Krista Chin (8:01:57 PM): Megan Schipper continues to try that sharp cross court attack, one of which was hit into the net, the other which was dug by libero Christine Tan. Mark Heise (8:02:48 PM): Another shot attempt is blocked by Lauren Gibbemeyer, and the Gophers take a 4-0 lead early in set three. Mark Heise (8:04:55 PM): Despite some awkward passes, the Gophers continue to do a good job of finding open spots on the other side of the net to collect kills. 8-3 Minnesota, with Rachel Hartmann stepping back to serve. Krista Chin (8:06:07 PM): Minnesota is taking an early lead once again. Perhaps the younger players will step in again in this third set. Mark Heise (8:07:21 PM): Schmidt kills another overpass, her 11th kill of the match, as Iowa takes a timeout, down 11-5. I don’t think I’ve seen Schmidt play this well since I began covering the Gophers. Krista Chin (8:07:33 PM): The Gophers are serving tough, resulting in three serve-receive errors for Iowa. Iowa seems to be a bit flustered during this set. Both its passing and hitting have been a bit shaky coming out of the break. “Krista Chin” (8:09:43 PM): This is the best I’ve seen Schmidt play since I’ve been here as well. As I was saying earlier, she is hitting with authority tonight, and she is doing it with the smile on her face as always. Mark Heise (8:10:14 PM): The smile always seems to be there. Dieter with another back-row attack leading to a kill, her 12th kill of the match. Minnesota leads 13-8. Krista Chin (8:10:31 PM): Minnesota takes its first time out of the match as the Hawkeyes have closed the gap to 13-10. Krista Chin (8:12:57 PM): Minnesota continues to serve tough, however, they are increasing their serving errors. Mark Heise (8:13:43 PM): Two of the Hawkeyes’ last three points have come on service errors. Minnesota still leads 17-11, on two consecutive Iowa hitting errors. Mark Heise (8:16:51 PM): 20-13, and it looks like Schmidt may be done for the night. Ariana Filho comes in to replace the senior middle blocker. Krista Chin (8:17:00 PM): Gopher fans have a lot to look forward to in Filho. She has a lot of speed and athleticism, both of which are crucial for the middle blocker position. Krista Chin (8:18:46 PM): If Schmidt is done for the night, she finished with 13 kills on 16 attempts for an .812 percentage. Both are career highs for her. Mark Heise (8:20:25 PM): 22-19, Iowa is making one last comeback attempt as the Gophers haven’t registered a kill in a while. Krista Chin (8:21:09 PM): Schipper with another cross court kill. Minnesota will need to key on Schipper the next time they play Iowa. They have had trouble stopping her at some points throughout the night. Mark Heise (8:22:03 PM): Vatterrodt ends the Iowa run with a cross-court kill, Minnesota up 23-20 as Granquist prepares to serve. Krista Chin (8:23:11 PM): Minnesota is making some uncharacteristic mistakes in this third set, however, we are also seeing the future of Minnesta volleyball as the lineup right now consists of all underclassmen, except Tan who is at libero. 24-23 Minnesota. Mark Heise (8:24:17 PM): Cowles with the winning kill, Minnesota finishes the match with a 25-23 win. Krista Chin (8:28:46 PM): It was a solid victory for Minnesota tonight, especially after taking such a beating by Penn State last Saturday. The Gophers finished with only 8 attacking errors and a .362 hitting percentage, and were led by Brook Dieter and Kelly Schmidt who had 16 kills and 13 kills, respectively. Lauren Gibbemeyer finished with seven kills and Katie Vatterrodt added three. Hailey Cowles finished with a team-high 14 digs and Christine Tan followed closely with 12. The Gophers out-blocked Iowa 7-2. Both teams finished with 50 digs. Hartmann finished with 41 assists on the evening. As mentioned previously, Schmidt finished with two career highs (kills and hitting percentage). Minnesota played without left-side hitter, Kyla Roehrig, due to lingering soreness; however, the remaining 12 players on the roster all got an opportunity to play.