Match Stats
- #3 Minnesota defeats #1 Wisconsin 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-14)
- Minnesota improves to 14-2, Wisconsin falls to 14-2.
The battle for the top spot in the NCAA rankings picked up in a big way this week, with former #1 Minnesota going on the road to beat current #1 Wisconsin in straight sets.
A stifling Minnesota defense notched 14 blocks and held Wisconsin to a meager .050 hitting percentage. And as momentum built for the Golden Gophers, the set scores kept getting more and more lopsided: from 25-20 to 25-18 to 25-14.
10 of those 14 blocks came from senior twins Paige and Hannah Tapp, who had 5 apiece. Paige had 9 kills and Hannah 11, and Sarah Wilhite chipped in a team-high 12 kills and 8 digs.
Wisconsin had 10 kills from Kelli Bates and Amber McDonald tallied 9 digs for the Badgers.
This marks the third time a different #1-ranked team has fallen in the past few weeks:
- On Oct. 1, then-#1 Nebraska suffered its first loss at the hands of Ohio State.
- Two days later, Minnesota was crowned #1 in the AVCA rankings.
- Just a few days after that, Minnesota lost a 5-set thriller to Penn State.
- So by Oct. 10, Wisconsin was crowned #1.
- Then on Oct. 12, the Golden Gophers beat the Badgers.
Press Releases
Minnesota:
Oct. 12, 2016
The No. 3 University of Minnesota volleyball team swept No. 1 Wisconsin on Wednesday, 25-20, 25-18, 25-14 in Madison, Wis. With the win, the Golden Gophers improve to 14-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin was handed its first loss of the Big Ten season, and are 14-2 overall and 6-1 in league action. Minnesota snapped a nine-match Badger win streak. It was also the first Big Ten loss for the Badgers since the 2015 Golden Gophers defeated them on Oct. 17, 2015, which snapped Wisconsin’s 18-match Big Ten win streak.
As a team, the Gophers hit .323, while they limited Wisconsin to just .050, a season low. The Gophers had just 13 errors in 99 attempts to Wisconsin’s 27 errors in 101 attempts. Minnesota had 14 team blocks to the Badgers’ three. That 14-block mark was the fourth-highest for the team this season and the most blocks for the Gophers in three-set fashion.
Minnesota was led by Sarah Wilhite with 12 kills and eight digs. Hannah Tapp and Paige Tapp both added five blocks, with H Tapp establishing 11 kills (hit .429) and P Tapp with nine (hit .438). Molly Lohman hit .625, adding a season-best nine blocks. Alexis Hart had seven kills and two blocks. Dalianliz Rosado had 11 digs, while Samantha Seliger-Swenson had five and established 41 assists, five digs and two blocks.
The Gophers travel to No. 14 Michigan State on Saturday. Minnesota and the Spartans play at 7 p.m. CT.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota hit .242 to Wisconsin’s -.029 to take the first set 25-20. The set started out close, staying tied until Minnesota took a four-point lead at 14-10 and continued to keep the lead. The Gophers went on a 3-0 lead on Lohman’s service rotation taking a seven-point lead, forcing Wisconsin to take a timeout at 19-12. The Badgers took a 3-0 lead, causing Minnesota to take a timeout at 20-17. The Gophers followed the timeout with back-to-back kills from Wilhite, forcing Wisconsin to take a second timeout at 22-17. After the Badgers went on their own run, Minnesota took a second timeout at 24-20. Following the timeout, H Tapp ended the first set with a kill.
Set 2: The Gophers hit .452 to Wisconsin’s .267 to win the second set 25-18. Minnesota took an early 7-2 lead, extending the lead to seven forcing a Wisconsin timeout at 14-7. Kills from P Tapp and Lohman extended the Gophers’ lead to eight, causing the Badgers to take a second timeout at 17-9. Minnesota continued the 4-0 run on Lohman’s service rotation, extending the lead to 20-9. Wisconsin shortened Minnesota’s lead at 24-18, but a kill from H Tapp put the Gophers at set point, and a kill from Hart ended the set.
Set 3: Minnesota hit .286 to Wisconsin’s -.056 to win the set 25-14 and take the match. The set started out close, with rallies going back and forth until Minnesota took a three-point lead at 7-4 and again at 10-7. The Gophers continued to hold the lead, with Wisconsin taking a timeout at 12-8. Minnesota increased the lead to five from Wisconsin errors and a P Tapp kill, causing a second Badger timeout at 16-11. Minnesota went on a 4-0 run off P Tapp’s service rotation to increase the lead by ten at 22-12. Wilhite put the Gophers at match point, and H Tapp ended the match.
Wisconsin:
“I think you move up to No. 1 for the first time and then you get your butt kicked by anybody and you can sit there and think it’s the easy thing to say ‘Hey we were full of ourselves’ or whatever,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “But that had nothing to do with this particular match. It certainly can happen, but that wasn’t what tonight was. … that would be unfair to Minnesota to say that that was the reason, but also because I know my team and we just got outplayed tonight, period.”
Wisconsin (14-2, 6-1 Big Ten) hit a season-low .050 percent (37 kills – 27 errors – 101 attempts) as Minnesota held the Badgers to a negative hitting percentage in both the first and third sets.
The Gophers hit an opponent season-high .323 (45-13-99) hitting percentage, led by 6-1 senior outside hitter Sarah Wilhite and 6-2 senior middle blocker Hannah Tapp with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
Minnesota (14-2, 6-1 Big Ten) narrowly outdug the Badgers 37-33 but recorded 14 blocks to Wisconsin’s three.
Junior Kelli Bates led the UW offense with 10 kills, sophomore Tionna Williams added six kills, and senior Haleigh Nelson recorded five kills and notched the Badgers’ only service ace of the night.
“I thought Kelli [Bates] did a great job,” Sheffield said. “Her hitting numbers were a little lower because she got blocked there a little bit at the end but I thought she was great, her whole game tonight was really solid. I thought our passers did a really good job. I thought Lauren (Carlini) was making the most of the choices that she wanted to make.
“They beat us at the net and part of that was due to our serving, but that wasn’t a match that shows the separation of two teams. That was a match that shows the separation of two teams in that particular match, so we’ll get back to work.”
Sophomore Amber MacDonald saved a team-high nine digs, while freshman M.E. Dodge made seven saves. Senior Lauren Carlini‘s three blocks led the squad, as well as her 28 assists. Williams added two block assists.
In set one, the Badgers hit a negative .029 (11-12-35) attack percentage and were out blocked 6-1 by the Gophers. Wisconsin started the set strong, gaining a 6-4 lead before Minnesota responded with a 10-5 run, taking an 11-6 advantage. The teams traded two-point and three-point runs and Wisconsin held off three set points, but the deficit was too much for the Badgers to overcome as Minnesota took the first set, 25-20.
“Our serving, we already had talked about, was not tough enough,” Bates noted. “They were in system the entire match and they are a very hard team to stop when they are in system. They have all weapons from every single position and they run really fast (offense) and that’s what makes them so good. That is what we struggled with and we will get better at that. That is something we need to adjust quicker to next time that opportunity comes.”
UW hit a much stronger .267 percent (14-6-30) in the second set, despite the Gophers pulling away to a 20-9 lead. Wisconsin went on a 6-2 run late in the set to cut the Minnesota lead to 24-18, but the Gophers grabbed the second set, 25-18, off a kill and took a 2-0 set lead.
The final set started much like the first, with the teams battling back and forth for the first few points. Wisconsin trailed 12-9 after a block from Carlini and Williams, keeping close tabs on the Gophers through the period. Minnesota widened its lead to 21-11 with a 9-2 run, taking that momentum through the final points to take the final set of the match 25-14
“We are used to it,” Bates said of the mindset of moving on and preparing for what’s next. “It is what we do day in and day out. Now we have to focus on Michigan. This game is passed. It is just what we are used to. We are going to prepare for Michigan now and when that game is over, we are going to prepare for Nebraska. That’s just how we do things and that’s just how we are going to learn and get better.”
The Badgers continue Big Ten play on Saturday, traveling to Michigan. First serve for the matchup with the Wolverines is set for 6 p.m. (CT) from Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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