MATCH STATS
- #3 Minnesota def. #4 Texas 3-1 (25-21, 25-27, 26-24, 25-19)
- Minnesota moves to 8-0; Texas falls to 6-2
- Austin, Texas
- Attendance: 4,353
- Box Score
AUSTIN, Texas – Freshman opposite Stephanie Samedy downed 22 kills, while hitting at a team-best .308 clip and just missing a double double with nine digs, lifting No. 3 Minnesota (AVCA 1) to a four-set win over No. 4 Texas (AVCA 5) on Friday.
Samedy earned MVP honors for the American Campus Classic for her efforts, while keeping the Gophers among the ranks of the undefeated at 8-0.
Minnesota outhit Texas .264 to .202 and outblocked the Longhorns 12-9 in the four-set win.
Joining Samedy in double-digit kills were sophomore outside hitter Alexis Hart (14) and freshman outside Jasmyn Martin (11). Martin added eight digs to her tally, while senior middle blocker Molly Lohman and redshirt freshman middle Regan Pittman managed a team-best six blocks apiece. Lohman also served up a team-leading three aces. Senior libero Dalianliz Rosado paced the backcourt with 27 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Lauren Barnes added 12.
Freshman outside Lexi Sun, sophomore outside Micaya White and junior middle Morgan Johnson carried the offensive load for Texas with 19, 16 and 11 kills respectively. Sun rounded out a double-double with 13 digs and three blocks en route to all-tournament team honors. White also added three stuffs, while Johnson hit at a team-best .529 clip. Senior libero Cat McCoy managed 20 digs and a team-best two aces, while freshman setter Ashley Shook (17) and Sun (13) followed. Shook finished off a double-double with 43 assists, while senior middle Chiaka Ogbogu led the Longhorns at the net with four blocks.
Neither team gained more than a two-point edge in Set 1 until the 19-16 mark, when the Gophers surged ahead with kills by Samedy and Hart. Sun turned in two kills and a block to bring the Longhorns level at 19, but that sparked a 5-0 Minnesota run, including three Samedy kills, to put the Gophers on the hill at 24-19. Texas stopped two set-point tries, but Samedy sealed the 25-21 win with her sixth putaway of the night.
Set 2 was a back and forth affair. Minnesota led 6-3, but Texas knotted the score at 6-alll on a block by Yaazie Bedart-Ghani. Down 10-7, the Longhorns again rallied, scoring five of the next six to take a 12-11 lead care of a trio of Gopher miscues. UM regained the edge at 14-12 on a Lohman kill and held on to the advantage until a Sun putaway tied things up at 22. A Texas hitting error gave Minnesota the first chance at the set at 24-23 and a Hart kill made it 25-24 Gophers, but a kill by Sun and back-to-back stuffs by Ogbogu grabbed the 27-25 win for Texas.
Minnesota took a 9-5 lead out of the break as Samedy and Martin tallied two kills apiece. Texas turned the tables with an 8-2 run to go ahead 13-11 on a Johnson block. The Gophers answered with four straight points, capped by a Lohman ace. A 3-0 run erased a 20-18 deficit and put the Longhorns on top 21-20. Samedy, Lohman and Martin registered kills to rally Minnesota to a 24-23 edge. Sun knotted the score at 24, but back-to-back blocks by Pittman lifted the Gophers to a 26-24 victory.
The Gophers carried the momentum in Set 4, cruising to a 5-1 lead as Lohman served up back-to-back aces. The Longhorns quickly tied things up at 7 and then 8 with help from two Natalie Gilbert aces and a pair of Sun putaways. Minnesota built a six-point lead at 15-9 with kills by Lohman, Hart and Samedy. Texas would get no closer than four the rest of the way, last at 23-19. Kills by Hart and Samedy closed out the win.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Minnesota Athletics
The No. 1 University of Minnesota volleyball team earned a 3-1 win over No. 5 Texas, tonight in Austin, Texas. With the win, the Golden Gophers improve to 8-0 on the season and went 3-0 in the American Campus Classic.
In the tournament finale, the Gophers hit .264 to Texas’ .202, outblocked the Longhorns 12-9 and held a 58-54 dig advantage. It marked the first time the Longhorns were outblocked this season.
Stephanie Samedy had a career and match-best 22 kills and hit .308, while Alexis Hart had 14 kills, and Jasmyn Martin had 11. Molly Lohman and Regan Pittman led the Gophers in blocks, as they each garnered six apiece. Samantha Seliger-Swenson added a season-best 55 assists and had three blocks. Dalianliz Rosado tied a career-best 27 digs and had one ace and two assists.
Samedy was named the tournament’s most valuable player for the second-straight week. During the three-match tournament, Samedy had 43 kills, hit .313, averaged 4.30 kills per set and had 10 blocks. Seliger-Swenson and Hart were also named to the all-tournament team. Hart had 31 kills, while Seliger-Swenson had 123 assists, four aces, 32 digs and seven blocks.
The Gophers are on the road for the third and final weekend of non-conference play when they travel to Boise, Idaho to take on host Boise State, Oregon State and Idaho State in a four-team tournament, Sept. 15-16.
First Set: After being tied 19-19, the Gophers pulled away with a 6-2 run to take the first set, 25-21. The two teams went through 13 ties and six lead changes by the 15-14 mark of the first set. Minnesota reached a 15-14 lead off a Pittman block as a media timeout was called. Minnesota went up 17-15 off a bad set by Texas. The Gophers pushed the score to 19-16 when Hart earned a kill off the Texas block attempt, which forced Texas to call a timeout. Texas came out of the break with two-straight points as Minnesota called a timeout. Texas tied the set at 19-19. Gophers, however, took the lead for good off a Lohman kill and three-straight kills from Samedy for set point and later added the final kill of the set for a 1-0 lead.
Second Set: Texas tie the match after a 27-25 marathon set. Minnesota opened the second set with a 4-1 run, but Texas later tied the set at 6-6. Minnesota responded with a 10-7 run after the Gophers had back-to-back blocks. Texas came back and tied the set off a kill and later took an 11-10 lead off a Gopher attack error. Minnesota called its first timeout of the set. The two teams tied at 12-12 before the Gophers took a 14-12 lead off a Lohman kill. Minnesota later pushed the lead to 18-15 off a Lauren Barnes kill, which caused Texas to call a timeout. The Longhorns came back to cut the Gopher lead to one at 20-19, which forced Minnesota to call a timeout. Texas tied up the set at 22-22 off a tip kill. The two teams tied again at 23, 24 and 25 before Texas added back-to-back blocks for to tie the match.
Third Set: The Gophers responded and won the third set, 26-24. Minnesota jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third off a Martin kill, which forced Texas to call an early timeout. Texas responded out of its break and tied the set at 11-11 and took a 12-11 lead as the Gophers called a timeout. Trailing 13-12, the Gophers went on a 5-1 run for a 17-14 lead. Texas, however, came back and tied the set at 20. The two teams tied the set at 21 and 22 before the Gophers took a 23-22 lead as Texas called a timeout. Texas responded and tied it at 23 after a long rally. The two teams again tied at 24. The Gophers provided back-to-back blocks, one by Pittman and Martin for set point, while Pittman added a solo block for a 2-1 lead.
Fourth Set: Minnesota used a 6-0 run, in the middle of the fourth set to win, 25-19. Minnesota opened the fourth with a 5-1 run as Lohman added back-to-back aces as it forced Texas to call a timeout. Texas responded and later tied up the set at 7-7. Minnesota retaliated and rattled off a 5-0 run, capped off a Hart kill for a 13-8 lead and caused the Longhorns to call their second timeout. Minnesota pushed the score to a 15-9 Gopher advantage off a Hart kill. Minnesota later led by 18-12 off a Martin kill and 22-16 off a Hart kill. The Gophers finished off the match with a kill from Hart, followed by a Samedy kill for the win.
Courtesy: Texas Athletics
No. 5 Texas Volleyball (6-2) fell to No. 1 Minnesota (8-0), 3-1 (25-21-25-27, 26-24, 25-19) on Friday night at Gregory Gym in the final match of the American Campus Classic.Freshman Lexi Sun led the Longhorns for the sixth time this season with a career-high 19 kills, also adding 13 digs for her second-career double-double.
Sophomore Micaya White and junior Morgan Johnson also recorded double-digit kills, with Johnson tying her career-high with 11 kills on a team-leading .529 hitting percentage. White recorded 16 kills while adding four digs and three blocks.
Freshman Ashley Shook recorded her second consecutive double-double, leading the Longhorns with 43 assists and 17 digs. Senior Cat McCoy also finished with double-digit digs, posting a team-high 20.
Texas and Minnesota were tied for kills, with 61 apiece, while Minnesota outblocked the Longhorns, 12 to nine, marking the first time UT has been outblocked this season.
Beginning the match, Texas and Minnesota traded points through competitive rallies inside a raucous Gregory Gym. Taking the opening set’s first three-point lead at 19-16, drawing a Texas timeout and again at 21-19, the Golden Gophers pushed to set point at 24-19. Texas saved two set points before Minnesota secured the frame, 25-21.
Minnesota carried a slim lead from early on in the second set, but with Texas keeping pace. The score remaining knotted, with the Longhorns gaining a set point advantage at 26-25 following five consecutive set-tying kills from Sun. On the next point, a block from Ogbogu and White gave Texas the set at 27-25.
After the Golden Gophers took a 6-3 lead to begin the third set, the two teams continued to trade points as Shook and McCoy paced the Longhorns’ defense. Offensively, kills from White, Sun, and Johnson pushed Texas to challenge for the set, only for Minnesota to outlast the Longhorns, 26-24.
The fourth set began with Minnesota again earning an early lead, of up to three points at 7-4. With a strong presence at the net, the Golden Gophers restricted Texas’ hitting power while stretching the lead to six at 18-12 and 22-16. Serving for match point at 24-19, Minnesota closed the match out.
The Longhorns will hit the road to take on Texas A&M on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live on the SEC Network.
American Campus Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP: Stephanie Samedy, Minnesota
All-Tournament Team:
Lexi Sun, Texas
Samantha Seliger-Swenson, Minnesota
Cat McCoy, Texas
Brittany Gilpin, Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Becca Latham, Denver
Alexis Hart, Minnesota
Post-Match Quotes
Head Coach Jerritt Elliot
On struggling versus Minnesota: I think they played very well. They were very disciplined with their scouting report. I think we could take better swings. I think we could have more of a purpose behind our swings. I think we could have a different aggression towards our swings. It’s a couple of points here and a couple of points there in game three, and we’ve got a game five. We’ve just got to be able to perform better. Our serving was poor tonight. It was very easy and didn’t put enough pressure on them. We just let them run their offense. That’s very challenging.
Senior Libero Cat McCoy
On what Texas learned as a team tonight: I’m really happy a bunch of our fans came out to support us. It meant a lot to us. I just think we got caught up and were too emotional to start off the game. We have a lot of young players who are getting adjusted to the environments. It’s so early in the season and we have a long way to go until December. It’s sucks to lose in front of such a great crowd, but at the end of the day we’re just going to get back to work and keep striving towards our goal.
Junior Middle Blocker Morgan Johnson
On if the team can rely on their experience from last season: Yeah, we don’t know who we are or what systems we’re going to stick with (until Big 12 Conference play). We usually don’t hit the middle of our stride until the Big 12 season. This was a hard game, but it shows what we need to work on and what we need to get better at. We’re just going to get better from here. When we get to the Big 12 season, we find out exactly who we are and what we’re made of. That’s when we hit our stride.
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