No. 11 Minnesota took down Indiana in a three-set sweep Wednesday night. The Gophers completed their season series over the Hoosiers, both ending in sweeps.
Redshirt senior Stephanie Samedy was a killer against the Hoosiers in the first set to help lead Minnesota to an early 1-0 lead. The Gophers jumped out to an early lead over Indiana, but never could really pull away or go on a long run.
The Gophers found themselves up 14-12 behind strong performances from Samedy and redshirt senior Airi Miyabe. That was when Minnesota found its groove and extended its lead for some breathing room. A 5-0 run from the Gophers brought their lead up to seven points before Indiana put an end to things.
Before Minnesota could close things out, Indiana had some push back but it wasn’t enough. The Gophers took the first set 25-20 off Miyabe’s fourth kill of the set. Samedy led the way with six kills of her own as the team had 15 total on a hitting percent of .314.
Indiana got off to the early lead in the second set grabbing the first two points, but Minnesota fought right back to tie it up at 2-2. After the Hoosiers grabbed the fifth point of the set, the Gophers went on a tear to open up the second set.
Minnesota went on to score the next seven points to put itself up 9-3 and force a timeout from Indiana to try and slow things down. Both teams traded points back and forth as the Gophers maintained their lead.
Not wanting to go down two sets, Indiana called a timeout at 20-14 to try and fight back in the second set. That didn’t exactly work as the Gophers went on a 5-0 run to close out the set and win 25-14.
Junior Shea Rubright played a big role in the second set win with two kills and two solo blocks to go along with an assisted block. Samedy continued her dominance into the second set and picked up seven more kills.
Minnesota went into the third set looking to make quick work of the Hoosiers and pick up another sweep. However, Indiana wasn’t going to give up that easily.
Through 20 points of the third set, it was split dead even at 10-10 as neither team had a lead of more than two points. The Gophers were finally able to grab some breathing room after it was 13-13 and Minnesota went on a 7-2 run to force a Hoosier timeout.
Minnesota scored three straight points out of the timeout to go up 23-15, two points away from a sweep. Indiana finally put an end to the run, but the Gophers scored the next two to close out the third set 25-16.
Samedy ended with 18 kills on the night while Miyabe had 11. Sophomore Jenna Wenaas added five kills in the third set to give her seven on the night en route to the sweep.
The Gophers face No. 6 Nebraska Saturday night at the Pav in their lone match-up of the season.
