CJ Spang” (8:12:56 PM): Minnesota will serve to start the third set, undoubtedly trying to get something going early, which the Gophers haven’t been able to do at all so far. Mark Heise (8:14:54 PM): The Gophers have started slow tonight, and that’s something Christine Tan said the team always tries to avoid. Tan said the team tries to win the race to eight, giving themselves an early boost in the match. Minnesota hasn’t done that so far tonight. CJ Spang” (8:17:17 PM): Minnesota is up 6-4 now. Roehrig had her first attempt blocked earlier and she’s off the court right now. the Gophers have manged to take advantage of a couple MSU errors, and once again, Dieter has come up big. She had another kill from the back row, and that’s really been working for the Gophers tonight. Mark Heise (8:19:45 PM): Kelly Schmidt just put down a pair of kills. She’s been relatively quiet tonight, but has stepped up early in this set. Minnesota is struggling to receive a tough MSU serve, forcing Hartmann to scramble to set the ball. CJ Spang” (8:20:40 PM): The Gophers did win the race to eight which you mentioned earlier. That’s the first time they’ve done that tonight. They’re now leading 12-9 and while the score may not indicate it, they’re really controlling play in this set. CJ Spang” (8:22:58 PM): Minnesota leads 15-10 at the TV timeout as Hartmann just picked up a great solo block on the right side. The Gophers have won five of the last six points and seem to be taking back the momentum, so once again it seems the TV timeout really benefits the Spartans. Now we’ll see if they take advantage of it. Mark Heise (8:24:21 PM): The Gophers are starting to run away here now that they are controlling the serve. Minnesota is mixing up its attacks a little better this set, forcing MSU to adjust. CJ Spang” (8:25:37 PM): The Spartans definitely didn’t take advantage of that timeout as they started with a net violation to fall behind 16-10. Then Minnesota was able to work the quick set to Gibbemeyer which has been working for the Gophers all night. Gibbemeyer just puts it down with authority on that play. So it’s 17-10 Minnesota. Mark Heise (8:27:23 PM): Gibbemeyer ‘s jumping ability off of either one or two feet really makes her a challenge to defend. She’s hitting over the block on slide plays, and beating the block up on the quick set. CJ Spang” (8:29:05 PM): After nearly an hour and a half of volleyball, the 12th-ranked Gophers have entered the building. It hasn’t looked like it through most of the night, but Minnesota just scored four straight points after the Michigan State time out to take a 20-10 lead, and the Spartans just called another time out. Gibbemeyer came up huge in these last four points, one in particular that stood out was when King went straight at Gibbemeyer, and Gibbemeyer won the one-on-one battle with the solo block. Mark Heise (8:30:02 PM): Minnesota is playing with a swagger right now. Brook Dieter walked out onto the court after the timeout and told Christine Tan “4 more, let’s go!” It’s an easier game when you don’t have to receive serve. CJ Spang” (8:33:01 PM): The Gophers just took care of business in the third set, winning 25-13 as Hartmann got the quick kill on the second touch. Minnesota looked really good during the second half of that set, running off 10 straight points thanks to Gibbemeyer, and some solid play at the end by Roehrig. She had a couple shaky plays, but came up big on a few others, and those definitely overshadow the errors. Mark Heise (8:35:33 PM): Roehrig is starting to warm up after it looked during pregame that she wouldn’t be entering the match for any reason. With such a big win in set three, I expect Minnesota to finish this fourth set quickly. It looked like the Gophers had the Spartans figured out in the third, much like Penn State had Minnesota figured out in the second set of last Saturday’s match. CJ Spang” (8:37:35 PM): Random note. Minnesota’s 25-13 win in the third set is the most lopsided win for the Gophers this season. CJ Spang” (8:38:14 PM): Minnesota just took a 4-3 lead in the fourth set on a block by Dieter, then followed up with a nice kill by Kelly Schmidt for the 5-3 lead. Mark Heise (8:39:01 PM): Schmidt now has five kills, and is hitting .363 for the Gophers. CJ Spang” (8:39:55 PM): Great point right now. Both teams just battling for a great rally but the Gophers get the point on a great back row kill by Hailey Cowles, 7-4 Minnesota. Mark Heise (8:40:42 PM): And 8-4 on a block by Luiz and Schmidt. The Gophers have been blocking well all match long, notching 12 through the first three sets. CJ Spang (8:43:58 PM): 12-6 Gophers after a good touch by Roehrig that MSU couldn’t return. Mark Heise (8:44:50 PM): Roehrig has four kills since entering the match, and is one of the reasons Minnesota is rolling right now. CJ Spang (8:46:57 PM): Gophers now lead 15-10 as we take another TV timeout. Minnesota hasn’t looked quite as good the last few points but is doing enough to hang on to the lead. Mark Heise (8:48:01 PM): I honestly can’t remember the last two points, maybe I could use more sleep. Apologies to our audience. CJ Spang (8:48:41 PM): Which consists of maybe two people. Mark Heise (8:48:56 PM): Oh, is your mom following us too? CJ Spang (8:49:13 PM): No no. The two people are all your friends. And that’s being generous. Mark Heise (8:50:49 PM):In that case, James, Lucas, thanks for reading. Beautiful dig off the front of the net by Dieter, she has been a big player defensively tonight as well as offensively, recording 15 digs in the first three sets. CJ Spang (8:51:16 PM): Dieter just had a great cross court kill right on the line to give Minnesota the 18-13 lead. Then Schmidt comes up with a great solo block, 19-13 Gophers. Mark Heise (8:53:17 PM): Dieter is having a monster game all around. She puts down yet another back row kill, and has 19 on the match. Combine that with her performance Wednesday, and we may be looking at a Player of the Week award. CJ Spang” (8:54:21 PM): Michigan State just called a timeout as the Gophers take a 22-15 lead. Minnesota needs to make sure to close out the match here and not get lazy. Mark Heise (8:55:38 PM): The Gophers have made a point to try and avoid complacency this season. Coach Mike Hebert has spoken with his team about it several times this year, and I’m sure during that time out, he made sure to remind them again. CJ Spang (8:57:25 PM): Gophers have had a couple match points and they haven’t closed it out yet. It’s now 24-19 Minnesota and coach Hebert calls a timeout. Mark Heise (8:58:35 PM): The front row consists of Gibbemeyer, Roehrig and Hartmann. CJ Spang (8:59:16 PM): Roehrig just got the final kill of the match as Minnesota wins the fourth set 25-19 and wins the match 3-1. TheAntiYanks35 (9:03:25 PM): A great win for Minnesota despite a shaky second set. The Gophers were led by Dieter’s 19 kills and Gibbemeyer’s 17 kills. Gibbemeyer hit .500 and collected 6 blocks, while Dieter had 19 digs and 5 blocks. Kelly Schmidt had another solid performance, collecting 9 kills and hitting .444 with 5 blocks. Christine Tan led the Gophers with 29 digs. Minnesota out-hit MSU .316-.175, and outblocked the Spartans 15-8.5.