The No. 10 Gophers volleyball team faced its third top-10 opponent as they traveled to Gainesville to face No. 5 Florida. The Gophers’ early struggles continued Sunday as the Gators used early set leads to their advantage and paved the way to their fourth win of the season.
Florida jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first two sets which led Gophers head coach Hugh Mccutcheon to use his first of two timeouts. The Gophers were unable to slow the momentum after its timeouts, and the slow start came back to hurt them.
Early in each of the first two sets, the Gators used a pair of service aces to jump out in front. There was no looking back after that. Florida went on to win the first set 25-20 and came back with a 25-19 win in the second set.
The Gophers put themselves in a tough situation from the get go and failed to take the lead in either match. It wasn’t until the third set that Minnesota saw itself take its first lead of the game. It wasn’t a long lead as the Gators were able to jump right back out in front 2-1.
The third set showcased the Gophers’ resilience as Minnesota continued to fight to try and avoid the sweep. After losing their first lead of the day quickly, Minnesota didn’t go away and instead played very competitively to close it out.
Florida seemed to have all the momentum as they took a 7-4 lead, but a quick run of kills by Minnesota tied things up. Neither team could run away with the set and it continued to go back and forth. After a service error on the Gators end to tie the set once again, Minnesota used a 4-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 17-14.
That was just about enough for Florida head coach Mary Wise as she called the first timeout of the set. It couldn’t have come at a better time as the Gators were able to end the run and cut Minnesota’s lead to just one.
Just like the beginning of the set, the Gophers and Gators were battling back and forth. With Florida trying to close the match up and Minnesota clinging on to extend it one more set, neither team could run away with things.
After Florida tied the set at 21, the Gophers scored three straight and were one point away from extending their day. Minnesota was able to take the third set 25-22 and keep their hopes alive.
The fourth set featured more of the first two sets as Florida once again jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead. Unlike the first two sets, Minnesota was able to fight back again with its back on the door. The Gophers slowly climbed out of a 6-point deficit and were able to pull ahead 13-12.
Minnesota put up a valiant effort throughout the second half of the fourth set. It was a back-and-forth battle until the end, but the Gators were able to take the match with a 25-23 win in the fourth set.
The Gophers schedule doesn’t get much easier as they face two more top-25 teams as part of the Big 10/Pac 12 challenge. On Sep. 10 Minnesota faces No. 21 Stanford before squaring off against No. 14 Oregon the very next day.
