones and Roehrig teamed up on a block to give Minnesota game point at 31-30, but the Spartans fought off another game point to tie it at 31. Florian gave Minnesota a fourth game point, but Michigan State thwarted Minnesota’s effort again tying the game at 32.Cumpston delivered a kill to give the Golden Gophers a fifth game point at 33-32. Minnesota finally closed out the game when Nelson and Bowman combined on a block.

The Golden Gophers outhit Michigan State .231 to .169 in the game, despite the fact that the Spartans had 23 kills to 19 for Minnesota. For the game, the Golden Gophers outblocked the Spartans 5.0-to-0.0. Cumpston led the way with seven kills in the game, while Florian and Jones had four kills.

In the fourth game the teams had 11 ties and were deadlocked at 20. However, Cumpston delivered a kill followed by a Spartan error to give Minnesota some breathing room at 22-20. Michigan State cut the lead to 22-21, but Nelson delivered a kill and combined on a block with Roehrig to go up 24-21. Malama Peniata delivered a service ace and Florian and Nelson combined on a block to close out a 4-0 run to go up 26-21. The Spartans cut the lead to 26-22, but Nelson delivered a kill and Florian followed with consecutive kills to move it to match point at 29-22. Michigan State fought off two match points, but Roehrig closed out the match with a kill to give Minnesota the fourth game 30-24.

Minnesota outhit Michigan State .259 to .222 for the match. The Spartans had 80 kills to the Golden Gophers’ 65, but that difference was made up by Michigan State’s 35 errors to Minnesota’s 20.

Michigan State was led by Katie Johnson who had 24 kills, while Ashley Schatzle had 23 for the Spartans. Megan Wallin also had 15 kills and four blocks, while Brooke Langston had 10 on the night. Setter Mickey Davis finished with 67 assists and six digs, and libero Nicole Colaluca had 27 digs.

Minnesota will be back in action at home against Northwestern on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. The Golden Gophers will also face No. 10 Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. That match will be telecast on tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports Net North on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 12 noon.