The No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team defeated the Indiana Hoosiers in three sets, 25-22, 25-9, 25-15 on Sunday afternoon at Maturi Pavilion.
With the win, the Gophers have won 11 of their last 13 matches overall with four left to play in 2022. They’ll finish off their Big Ten regular season slate with road games at Penn State, Rutgers, Ohio State and Nebraska in the next two weeks.
Carter Booth led Minnesota with nine kills and four blocks while Taylor Landfair had eight kills. Rachel Kilkelly and CC McGraw paced the backcourt with 12 digs each on the day.
As a team, Minnesota (17-7, 12-4 Big Ten) hit .293 with 33 kills, seven team blocks, 43 digs and eight aces. Indiana (13-15, 6-10 Big Ten) hit .031 with 26 kills, two team blocks, 36 digs and five aces.
Four players led Indiana with five kills.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota started out red hot, scoring the first five points of the match. The Gophers got an ace from Elise McGhie and a solo block from Carter Booth, leading to a timeout from Indiana. The Hoosiers would fight back, scoring four straight after the break to cut the lead to one. The Gophers would go up 7-4 after an ace from Rachel Kilkelly before IU responded with consecutive points. The ‘U’ answered with an explosive 7-0 run, forcing the second timeout of the set for the Hoosiers. Taylor Landfair had two aces and Booth had two kills in the run to put the home team up 14-6. A 5-1 run helped IU slice the deficit back to four at 15-11 before an IU service error and a kill from Lauren Crowl got it back to five at 17-12. The Hoosiers bounced back, getting two kills, an ace and a block to get it back within one at 17-16, forcing a timeout from coach McCutcheon. IU would tie it up at 17 before a pair of attacking errors made it 19-17, Minnesota. The Hoosiers could get no closer than two the rest of the way as the Gophers closed out set one, 25-22. Booth led the ‘U’ with four kills on the set while Crowl had two.
Set 2: Minnesota again started out strong, scoring 10 of the first 15 before the Hoosiers called timeout. Taylor Landfair tallied her first kill of the match for the Gophers eighth point of the set before Melani Shaffmaster and Carter Booth combined for a block and Booth tallied another kill. The ‘U’ kept going after the timeout, scoring five of the next six to go up 15-6. Kilkelly had another ace while Booth and Jenna Wenaas posted kills. With the Gophers up nine, IU burned its last timeout. An attacking error by the Hoosiers capped off a 9-1 Minnesota run. A pair of kills from Arica Davis and a block with her and Shaffmaster helped the home team go up 22-8, taking a commanding lead. Minnesota would close it out 25-9, in dominating fashion, to go up 2-0. Booth led the ‘U’ with three kills in the set while Shaffmaster had seven assists and three blocks. The Gophers hit .185 compared to -.214 for IU.
Set 3: The two teams split the first six points before a 4-0 Gophers run put the home team up 7-3. CC McGraw had two aces while Landfair had a kill in the run. The Gophers would go up 10-4 after another kill from Landfair and two from Wenaas before a 3-0 IU run sliced the lead in half. Minnesota then exploded on a 7-1 run to take a 17-8 lead, forcing another Hoosiers timeout. Crowl had two kills, Landfair had three and McGhie tallied an ace in the spurt. Minnesota got three more seniors into the match late, getting kills from Ellie Husemann and Naya Gros to go up 23-13. Minnesota would close it out with a 25-15 win to complete the sweep.
UP NEXT: Minnesota (17-7, 12-4 Big Ten) travels to No. 16 Penn State (21-6, 10-6 Big Ten) for a battle next Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT on BTN.
Notable:
-Minnesota moves to 61-16 all-time versus Indiana, including a 15-1 mark under Hugh.
-Sunday was coach McCutcheon’s last regular season home game as coach at Minnesota. The Gophers have a very good chance at hosting the first and second rounds at the NCAA Tournament Dec. 1-3.
-CC McGraw (12) tallied her 100th career 10+ dig outing, including her 15th this season. She’s now up to 1,833 for her career, just 37 behind Dalianliz Rosado for the No. 3 spot in Minnesota laurels.
-Taylor Landfair (8) had her streak of 23 consecutive matches with double digit kills snapped.
-Carter Booth had nine kills, her eighth straight game with seven-or-more.
-Rachel Kilkelly tallied 12 digs, her sixth 10+ dig match of 2022, and fifth consecutive.
-Kilkelly, McGraw, McGhie and Landfair all had multiple aces.
-The Gophers held Indiana to just .031 hitting, a season-worst for a Minnesota opponent, topping Friday’s .043 hitting by Maryland.
-Minnesota improved to 12-0 this season when winning the first two sets.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)