Again, it’s just me tonight, so please bear with me… Gophers take the lead with a little help from everyone, as Kelly Schmidt, Lauren Gibbemeyer and Brook Dieter all collect kills early on, and Kyla Roehrig collects a block. Pamela Luiz is hitting on the left side, and being replaced in the back row by Hailey Cowles, while Roehrig is replaced in the back row by Jessica Granquist.
Tip-kill by Rachel Hartmann, and the score is tied at 7.
Cowles collects her first kill, and the Gophers have six on the game, all coming from a different player. Terrific dig by Christine Tan at the ten-foot line, and Roehrig finishes off the kill, Minnesota leads 9-8
The Gophers are really struggling to get a good pass off of Purdue libero Kelli Miller’s serve, and Purdue has taken advantage, opening up a 9-12 lead, and forcing Minnesota to take a timeout.
Pamela Luiz weighs in with her first kill, and the Gophers now trail 11-14. The Boilermakers are covering their side of the court very well defensively right now, making some key saves to extend points. It is now 12-16, as Purdue finishes another long point.
Hailey Cowles is swinging well out of the back row, on the right side, and collects another kill. Dieter hammers home an overpass, and the Gophers now trail 16-17, and Purdue will take a timeout to talk it over.
Minnesota is starting to cover its blockers a little better, as the Gophers have gotten a hand on the ball all day, but has allowed a few to block. Now Minnesota is getting to those formerly-dropped balls, and are now leading 20-18.
Allow me to clarify that, as Purdue takes a timeout at 21-18. The Gophers have been blocking balls up in the air, but the blockers haven’t seen where the tipped ball goes, and as a result, the ball has fallen to the floor. Now a third player is getting to the spot, and collecting the tipped ball, giving Minnesota extra opportunities to hit.
Minnesota wins a marathon point in which Kyla Roehrig successfully set two consecutive balls. It was Luiz putting away the assist from Hartmann, and the Gophers are a point away from the set one win, 24-20.
Dieter with her fifth kill of the set, another back row kill. And Minnesota wins the first set, 25-21.
Dieter leads the team with five kills, Roehrig added four, and four others have two. Christine Tan collected 10 digs in the first set.
Kelly Schmidt collects a kill, and a passing error on Purdue hands Minnesota an early 3-1 lead in set two
Gibbemeyer sends a pair of kills straight down, and then teams up with Luiz for a block. Minnesota leads 9-3 as Luiz adds two kills of her own. Purdue timeout.
Minnesota is proving it can score with any of its hitters right now, but perhaps even more impressively, all six players on the court are playing exceptional defense away from the ball, covering the blocks well.
The Gophers extend the lead to 14-6, as Gibbemeyer had an excellent three rotations in the front row, and now leads the team with 6 kills in the match. Purdue is still extending points, but Minnesota is starting to win those longer points, which can be a little disheartening to a team.
Libero Kelli Miller is again rattling off a serving streak, cutting the lead to 14-9. Right now, she has probably been the Gophers’ biggest problem this match.
Luiz is having a very successful match, collecting kills on both the left and right side of the court. Minnesota’s last three kills have come from Pamela, and the Gophers now lead 18-14
Gibbemeyer blocks the attempt, and Purdue will take its second timeout, trailing 14-19.
Hartmann, Schmidt and Dieter each collect kills, and the Gophers lead 23-17. In the back row, Jessica Granquist is playing very well at the moment, passing the serves on target, and digging some tough shots.
24-20, Minnesota timeout.
Roehrig collects the Gophers’ final two kills, and Minnesota heads to intermission, up two sets to none with a 25-21 win. Stats and pictures to follow.
I apologize for the delay in stats, I’ve been trying to get a picture uploaded for you all, but after a lot of work which is frankly beyond my skill set, we found out that the file exceeds the maximum size allowed for this blog. So if I can fix it I will, otherwise we’ll go photo-less. Quickly, Luiz leads Minnesota with 8 kills, Dieter has 7 and Roehrig has 6. Minnesota and Purdue are tied with 5 blocks apiece, and the Gophers are out-hitting the Boilermakers .223-.114. Tan leads the Gophers defensively with 15 digs.
Set three begins with the teams tied at three, and Granquist puts the Gophers up 4-3 with a service ace; the Gophers’ second of the match.
Dieter collects a pair of kills, the second coming on an over-pass, and Minnesota opens up an 9-5 lead. Gibbemeyer is serving well right now.
Dieter goes over to the other side of the net to save a bad pass, and the Gophers open up a 12-8 lead. That type of play has been commonplace for both teams tonight, as a lot of effort is being put in defensively tonight. Schmidt and Roehrig collect kills, Minnesota leads 15-9.
Purdue is on the losing end of yet another long point, and will take a timeout, down 16-9. Hartmann and Tan both made diving saves in the point, and Gibbemeyer finally finished the play off with a kill to the right side of the court.
Open net for Gibbemeyer on the slide, and she sends it down easily. Minnesota leads 21-12, and appear to be on the verge of ending that losing skid. 22-12, Timeout Purdue
Hartmann with a tip-kill, Schmidt with a kill, and Dieter finishes the match with a kill. 25-15, Minnesota wins with some great defensive play, and a balanced offensive effort.
Brook Dieter led the Gophers, hitting .345 with 12 kills for the match, in a well-balanced offense. Gibbemeyer added 10 kills and 5 blocks, while Roehrig collected 9 kills and Luiz had 8. Schmidt finished with 7 kills. Defensively, Tan led the way with 21 digs, and Granquist added 9. The Gophers out-blocked Purdue 7-6, and out-hit the Boilermakers .280-.138.
apologies about the photos not working, but please head to Moto’s blog, where he said he would be posting some from tonight. https://mndaily.com/blogs/through-lens/2008/11/07/minnesota-tops-purdue
