MATCH STATS
- #3 Minnesota dominates Rutgers in straight sets (25-17, 25-14, 25-15)
- Minnesota (16-4, 8-3), Rutgers (4-20, 0-11)
The Minnesota Gophers didn’t give the Rutgers Scarlet Knights a chance Friday night at home, sweeping them (25-17, 25-14, 25-15). Rutgers remains 0-11 in Big Ten conference play.
The Gophers hit 43 kills, and out blocked Rutgers 8-4.
No. 3 Minnesota is taking on the second round of Big Ten competition, and will face six AVCA Top 25 teams.
PRESS RELEAESES
Courtesy of Minnesota Athletics
The No. 3 University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated Rutgers in straight sets Friday night, 25-17, 25-14, 25-15. The Gophers remain undefeated at home, going 7-0 at the Sports Pavilion.
As a team, Minnesota (16-4, 8-3 B1G) had 43 kills, hitting .352. The Gophers put up eight blocks to Rutgers’ four. Paige Tapp and Sarah Willhite had 11 kills each, with P Tapp hitting .400 adding four blocks. Molly Lohman followed with nine kills, hitting .692 and adding four blocks. Alexis Hart added six kills. Samantha Seliger-Swenson established 38 assists, with seven digs. Dalianliz had a match-high 13 digs. Minnesota had 13 players see action tonight, including Margaret Eggert, Brittany McLean, and Erica Handley.
The Gophers will remain at home tomorrow night to take on No.10 Penn State at 6:30 p.m.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota took the first set 25-17 and a 1-0 advantage. Minnesota had seven kills from Lohman in the first set alone. After a 5-5 tie, Minnesota took control of the set from the 6-5 point and led the rest of the set. Minnesota pushed the lead to 12-8 before Rutgers called its first timeout. The Gophers continued to add their lead at 19-10 as the Scarlet Knights added their second timeout. A Lohman kill put the Gopher lead to 21-13, while Wilhite added a kill for a 23-15 lead. Minnesota closed out the first set with a Rutgers service error and a Wilhite kill for a 25-17 win.
Set 2: The Gophers hit .414 in the second set to Rutgers’ .094 for a 25-14 win and a 2-0 match lead. Minnesota opened the second set with an 8-5 lead, off a kill from Seliger-Swenson. After back-to-back kills from Wilhite at 11-6, the Scarlet Knights called their first timeout. A Rosado ace pushed the lead to 13-7, while a P Tapp kill gave Minnesota a 14-8 lead. A Lohman put the Gophers up, 20-11 before Taylor Morgan earned a kill for a 22-13 lead. Margaret Eggert close out the set with back-to-back kills for a 25-14 final.
Set 3: Minnesota hit .385 and had a 25-15 set score to finish off the sweep. The Gophers took a 9-6 lead off a P Tapp kill. A Wilhite kill put Minnesota up, 13-9, which forced Rutgers to burn its first timeout of the set. Rutgers came out of the break and cut the Gopher lead to 15-12, but Minnesota went on a 5-1 run for a 20-13 lead as the Scarlet Knights called their second timeout. Minnesota went up 23-13 on a P Tapp/Morgan block, while the duo finished with another block to end the match.
Up Next: The Gophers will host No. 10 Penn State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Gopher Stats
Sarah Wilhite (11 kills, 5 digs)
Paige Tapp (11 kills, 2 digs, 4 blocks)
Molly Lohman (9 kills, 1 dig, 4 blocks)
Dalianliz Rosado (2 aces, 13 digs)
Follow Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter @GopherVBall and Instagram @gophervball
Courtesy of Rutgers Athletics
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — Beginning its weekend of top-five matchups, the Rutgers women’s volleyball team was defeated by No. 3 Minnesota on Friday night at the Sports Pavilion. The Golden Gophers (16-4, 8-3 Big Ten) topped the Scarlet Knights (4-20, 0-11 Big Ten) by set scores of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-15.
Rutgers was led by senior right side Lauren Cloyd with eight kills. Freshman middle blocker Jasmine Stackhouse added in six kills and a team-best four blocks.
Paige Tapp and Sarah Wilhite each added in 11 kills each for Minnesota. Tapp led with a .400 hitting percentage and also registered four blocks. Molly Lohman posted four blocks of her own in the win.
After falling behind 4-1 to start set one, RU rallied three consecutive points guided by two kills from Stackhouse to tie the score, 4-4. Although the Gophers would hold the edge, the Scarlet Knights kept the deficit to no more than three across the following serves. With a 12-9 lead, UM then went on to distance its lead to a 19-10 en route to a first set victory.
The Gophers moved into the lead to start the second but a kill for Fletcher kept the margin at 4-3. The Scarlet Knights remained strong as a Cole Trimble kill held the score at 8-6. Although another Trimble kill would stump a 5-0 run for the Gophers, Minnesota continued to add to its 13-7 advantage for its second consecutive win in the match.
The third set remained close at the beginning just as the previous two. A kill for Cloyd held the Gopher edge at 13-10. However, that is as close as the Scarlet Knights would come as Minnesota once again established a substantial lead on the board to pick up the win in the third and final set.
UP NEXT
Rutgers remains in the Midwest with a trip to No. 4 Wisconsin on Sunday, Oct. 30. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET on BTN Plus.
KNIGHT NOTES
- Rutgers faced its sixth ranked opponent of the season for its eighth overall match against a ranked team.
- The Gophers marked the second highest ranked opponent of the season coming in at third nationally. RU faced then No. 2 Wisconsin earlier in the month.
Rutgers Stats
Meme Fletcher (4 kills, 9 digs, 1 block)
Lauren Cloyd (8 kills, 4 digs, 1 block)
Jasmine Stackhouse (6 digs, 4 blocks)
Follow Rutgers on Facebook, Twitter @RUAthletics and Instagram @ruathletics
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