Minnesota Advances to NCAA Regionals with Five-Game Victory Over St. John’s

The ninth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (25-7) advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the sixth time in eight years as it defeated St. John’s (31-5) in five games by scores of 30-26, 30-17, 26-30, 24-30, 15-12 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the University Gymnasium in Albany, N.Y. on Friday, Dec. 1. With the win, the Golden Gophers moved to 8-3 all-time in five-game NCAA Tournament matches.

Minnesota will advance to the NCAA Regional Semifinals where it will face No. 7 Florida in Gainesville, Fla. on Friday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. (CT).

“We had one of these last year where we got ahead early and then could not close out when we lost to Tennessee in the second round last year at their place,” said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert. “We were going down a similar path, but we showed a lot of character to come out in the fifth game, claim control early and pull out some big points down the stretch. I think our team, and especially our seniors, were determined to win that fifth game. They did a good job of coming up with some big plays in crunch time.”

Minnesota was led by senior Meredith Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) who hit .378 (17-3-3) with 17 kills, four assists, three blocks and two service aces. Junior Jessy Jones (Naperville, Ill.) tied a career-high with nine blocks, hit .348 (13-5-23) and had 13 kills.

“This team has not forgotten about our match against Tennessee last year,” said Nelson. “It is a match that stayed without us throughout the offseason. During that time we really worked on coming together better as a team, and developing team chemistry. That process in the spring, and then our trip to Europe this summer went a long way towards helping us in situations like tonight. The chemistry that we developed this past offseason has really given us something to fall back on tough situations like tonight.”

Senior Meghan Cumpston (Red Bluff, Calif.) had 14 kills and nine digs for the match, while Kyla Roehrig (Papillion, Neb.) tallied 14 kills and four blocks. Senior Kelly Bowman (Maple Grove, Minn.) finished with 10 kills, six digs, four assists, three blocks and two service aces.

“The biggest thing we tried to do all night against St. John’s was serve tough,” said Cumpston. “They have a lot of different looks and run a lot of different plays offensively. The best way to try to stop them is to get them out of rhythm by serving at well. I thought we did that at some of the crucial points of the match.”

Rachel Hartmann (St. Charles, Ill.) finished with 51 assists, 11 digs and four blocks, while Christine Tan (Palm Harbor, Fla.) had 13 digs and two service aces. Senior Malama Peniata (Plymouth, Minn.) finished with 12 digs and two assists.

The Golden Gophers outhit St. John’s .225 to .161 on the night, and had 71 kills to 61 for the Red Storm. Minnesota outdug St. John’s 54 to 52 on the night, and outblocked the Red Storm 14.0-to-10.0. The Golden Gophers also had eight service aces to six for St. John’s.

“That was a very competitive match with a very good St. John’s team,” said Hebert. “We looked at them on tape and scouted them yesterday during the Albany match, and it is no accident that they came into tonight with 31 wins. They made some very good coaching adjustments after we claimed the first two games. It took us a little while to adjust to what they chanced. I think going into the fifth game we made some of those adjustments, and our seniors just made some big plays down the stretch. I give a lot of credit to St. John’s, they made some great adjustments and never gave up during the match.

Minnesota looked as if it had complete control of the match when it won the first two games 30-26 and 30-17. However, St. John’s won game three 30-26 and game 30-24 to force the match to a fifth game.

The Golden Gophers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game five on a Red Storm attack error and a kill by Roehrig. St. John’s responded on back-to-back kills by Patti Hardimon and Hui Ping Huang. Roehrig put Minnesota ahead 3-2 with a kill, but St. John’s evened it at 3-3 on a Huang kill. Jones followed with a kill, and combined on a block with Cumpston to give Minnesota a 5-3 lead.

St. John’s cut it to 5-4, but Bowman responded with a kill to make it 6-4. The Red Storm committed an attack error, and Nelson followed with a kill to make it 8-4. St. John’s responded with a Dana DeMayo kill and service ace to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 8-6. Bowman answered with a kill to make it 9-6, but Wioleta Leszczynska and Hardimon had back-to-back kills to make it 9-8.

Nelson answered again with a kill, and St. John’s followed with an attack error to make it 11-8. On the next play, Cumpston unleashed a jump serve that appeared to graze off the shoulder of a Red Storm player to give her a service ace. However, the referee initially called it out. After a meeting with the line judge, the referee gave Cumpston the service ace to make it 12-8. St. John’s did not flinch, and scored three straight points to cut the lead to 12-11.

The Golden Gophers scored the next two points, getting match point on a Nelson kill to make it 14-11. The Red Storm fought the first match point off with Huang kill, but Jones followed with a kill to give Minnesota the match. Jones had kills on the final points of all three games that the Golden Gophers claimed in the match.

“We came into this match with the attitude that we could win,” said St. John’s coach Joanne Persico-Smith. “We did a great job of battling back and putting a lot of pressure on Minnesota, but just came up a little short. I think Minnesota played the big points very well tonight. They are a good team with a great coach, and tonight was a great match.

Minnesota jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in game one, but St. John’s answered with back-to-back points to make it 6-3. The Golden Gophers scored consecutive points to move ahead 8-3, but the Red Storm collected five of the next six points to trim it to 9-8. Minnesota broke that string with point to make it 10-8, and Bowman and Jones followed by combining on a block to move the score out to 11-8. Peniata followed with a push into the back right corner that landed for a kill to give Minnesota a 12-8 lead.

St. John’s scored three straight points to cut the lead to 12-11. Roehrig answered with a kill as part of consecutive points to give Minnesota a 14-11 lead. With the score at 14-12, Jones delivered a kill to make it 15-12. Minnesota scored the next point to push it to 16-12, but the Red Storm came right back with consecutive points to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 16-14.

The two teams exchanged the next four points to move the score to 18-16. Roehrig delivered a kill, followed by a service ace by Nelson to make it 20-16. The teams exchanged the next six points to make it 23-19. After a Nelson kill made it 24-19, St. John’s rallied back with three straight points to cut the lead to 24-22. Bowman responded with a kill and after Minnesota moved ahead 26-22, Cumpston delivered a kill to make it 27-22.

St. John’s cut the lead to 27-23, but Cumpston answered with another kill to make it 28-23. The Red Storm scored two straight points to make it 28-25, but Nelson delivered a kill to make it game point at 29-25. St. John’s fought off the first game point to make it 29-26, but Jones delivered a kill to give Minnesota game one 30-26.

Minnesota outhit St. John’s .262 to .194, and had 20 kills to 13 in the game. Individually, Minnesota was led by Roehrig and Cumpston who each had five kills.

In the game two the Golden Gophers jumped out to a 5-4 lead, before St. John’s scored three straight points to move ahead 7-5. Nelson, Jones and Hartmann delivered three straight kills in succession to give Minnesota the lead back at 8-7. The Red Storm tied the score at eight, but Hartmann and Roehrig followed with back-to-back kills to move ahead 10-8. St. John’s scored consecutive point to tie the game at 10.

Roehrig and Bowman answered with back-to-back kills to put Minnesota ahead 12-10. Bowman and Jones combined on a block, and Cumpston followed with a solo block to make it 14-10. Minnesota scored the next two points to close out a 6-0 run to make it 16-10. St. John’s responded with four of the next six points to cut the lead to 18-14. The Golden Gophers immediately answered with a 6-0 run to expand their lead to 24-14. Nelson started the run with a kill on an overpass. Minnesota scored the next five points on Cumpston’s serve to take the 10-point lead. St. John’s cut it to 24-15, but Roehrig answered with a kill to give Minnesota back a 10-point lead. Hartmann and Jones combined on a block to make it 26-15. Cumpston added a service ace, and the Golden Gophers scored the next point to make it 28-15.

The Red Storm made it 28-16, but Jones and Roehrig combined on a block to make it game point at 29-16. St. John’s fought off the first game point to make it 29-17, but Jones delivered a kill to give the Golden Gophers the game and 2-0 lead in the match.

Minnesota outhit St. John’s .412 to .079 in the game, and had 16 kills to 11 for the Red Storm. The Golden Gophers also outblocked St. John’s 6.0-to-3.0 in the game. Individually, Roehrig and Cumpston led the way with four kills apiece. Jones also had three blocks in the game.

The Golden Gophers jumped out to an 8-4 lead in game three, but St. John’s answered with four straight points to tie it at eight. Minnesota scored four of the next five points to take a 12-9 lead. The Red Storm scored consecutive points to make it 12-11, but Jones answered with a kill to make it 13-11. St. John’s ripped the momentum away from Minnesota nine of the next 11 points to move ahead 20-15. Minnesota halted the Red Storm momentum temporarily when Nelson and Roehrig combined on a block to make it 20-16.

Minnesota scored the next point to make it 20-17, but St. John’s responded with three straight points to move ahead 23-17. The Golden Gophers responded with three straight points of their own to cut the lead to 23-20. St. John’s followed with three of the next four points to move ahead 26-21. Cumpston delivered a kill to make it 26-22, but the Red Storm answered with a point to make it 27-22.

The teams exchanged the next two points to make it 28-23. Nelson answered with a kill, and then combined on a block with Roehrig to make it 28-25. St. John’s scored to make it game point at 29-25. Roehrig followed with a kill to make it 29-26, but the Red Storm closed out the game at 30-26.

St. John’s outhit Minnesota .194 to .114 in the third game, and both teams each had 14 kills. Nelson led the way individually with four kills for the Golden Gophers.

In game four Minnesota jumped out to an 8-7 lead, but St. John’s rattled off a 5-0 run to go up 12-8. The Red Storm pushed the lead out to 18-10, before the Golden Gophers responded with four straight points to make it 18-14. The teams exchanged the next six points to move the score to 21-17. St. John’s pushed the lead back out to six at 23-17 with consecutive points.

Minnesota pulled back to 24-20 with three of the next four points. The teams exchanged the next four points to move it to 26-22, before the Red Storm rattled off back-to-back points to make it 28-22. St. John’s pushed it to game point at 29-23. The Golden Gophers fought off the first game point with a Nelson kill, but St. John’s put away the game on a Minnesota attack error.

St. John’s was led by Hardimon who had 17 kills and 10 digs. Huang also had 13 kills and five blocks, while Latoya Blunt had 13 kills as well. Kathleen Lee finished with 20 digs as well for the Red Storm.