#2 Minnesota Downs #15 Mizzou in 4, Advances to Elite 8

MATCH STATS

• #2 Minnesota tops #15 Missouri in 4 (25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 25-14)
• Minnesota will face UCLA in Elite 8, Dec. 10 at 10 PM
• Sports Pavilion, Minneapolis, Minnesota

No. 2 University of Minnesota Gophers topped the No. 15 Mizzou Tigers in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Elite 8. This win allowed Minnesota to remain undefeated at home this season.

In the four-set (25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 25-14) victory, the Gophers totaled 67 kills and 71 digs. Sarah Wilhite led with 16 kills, 4 digs, and 2 aces, while Hannah and Paige Tapp both had 14 kills.

The Tigers’ season ended with a 27-6 record, the fifth-most wins in school history.

Minnesota, now 28-4 in the 2016 season, will face UCLA in the Elite 8 matchup Saturday night at 9 p.m.

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Courtesy of Minnesota Athletics 

The University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated No.15 Missouri in four sets Friday night, 25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 25-14, to advance to the NCAA Regional Finals. The Gophers improve to 28-4 on the season, and remain undefeated at home.

“Very happy to be advancing into the next round of the tournament,” head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “I’m proud of our performancetonight. Missouri is one heck of a team. They played some wonderful volleyball and I was impressed we were able to make some adjustments throughout the match to be successful at the end. Very happy to be moving on and proud of the team and the effort they put forth.”

As a team, Minnesota had 67 kills, hitting .351 and adding 71 digs. Sarah Wilhite had 16 kills on the match, with four digs and two aces. Hannah and Paige Tapp both had 14 kills putting up a combined six blocks, while Molly Lohmanhad 11 kills and Alexis Hart had ten. Dalianliz Rosado had a team-high 15 digs, Katie Schauhad 14, and Alyssa Goehner followed with 12. Samantha Seliger-Swenson put up another double-double with 52 assists and 10 digs.

The Gophers will face the winner of the UCLA/North Carolina match on Saturday night at 9 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion.

Set Breakdown:

Set 1: Minnesota had 17 kills to Mizzou’s eight to take a 1-0 lead. After Missouri opened with a 3-1 early lead, Minnesota came back and rattled off an 8-1 run for a 9-4 lead. After four-straight points for Minnesota (three kills, one ace), Missouri called its second timeout as the Gophers lead, 15-8. The Tigers battled back to cut the Gopher lead to 15-12. Minnesota then went on a 5-0 run, and a 20-12 lead. The Gophers closed off the set with four kills and an ace from Wilhite to a 25-15 win.

Set 2: Missouri hit .378 to Minnesota’s .257 to win, 25-21. After the two teams tied at 10-10, Missouri went up 13-10 before the Gophers took a timeout. After the Tigers took a 14-10 lead, tied it up at 14-14 during a P Tapp serve rotation. After a block by Lohman/H Tapp and a 15-14 Gopher lead, Mizzou called its first timeout of the set. The Tigers came back and tied the set at 16 and again at 17-17 before they took a 19-17 lead and forced Minnesota to use its second timeout. Minnesota came out of the break with back-to-back kills to tie it at 19-19 before the Tigers pushed it back to a 23-19 lead. The Tigers finished off the set with a kill to tie up the match, 1-1.

Set 3: The Gophers hit .341 in the third to take a 25-19 set win. Minnesota opened the third set with an 8-3 lead as the Tigers called a timeout. The Gophers took a 14-6 lead off a Wilhite kill. Missouri came back and cut the lead to 14-10 before the Gophers called a timeout. The Gophers came out of the break and built an 18-12 lead. Mizzou cut the deficit to 18-15, but the Gophers pushed the lead to 20-15 off a Wilhite kill and forced the Tigers to call its second timeout. A P Tapp/Wilhite block put the Gopher lead to 22-16. After a Lohman kill for set point, the Tigers fought off set point to push it to 24-19, but another Lohman kill put away the set and a 2-1 lead.

Set 4: Minnesota hit a commanding .667 to win the fourth set 25-14 and take the match. The Gophers opened with an 8-5 lead before Missouri called a timeout. P Tapp put the Gophers up 11-7 off a kill. A solo block from H Tapp put Minnesota up, 15-11, while a one-handed set from Seliger-Swenson to H Tapp put the lead to 16-12. A Wilhite kill pushed the lead to 20-12, finishing a 5-0 run for the Gophers. The Tigers put up two more points but Minnesota went on a 5-1 streak to finish the set and match.

Courtesy of Missouri Athletics 

MINNEAPOLIS – No. 15 Mizzou Volleyball saw its season come to a close with a Sweet 16 loss at No. 2 Minnesota, 3-1 (15-25, 25-21, 19-25, 14-25), on Friday evening at the Sports Pavilion, the home court of the second-seeded Gophers. Mizzou was led by 20 kills and a double-double from senior OH Carly Kan(Honolulu, Hawaii) who finishes her career with 1,677 kills and 1,445 digs, ranking second and fourth, respectively, in school history. Mizzou finishes the season 27-6 while Minnesota goes to 28-4.

Kan and the Mizzou senior class – MB Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.), RS Julia Towler (Blue Springs, Mo.) and L Alexa Ethridge (Blue Springs, Mo.) – finish their careers as the winningest four-year class in school history with 105 wins. They won a pair of SEC Championships and went to three NCAA Tournaments. The 27 wins on the year are the fifth-most in school history and the senior class has three of the top five win totals in school history.

Junior OH Melanie Crow (Wildwood, Mo.) added 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks and Thater pitched in seven kills on .278 hitting with two blocks and a pair of aces. Ethridge posted 19 digs, just missing her third 20-dig outing of the year, but it was her best four-set total of the season. Junior setter Courtney Eckenrode (The Woodlands, Texas) posted her seventh double-double of the season with 36 assists and 11 digs.

The second-seeded Gophers ran out to an 8-4 lead early in the first set despite Mizzou getting a pair of early blocks. The Tigers made three uncharacteristic attack errors in the stretch, forcing Coach Kreklow to call timeout. Minnesota kept the foot on the gas to go up 15-7, but Mizzou cut the lead to 15-12 using back row attacks from Kan. But as quick as Mizzou got back into it, Minnesota ran off a 5-0 run and that put the set away with the Gophers taking the first frame, 25-15.

Mizzou played better to open the second frame behind the attack of Kan and opened a 13-10 lead after a pair of strong serves from Kira Larson (Fargo, N.D.). Mizzou grew the lead to 14-10 out of the timeout following a kill by Emily Thater (Springfield, Mo.), but Minnesota scored the next five points and wound up on top 17-16. Mizzou then got back-to-back kills from Kan and Crow and an ace from Thater to open a 19-17 lead.

The trading of runs continued as Minnesota tied the set at 19-all after a pair of kills, but Mizzou answered right back and that stole momentum, taking set two, 25-21.

Following the break, Minnesota raced out to an 8-3 lead as it connected for kills on its first six swings. Mizzou fought to get back into the set and got as close as 14-10, but the Gophers sided out from there and won the third, 25-19. Minnesota kept it going in the fourth set and ran away with a 25-14 set win to close out the match.

For all the latest on Mizzou Volleyball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on social media on Twitter @MizzouVB and on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Volleyball).

Postmatch Notes

• Mizzou now trails the all-time series with Minnesota, 8-1-1 and 2-0-1 in matches played in Minneapolis.
• Mizzou’s all-time record in NCAA Tournament play falls to 12-13, with all 25 games coming under the direction of Wayne and Susan Kreklow.
• Mizzou is now 1-2 all-time in games played in the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
• Mizzou’s senior class posted 105 career wins over the last four seasons, making the class the winningest four-year class in program history.
• Mizzou’s 27 wins on the year are the fifth-most in school history and tie second-best total since the Kreklows took over the program in 2000. Mizzou also had 27 wins last season.
• Mizzou senior OH Carly Kan posted 20 kills on Friday night, moving her career total to 1,677, good for the second-most in program history, trailing only All-American Lisa Henning (1,794 from 2010-13).
• Kan’s 20 kills were her most since posting 25 in a win over Florida on Nov. 20, a span of five matches.
• Kan also posted her 14^th double-double of the season and her fourth in NCAA Tournament action, tying for the second-most ever in a career by a Mizzou player (Shen Danru has the record with five double-doubles in NCAA Tournament matches).
• Melanie Crow tallied her 48^th ace of the season in the third set, tying her for the sixth-most in a single season at Mizzou and the most by a Mizzou player since Shen Danru had 54 in 2003.
• Alyssa Munlyn posted three solo blocks on Friday, moving her season total to 36. The 36 solo blocks rank as the fourth-most ever by a Tiger in a season and most since All-American Whitney Little had a school-record 42 in 2013.
• Senior libero Alexa Ethridge posted 19 digs on Friday, moving her season total to 461, the ninth-most ever in a single season at Mizzou.
• Alyssa Munlyn finished the match with four blocks, moving her season total to a school record 153, passing her own school record of 149 set a year ago.

AB