Ohio State
Minnesota
No. 22 OSU Drops 3-1 Decision at No. 15 Minnesota – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 22nd-ranked Ohio State (17-10 overall, 7-7 Big Ten) women’s volleyball team lost a 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23) decision at No. 15 Minnesota (14-9, 7-7) in front of 3,148 fans in the Sports Pavilion. OSU’s Emily Danks posted a team-high 16.5 points with 13 kills (.273), one ace serve, one solo block and three assist blocks. Buckeye Mari Hole added 15.5 points with 14 kills (.085) and three assist blocks. Minnesota’s Ashley Wittman recorded a match-high 24 points with 21 kills (.298), two ace serves and two assist blocks. Tori Dixon added 17.5 points with 14 kills (.310), one ace serve and five assist blocks.
With set one tied at seven, a Minnesota error and blocks from Mariah Booth-Hole and Booth-Amanda Peterson gave Ohio State a 10-7 lead. Two kills from Dixon and an OSU error tied the set at 10. At 14-all, two kills from Wittman, one from Ariana Filho gave Minnesota a 17-14 lead. Buckeye kills from Danks and Kelli Barhorst cut the lead to one at 17-16. A Wittman kill, a Katherine Harms-Filho block a Filho solo block and a Wittman ace serve opened a 21-16 Minnesota lead. The Gophers reached set point at 24-17 with a kill from Hailey Cowles. A Gopher error stopped the set point at 24-18. Minnesota, with a Cowles kill, won the set, 25-18, to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Gophers hit .159 for the set to .022 for Ohio State.
Set two saw 11 ties and seven lead changes. Tied at 18, a Kellie McNeil-Dixon block and a Dixon kill gave Minnesota a 20-18 lead. Errors by both teams made it 21-19. Two OSU errors made it 23-19 Minnesota. A Filho kill gave Minnesota set point at 24-19. A Wittman kill won the set, 25-19, and gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the match. The Gophers hit .289 for the set to .062 for the Buckeyes.
A kill from Danks and a Booth-Kaitlyn Leary block opened the third set to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead. The Buckeyes held the lead expanding it to five points at 14-9. Trailing, 17-14, three Buckeye errors tied the set at 17. Tied at 19, a Minnesota error, a Sarah Mignin ace serve and a Danks-Barhorst block opened a 22-19 Buckeye lead. Two kills from Wittman cut the margin to 22-21. OSU reached set point at 24-21 with two Leary kills. A Wittman kill stopped the set point at 24-22. OSU, with a Hole kill, won the set, 25-22, to trail 2-1 in the match. Minnesota hit .281 for the set to .270 for Ohio State.
Set four remained close with nine ties and three early lead changes. Tied at 12, two kills from Harms gave Minnesota a 14-12 lead. The Gophers took the lead to seven reaching match point at 24-17 off an OSU error. A Danks kill, a Danks-Barhorst block and a Leary kill stopped three match points forcing a Minnesota timeout at 24-20. OSU kills from Barhorst and Leary stopped two more match points cutting the lead to 24-22. After a Minnesota time out, a Gopher error stopped a sixth match point at 24-23. Minnesota, with a kill from Wittman, won the set, 25-23, to win the match, 3-1. The Buckeyes hit .297 for the set to .271 for the Gophers.
Minnesota hit .247 for the match to .159 for Ohio State. The Gophers had a 63-48 advantage in kills and a 55-47 margin in assists. Kellie McNeil had a match-high 45 assists for Minnesota with OSU’s Taylor Sherwin collecting 30 for the Buckeyes. The Gophers had a 5-2 margin in ace serves with Wittman collecting a match-high two for Minnesota. Minnesota gave up 11 service errors to four for the Buckeyes. Defensively, Ohio State had a 67-65 edge in digs with OSU’s Mignin and Minnesota’s Cowles sharing match-high honors with 16 digs each. The Buckeyes had a 12-9 advantage in team blocks. OSU’s Booth recorded a match-high seven assist blocks for Ohio State with Dixon collecting a team-high five assist blocks for Minnesota.
Ohio State continues on the road next week playing at Northwestern Friday and at No. 5 Illinois Saturday.
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