Ohio State
20-11, 11-8
Minnesota
18-12, 8-11
Five-Set Victory Sends Off Seniors Appropriately in Final Home Match – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 26, 2014
Seniors lead the band in one last rendition of Carmen Ohio
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The #20 Ohio State women’s volleyball team went five rounds with Minnesota for the second time in as many scuffles this season, knocking out the Golden Gophers 25-21, 28-26, 27-29, 13-25, 15-8 on Senior Night 2014. Four Buckeyes seniors – Anna Faul, Erin Sekinger, Taylor Sherwin and Alyssa Winner – donned the Scarlet & Gray for the final time in front of the home crowd inside St. John Arena as the home slate concluded.
The Buckeyes notched their 20th win of the season and 11th in Big Ten play (20-11, 11-8) while Minnesota fell to 18-12, 8-11. The first two sets went to Ohio State before UM captured the next pair to force a deciding fifth frame in which the Buckeyes arose victorious.
Elizabeth Campbell and Luisa Schirmer both recorded the fifth double-double of their seasons. Campbell accumulated 20 kills and 13 digs; and Schirmer went for 17 kills and 12 digs. Four different Buckeyes reached double-digit digs, joined by a team-high 15 from Valeria León and 14 digs for Winner.
`Taylor Squared’ both performed at a high level as well. Sandbothe drilled 11 kills at a .320 pace and put up six blocks. Sherwin stuffed the stat sheet with 58 assists, five digs, three blocks, two aces and a kill.
Offense ruled in set number one, powered by a .414 attacking efficiency for the Buckeyes. Neither squad could gain much of an upper-hand throughout. The first lead of more than two points came after a Schirmer kill put OSU ahead 20-17. The Buckeyes would go on to add one more tally to its edge, sealing a four-point triumph at 25-21. Sherwin assisted on all 15 Ohio State kills in the opening frame.
Sherwin upped her assist total to 17 in the second set, feeding Schirmer for a punishing nine kills in the frame. Despite the offensive outburst from Schirmer, Minnesota kept it close once again to the very end. In fact, it took more than 25 points to clinch a win. Sandbothe terminated an attack to fend off set point trailing 25-24, and then came back again with another kill to give Ohio State a 27-26 set point. A Gopher attack error followed and the Buckeyes went into intermission leading two sets to none.
The 10-minute break did little to separate the competition. Set number three extended into the high 20s as well, ultimately going in favor of the Gophers at 29-27. Through the first three tightly-contested sets there were a total of 15 lead changes and 30 tied scores.
Set number four was anything but tight, going Minnesota’s way from the very start. A fifth and final set was necessary following a 25-13 winner for the Gophers.
Ohio State quickly flipped the script and brought it back to the seesaw environment. The first 10 points were split, 5-5, before OSU won 10 of the next 13 points and closed the door 15-8.
One last road trip puts an end to the 2014 regular season via a 7 p.m. ET match at Rutgers on Saturday. Ohio State will then find out its NCAA Tournament fate on the ESPNU Selection Show, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Sunday evening.
