Minnesota used great performances from Kyla Roehrig and Hailey Cowles to finish off Michigan. Both players seemed to step up following the loss of Dieter. Cowles finished with 10 kills, and Roehrig added 16 while hitting .583. Gibbemeyer contributed 12 kills. Tan led the defense with 22 digs, and continued to shine as the Gophers won the final set, 25-20. ———————————————————– The Gophers had no troubles starting fast in the third set, even without Dieter. Minnesota opened up a 6-1 lead, expanded it to 10 at 16-6, and cruised to a 25-14 third set win. Minnesota hit .368 in the third set, and added a pair of service aces to take control of the set. Roehrig expanded her kill total to 10, and Gibbemeyer ended the set with nine for the match. Christine Tan now has 17 digs, while Jessica Granquist and Hailey Cowles have added 10 apiece. ————————————————————————— Minnesota couldn’t grab hold of a lead in the second set, and received bad news while trailing 11-15, as sophomore outside hitter Brook Dieter injured her left ankle and collapsed on the court. Dieter had to be helped off the court, and didn’t put any weight on the ankle. The shoe came off and ice was applied, so we may have seen the last of Dieter for the night. *Reminder, last year, when Michigan visited Minnesota, middle blocker Jessy Jones went down under the same conditions. The Gophers didn’t appear to handle the loss well at first, as Michigan rattled off four of the next five points. But Minnesota attempted a comeback, as Kyla Roehrig, Lauren Gibbemeyer and Hailey Cowles contributed two kills apiece following the injury, closing the gap to 17-20. The Wolverines used three service aces to pull away however, winning 25-20 to tie the match. After two, Roehrig leads Minnesota with 7 kills, Gibbemeyer has 6, and Pamela Luiz has added four. Dieter has not returned to the floor after the intermission, so we’ll assume her night has ended with 3 kills and 8 digs. —————————————————————————-
The Gophers passed well in the first set, and took advantage of their set offense, distributing the ball evenly around the court to breeze to a 25-16 win.
Brook Dieter, Pamela Luiz, Kelly Schmidt and Kyla Roehrig collected three kills apiece, and Lauren Gibbemeyer added two kills and two blocks as Minnesota out-hit the Wolverines, .270-negative .027.
Minnesota took control early, breaking a 4-4 tie to jump out to a 17-7 lead. The Gophers didn’t trail after the 4-4 tie.
Both Dieter and Christine Tan collected five digs in the first set.
