Tenth-Ranked Volleyball Rallies To Defeat No. 20 Minnesota, 3-2 – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2001
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tenth-ranked Ohio State (15-1 overall, 7-1 Big Ten) women’s volleyball squad rallied from a 2-1 lead by No. 20 Minnesota (10-6, 4-4) to win a five-game decision Sunday in St. John Arena in front of 1,529 fans. OSU’s 27-30, 30-17, 21-30, 30-26, 15-11 victory keeps the Buckeyes in second place, one match behind No. 6 Wisconsin (14-2, 8-0). Ohio State had five players record double-figure kills in the match. They included Stacey Gordon (Fr., Oshawa, Ontario) with a match-high 19, Suzie Stiling (Jr., Glenview, Ill.) with 16, Anne Botica (Sr., Windsor, Ontario) 14, Shelly Draeger (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.) 12 and Erin Baker (Sr., Elmhurst, Ill) 10. Minnesota’s Stephanie Hagen (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) had a team-high 15 kills with Bethany Brafford (So., Mansfield, Ohio) adding 14 and Kathy Tilson (Sr., Austin, Texas) 10.
Game one of the match saw the score tied 13 times as the score reached 15-all. An OSU error and an ace serve by Brafford opened a 17-15 Gopher lead. Minnesota opened up a six-point lead at 24-18. OSU closed the lead to two (28-26) with a Gordon kill. Hagen responded with a kill to set game point at 29-26. Gordon answered with a kill (29-27), but a kill by Tilson ended the game at 30-27, Minnesota. The Gophers hit .225 for the game to .212 for Ohio State. Tilson had a team-high six kills for Minnesota while Botica had four for OSU.
A kill by Gordon and a Gopher error opened a 2-0 lead for Ohio State. A Buckeye error and a block by Bethany Brafford and Trisha Bratford (Fr., Resenda, Calif.) tied the game at two. Kills by Draeger and Baker and a Minnesota error opened a 5-2 lead for Ohio State. The Buckeyes never trailed from that point in the game to win 30-17 and tie the match at one game each. Ohio State hit .273 for the game to -.192 for Minnesota. OSU’s Gordon had a team-high five kills in the game.
Minnesota opened game three with an ace serve by Hagen. A Gordon kill tied the game at one. A Buckeye error, a service ace by Lindsey Berg (Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii) and a kill by Brafford opened a 4-1 Minnesota lead. The Buckeyes closed to one (15-14) with a kill by Katie Virtue (Jr., St. Charles, Ill.). A Gopher error tied the game at 15. OSU took a 16-15 lead on a block by Gordon and Baker. Berg’s kill tied the game at 16. A Minnesota service error and a Baker kill put OSU ahead 18-16. Minnesota tied the game at 18 with a Cassie Busse (So., Prior Lake, Minn.) kill. Kills by Brafford and Busse put the Gophers ahead 20-18. Minnesota held on to the lead winning the game on a Hagen solo block at 30-21, taking a 2-1 lead in the match. The Gophers hit .270 for the game to .195 for Ohio State. Hagen collected a game-high six kills for Minnesota. Game four saw 17 ties, with the largest lead being the final 30-26 margin to Ohio State. Minnesota held the lead or the score was tied until nine-all. Ohio State took a 10-9 lead with a Botica kill. The Buckeyes held the lead or the score was tied until 15-all. A block by Busse and Brafford briefly gave Minnesota a 16-15 lead. A Gopher service error tied the score at 16 and the Buckeyes went ahead, 17-16, on a Gordon ace. The squad exchanged points until a Gopher service error gave OSU a 20-19 lead. A Stiling kill gave OSU a 21-19 lead. OSU held the lead until a Tilson kill tied the game at 24. Draeger responded with a kill to return the lead to OSU at 25-24. A Brafford kill tied the game at 25. The Buckeyes took a 27-25 lead with kills by Botica and Stiling as Minnesota called time out. An OSU error cut the Buckeye lead to 27-26. Kills by Stiling and Draeger set game point for the Buckeyes at 29-26 as the Gophers called time out. Botica’s ace serve found the mark, ending the game at 30-26 for Ohio State, sending the match to game five. Minnesota outhit Ohio State in the game, .400 to .386. Gopher Brafford had seven kills in the game as the Minnesota committed only one hitting error in scoring 15 kills on 35 attempts. OSU’s Stiling had seven kills for Ohio State.
Game five started with five ties and had the game at six-all. Two Botica kills and an ace serve by Draeger opened an 9-6 Buckeye lead as Minnesota called time out. The Gophers closed the gap to 9-8 off two Erin Martin (Fr., Ames, Iowa) kills. A kill by Botica made it 10-8, Ohio State. A Martin kill cut the lead to one at 10-9. Gordon’s kill made it 11-9 and an ace serve by Stiling made the lead three at 12-9 as Minnesota called time out. A Buckeye error cut the lead to 12-10, but Gordon’s kill made the lead three points at 13-10. Brafford, with a kill, cut the lead to 13-11. A Draeger kill set match point at 14-11. Gordon’s fourth ace of the match finished the game at 15-11, giving Ohio State a 3-2 victory. The Buckeyes hit .304 for the game to .227 for Minnesota. Martin collected five of the seven Minnesota kills in the game while Botica and Gordon had three kills each for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State, for the match, hit .276 to .206 for Minnesota. The Buckeyes had a 76-57 advantage in kills. Ohio State had a 13-5 margin in ace serves, but the Buckeyes had 16 service errors to five for Minnesota. Gordon served up a match-high four aces, equaling her career high while Botica and Stiling added three each. Brafford had a team-high three aces for the Gophers. Minnesota controlled the net with an 11-6 advantage in blocks. Brafford had a match-high six blocks for the Gophers on one solo and five assists. Ohio State had a 57-54 margin in digs. OSU’s Gordon had a match-high 14 with Botica adding 12 and Stiling 10. Gopher’s Brafford and Tilson shared team-high honors with nine each. OSU’s Virtue collected 62 assists in the match and added five kills, seven digs and two blocks. Berg, for Minnesota, had 45 assists with two kills, an ace, eight digs and two blocks.
Ohio State, winners of 13 consecutive home matches, will travel to Michigan (9-6, 4-3, 4th place) for a Friday match and then plays at Michigan State (11-4, 4-4, tied for fifth, four-way) Saturday to complete the first half of the Big Ten season.
