Top-ranked Minnesota continues to roll this season after defeating No. 5 Texas Friday night.
The No. 1 University of Minnesota volleyball team earned a 3-1 win over No. 5 Texas, tonight in Austin, Texas. With the win, the Golden Gophers improve to 8-0 on the season and went 3-0 in the American Campus Classic.
In the tournament finale, the Gophers hit .264 to Texas’ .202, outblocked the Longhorns 12-9 and held a 58-54 dig advantage. It marked the first time the Longhorns were outblocked this season.
8-0.#SkiUMah pic.twitter.com/0tdXiCMzRI
— Minnesota Volleyball (@GopherVBall) September 9, 2017
Stephanie Samedy had a career and match-best 22 kills and hit .308, while Alexis Hart had 14 kills, and Jasmyn Martin had 11. Molly Lohman and Regan Pittman led the Gophers in blocks, as they each garnered six apiece. Samantha Seliger-Swenson added a season-best 55 assists and had three blocks. Dalianliz Rosado tied a career-best 27 digs and had one ace and two assists.
Samedy was named the tournament’s most valuable player for the second-straight week. During the three-match tournament, Samedy had 43 kills, hit .313, averaged 4.30 kills per set and had 10 blocks. Seliger-Swenson and Hart were also named to the all-tournament team. Hart had 31 kills, while Seliger-Swenson had 123 assists, four aces, 32 digs and seven blocks.
Congrats to #Gophers @StephanieSamedy, named American Campus Classic's tournament MVP, while @samjoswens & @Lexihart19, were all tourney.
— Minnesota Volleyball (@GopherVBall) September 9, 2017
The Gophers are on the road for the third and final weekend of non-conference play when they travel to Boise, Idaho to take on host Boise State, Oregon State and Idaho State in a four-team tournament, Sept. 15-16.
First Set: After being tied 19-19, the Gophers pulled away with a 6-2 run to take the first set, 25-21. The two teams went through 13 ties and six lead changes by the 15-14 mark of the first set. Minnesota reached a 15-14 lead off a Pittman block as a media timeout was called. Minnesota went up 17-15 off a bad set by Texas. The Gophers pushed the score to 19-16 when Hart earned a kill off the Texas block attempt, which forced Texas to call a timeout. Texas came out of the break with two-straight points as Minnesota called a timeout. Texas tied the set at 19-19. Gophers, however, took the lead for good off a Lohman kill and three-straight kills from Samedy for set point and later added the final kill of the set for a 1-0 lead.
Second Set: Texas tie the match after a 27-25 marathon set. Minnesota opened the second set with a 4-1 run, but Texas later tied the set at 6-6. Minnesota responded with a 10-7 run after the Gophers had back-to-back blocks. Texas came back and tied the set off a kill and later took an 11-10 lead off a Gopher attack error. Minnesota called its first timeout of the set. The two teams tied at 12-12 before the Gophers took a 14-12 lead off a Lohman kill. Minnesota later pushed the lead to 18-15 off a Lauren Barnes kill, which caused Texas to call a timeout. The Longhorns came back to cut the Gopher lead to one at 20-19, which forced Minnesota to call a timeout. Texas tied up the set at 22-22 off a tip kill. The two teams tied again at 23, 24 and 25 before Texas added back-to-back blocks for to tie the match.
The #Gophers are back.
— Minnesota Volleyball (@GopherVBall) September 5, 2017
Watch the 2017 intro video below.https://t.co/XuS5iYEVVj
Third Set: The Gophers responded and won the third set, 26-24. Minnesota jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third off a Martin kill, which forced Texas to call an early timeout. Texas responded out of its break and tied the set at 11-11 and took a 12-11 lead as the Gophers called a timeout. Trailing 13-12, the Gophers went on a 5-1 run for a 17-14 lead. Texas, however, came back and tied the set at 20. The two teams tied the set at 21 and 22 before the Gophers took a 23-22 lead as Texas called a timeout. Texas responded and tied it at 23 after a long rally. The two teams again tied at 24. The Gophers provided back-to-back blocks, one by Pittman and Martin for set point, while Pittman added a solo block for a 2-1 lead.
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Fourth Set: Minnesota used a 6-0 run, in the middle of the fourth set to win, 25-19. Minnesota opened the fourth with a 5-1 run as Lohman added back-to-back aces as it forced Texas to call a timeout. Texas responded and later tied up the set at 7-7. Minnesota retaliated and rattled off a 5-0 run, capped off a Hart kill for a 13-8 lead and caused the Longhorns to call their second timeout. Minnesota pushed the score to a 15-9 Gopher advantage off a Hart kill. Minnesota later led by 18-12 off a Martin kill and 22-16 off a Hart kill. The Gophers finished off the match with a kill from Hart, followed by a Samedy kill for the win.
