Ohio State Advances to First Regional Final Since 2004
12/8/2022 4:21:39 PM | Women's Volleyball
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AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 3 seeded Ohio State Buckeyes (22-9, 15-5 B1G) beat No. 2 seeded Minnesota (22-9, 15-5 B1G) in four sets (22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19) in the NCAA regional semifinals on Thursday to advance to the program’s first regional final since 2004.
Minnesota took a back-and-forth first set by a 25-22 margin. Ohio State evened the match at one set apiece with a 25-21 win in the second set by scoring eight of the final 11 points. Each team had an early run in the third set, but Ohio State earned the 25-21 set win by leading the latter part of the set. The Buckeyes took the lead early in the fourth set and held off the Gophers’ late push to win the set by a 25-19 margin.
How it Happened
Emily Londot opened the match with a kill, but Minnesota took its first lead at 2-1. After being tied at nine, Minnesota used a 5-1 run to take a 14-10 lead. Ohio State responded with three-unanswered points and trailed 15-13 at the media timeout. The Gophers scored out of the media timeout to stretch the lead to 17-13 and force a Buckeye timeout. OSU scored the next three, including back-to-back kills from Londot, to prompt a Minnesota timeout. Ohio State tied the set at 19 and 20 before calling timeout down 22-20. The Buckeyes tied the set again at 22, forcing a second Gophers timeout, but Minnesota earned the 25-22 set win.
Minnesota scored first in the second set and built an early 6-2 lead to force an Ohio State timeout. The Buckeyes took their first lead of the set at 9-7 following a 4-0 run. The Gophers used a 4-0 run of their own to lead 11-9. The teams were tied at 11, 12 and 13 before Minnesota took a 15-13 lead. Ohio State used three-consecutive points to take a 17-16 lead and another 3-0 run to go up 20-18, forcing a Gophers timeout. The Buckeyes scored two more points out of the timeout and sealed a 25-21 set win to even the match.
The Gophers opened scoring in the third set and led 4-2 before the Buckeyes got their first lead of the set at 5-4. The teams traded three-point runs to tie the set again at eight, but Minnesota extended its run to five-unanswered to force an OSU timeout trailing 10-8. The set was tied at points 10 through 15 before a 3-0 OSU run gave the Buckeyes a 17-15 lead, forcing a Minnesota timeout. Ohio State scored three-unanswered points again to extend the lead to 22-17 and prompt another Gophers timeout. Minnesota got within two out of the timeout, but a block from Mac Podraza and Rylee Rader sealed the 25-21 set win.
Ohio State scored first on a block from Londot and Adria Powell before Minnesota had an early 3-1 lead. The Buckeyes went on a 4-0 run before the Gophers tied the set at five. OSU put together a 6-0 run amidst a Minnesota timeout to take an 11-5 lead and led by a 13-6 margin to prompt a second Gophers timeout. The Gophers used a 4-1 run to get within four at 16-12. The Buckeyes scored three-straight to increase the lead to 21-14 but a 3-0 run including another successful Gophers challenge trimmed the lead to 21-17. Gabby Gonzales had back-to-back kills to end the match with a 25-19 set win.
Highlights
S2: Set point
S3: Set point
S4: Match point
Match Notes
- Emily Londot had a match-high eight kills in the first set on her way to her 28th match of the season with at least 10 kills. She finished with a career-high 29 kills after being the first to reach 10 kills and surpassed the 20-kill plateau for the third time this season.
- Londot recorded her 15th double-double of the season by adding 13 digs.
- Rylee Rader recorded 10+ kills for the ninth time this season, totaling 12 today.
- Jenaisya Moore had 10+ kills for the 23rd time this season, finishing with 13 kills.
- Kylie Murr surpassed her dig total from last season with 15 digs on the match, recorded her 28th match of the season with at least 10.
- Gabby Gonzales recorded her 1,200th career kill.
- S1: The teams were tied eight times before either team reached 10 points and 11 times total throughout the set.
- S2: The Buckeye defense forced to the Gophers to hit .000 in the set.
- S3: OSU took a lead at 16-15 that would not be relinquished.
- S4: Ohio State did not trail after being down 3-2.
What They Said
- Head Coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg: “This was intent and drive and focus and ready for what’s more. We’re excited about being in this position and having the opportunity to have another match. It still hasn’t hit me yet. We won and it’s exciting but it hasn’t fully hit yet.”
- Senior outside Gabby Gonzales: “I’m just so proud of this team and everything we’ve done all together – we’ve done a lot of good things and faced a lot of battles and adversity. I’m proud of how we came out today and played.”
- Junior defensive specialist Sarah Sue Morbitzer: “Every day we talk about ‘more is now’ and we take every contact by the contact and just focus on every single moment. It helps a ton when there are so many teammates around us that are supportive. We’re super excited to play on Saturday and we had so much fun today.”
Up Next
Ohio State will face the winner of top-seeded Texas and No. 4 Marquette on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
#GoBucks
