Friday, September 14, 2007

Out & About: Minnesota/Charlotte

#4 posting 9.14.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

MINNESOTA gophers 3, CHARLOTTE 49ers 0
(30-16, 30-18, 30-20)

In the battle of the Cowles sisters it was Hailey's Gophers sweeping sister Courtney's 49ers in the Gopher Invitational. The family in the stands had special t-shirts made supporting both teams and the two sisters. But the Gophers had way more weapons of choice. From the left side Brook Dieter delivered 21 kills and cohort Kayla Roehrig added 12 more in a commanding performance. Plus the size advantage at the net forced Charlotte to take their attempts closer to the 10 foot line.

The Gophers established dominance right from the start with five straight points, four off of Dieter's serve. Four of those points were thanks to Roehrig. The Gopher side out game delivered seven straight side outs to close game one.

In game two the Gophers broke free from a 10 all tie on a 7-1 run, the last four points coming on Rachel Hartmann's serve. That forced a Charlotte time out, but it didn't change the momentum.

With the match seemingly in hand, the Gophers played a few more players in game three. Plus they started with rotation 4 on defense (Cowles). Minnesota raced to an 8-1 lead, six on Kelly Fallon's serve. Dieter had five kills in the run up.

In the personal battle of Hailey vs Courtney it was Hailey with a one point advantage. Both had an ace on the night, but Hailey had one dig that dropped for a kill late in game three. Hailey also out dug her sister 9-1.

More on the game at the Gopher site with box score

GOPHERS
1 Kelly Roysland, DS (g1, 2) 1-0-0----1
1br Kelly Fallon, DS (g3) 1-0-0----1
1fr Katie Vatterodt, RH (g1, 2) 0-0-4----4
1fr Rachelle Hagerty, RH (g2, 3) 0-0-2---2
2 Brooke Dieter, OH 1-0.5-21----22.5
2br Krista Chin, DS (g3) 0-0-0----0
3 Laruen Gibbemeyer, MH 0-1-6---7
3 Michelle Wilbur, Serve (g3) 0-0-0---0
3br Christine Tan, L
4 Rachel Hartmann, S 0-2-0----2
5 Hailey Cowles, DS 1-0-1----2
5fr Kyla Roehrig, OH 0-0.5-12----12.5
6 Christine Tan, L, 0-0-0----0
6fr Jessy Jones, MH (g1, 2) 0-1-4---5
6fr Kelly Schmidt, MH (g3) 0-0-1----1
totals: 4-6-51----61; 29 on Charlotte errors

CHARLOTTE
totals: 1-4-27----32 points; 22 on Minnesota errors

BY THE NUMERS
team, fbso/fbso att; fbso%; points; earned; allowed
Minnesota 31/42; .738; 90; .678; .407
Charlotte 19/41; .463, 54; .593; .322
3+ Runs: Minnesota 12, Charlotte 3
Missed Serves: Minnesota 9, Charlotte 10
Hitting Errors: Minnesota 13, Charlotte 24

ROTATIONS
GOPHERS
1. Roysland/Fallon 21-10 .677
2. Dieter/Chin 19-9 .679
3. Gibbemeyer 13-8 .619
4. Hartmann 12-8 .600
5. Cowles 14-8 .636
6. Tan 11-11 .500
totals: 90-54 .625

Tomorrow I will be at the St. Paul Academy tournament when it will be the battle of Miss Volleyballs with Kelly Roysland (2001) and Hailey Cowles (2006) for Minnesota facing UW Green Bay's Betty Slinger (2003). I will try to get to the late game against Creighton.

Next up: tomorrow morning