Out & About: Minnesota/Ohio State

#6 posting 10.27.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball & information

OHIO STATE buckeyes 3,
MINNESOTA gophers 2

Ohio State rallied from a 2-0 deficit to break the Gophers' hearts Saturday in Williams Arena. The game was eerily similar to the one in Columbus when Minnesota won the first two, lost the next two and hung on for the fifth. Minnesota has now lost 7 straight, and four straight at home, counting Williams Arena as home.

This game is ironic considering Minnesota outpointed Ohio State 126-123 and earned 86 points to Ohio State 78. The Gophers out hit OSU .117 to .083, and out blocked OSU 22 to 11. One thing Minnesota led in was 45 errors to 40 for OSU.

The Gophers broke free in game one with an 8-1 run over the serves of Brook Dieter and Rachelle Hagerty. Ohio State was having problems with ball control as Hagerty had two overpass kills, plus another kill for three of the points. Lauren Gibbemeyer had two blocks and a slide for another three points. That put Minnesota in the drivers seat at 21-17. Ohio State closed to 24-22 when another Gopher five point run put them on the verge at 29-22. All the points, after the side out, came off of Christine Tan's serve. OSU added two points with a side out and an ace. The Gophers took a time out to break the momentum. A kill by Jessy Jones ended game one 30-24.

Minnesota used the momentum in the first game win to open with a 3-0 lead. The only time they trailed in game two came early at 5-4. The Gophers extended their lead to 14-9 on a some Ohio State hitting errors during Hagerty and Fallon's serve. Minnesota kept pushing out to 26-16 during Hagerty's serve in the next sequence. Again Ohio State errors were gift wrapped as Gopher points. Ohio State fought back with an 8-5 finish. As it was Minnesota went into the locker room at the break with a solid 30-23 win. For this game the first ball side out % for Minnesota was .688 (11/16).

Game three is when the Gophers fortunes took a turn south. Neither team shook free from the other with 16 ties in this game. The last tie coming at 25 after a Ohio State hitting error. The Gophers biggest lead came at 20-17 after a quick kill by Jones. OSU took a time out after that. Minnesota's last large lead came at 21-18. After that OSU had a 12-6 run to finish the game. Minnesota was victimized by dumps by Briana McCarthy plus hitting errors now being gift wrapped by the Gophers. Fallon missed a serve to put OSU in the lead at 26-25. Ohio State added two more points to make it 28-25. A double contact gave the ball back to the Gophers. A block by Roehrig cut the margin to 28-27. However two hitting errors ended game three 30-27 for Ohio State.

Game four is the game you can pin point the spot where the momentum definitely shifted. Minnesota led 14-8 early with the Gophers gaining 6/7 first ball side outs. A Dieter hitting error handed the ball back to OSU. Brook Dieter then served up six points. Six of the seven points in the run (including the side out) were all Minnesota errors either hitting errors, double contacts, or net violations. All in all it was a 10-2 run for Ohio State as they took the lead 20-18. Minnesota did bounce back with a run of four during Hartmann's serve. Jessy Jones had a had in two of the points with a block and an overpass kill. Minnesota could smell the finish line at 26-21 after a Jones tip kill. But Meyer wasn't about to let the match end. She spearheaded a 10-3 run to finish the game. The Gophers desperately tried to stop the momentum with a time out when they led 26-24 and then again at 27-26. A Gibbemeyer slide put Minnesota up 28-26. Dieter's serve went wide. McCarthy returned for Ohio State with an ace to tie it at 28. Hagerty got the side out kill and then was up to serve. An overpass kill gave the ball back to OSU. They never gave the ball back. A hitting error and then an ace ended game four 31-29 Ohio State.

Game five started off all right for Minnesota with a 4-3 lead. That was because Minnesota was siding out three straight times. They didn't, or couldn't the next five Ohio State servers. The Buckeyes had a run of three to go up 9-6. Minnesota took a time out. After the break the Gophers got the side out which started a run of three which tied the game at 9. Hagerty missed her serve and that kicked off a four point run by OSU 13-9. A Gibbemeyer block held off OSU for a time. Kelly Roysland served for Gibbemeyer, but OSU only allowed 3 points on Minnesota serves in game five on 5/7 servers. Minnesota allowed 8 points. That was the difference.

Minnesota is young and needs to finish. Game three could have gone either way, but missed serves at key points (25 all) opens the doors to bad things. However the 26-21 lead at game four was the back breaker. Five hitting/net errors and two aces can be cleaned up. In game five the missed serve opened the door to four straight OSU points. Ball control is still not as consistent. The Hawkeyes come to town on Halloween. I think the Gophers are going to take their frustrations out on the Hawkeyes. They are not used to losing seven straight and they are not used to losing at home either.

MINNESOTA
rotation, name, position, aces-blocks-kills ----points---errors---totals
1. Rochelle Hagerty, OH 1-4/3-15----21.5 -18 3.5
1serve Kelly Fallon 0-0-0----0 -1 -1
2, Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH 1-0/10-12----18 -10 8
2. Kelly Roysland, DS 0-0-2-----2 -1 1
3. Rachel Hartmann, S 1-0/9-3----8.5 -5 3.5
4. Christine Tan, L 1-0-0-----1 -4 -3
4fr Kyla Roehrig, OH 0-1/4-7-----10 -8 2
5 Hailey Cowles, DS 0-0-0-----0 -8 -8
5fr Jessy Jones, MH 0-1/6-7----11 -4 7
6 Brook Dieter, RH 2-0-12----14 -8 6
Totals: 6-22-58----86 points, 40 points on Ohio State errors

OHIO STATE
rotation, name, position, aces-blocks-kills
1 Betsy Hone, DS 1-0-0----1 -3 -2
1 Kristi Hunter, OH 1-0/5-6----9.5 -8 1.5
2 Ashley Hughes, L 0-0-0----0 -1 -1
2 Susan Halvorson, L 0-0-0----0-0 0
2 Kaila Calhoun, MH 0-0/9-4----8.5 -9 -0.5
3 Katie Dull, RH 2-0/3-12-----15.5 -12 3.5
4 Ami Stevens, OH 1-0/1-7----8.5 -11 -2.5
5 Danielle Meyer, MH 1-0/2-20-----22 -15 7
6 Briana McCarthy, S 2-0/2-10----13 -10 3
totals 8-11-59----78 points, 45 points on Minnesota errors

TRENCH PLAYER
Danielle Meyer

BY THE NUMBERS
team, fbso/attempts; fbso%; points; earned %; allowed %
Minnesota 44/79; .557; 126; .683; .366
Ohio State 40/73; .548; 123 .634; .317
3+ runs: Minnesota 11, Ohio State 11
missed serves: Minnesota 15, Ohio State 14

ROTATIONS
MINNESOTA
Hagerty/Fallon 30-23 .566
Gibbemeyer/Roysland 18-22 .480
Hartmann 18-13 .581
Tan 25-25 .500
Cowles 15-23 .395
Dieter 19-17 .528
totals: 126-123 .506

OHIO STATE
Hunter/Hone 18-24 .429
Calhoun/Hughes 17-16 .515
Dull 22-26 .458
Stevens 18-18 .500
Meyer 24-24 .500
McCarthy 24-18 .571
totals: 123-126 .494

Minnesota started the first three games with Hagerty in the one spot. In game four Tan was in the one spot and the Gophers reverted to Hagerty in game five.
Ohio State had three different starting points. In the first two games the Hunter/Hone combination was in the one spot. In games three and four Dull led off. In game five another new line up with McCarthy taking the first serve.

As you can see both teams were fairly even with four .500 or better rotations for Minnesota and the same amount for Ohio State. The one rotation that was hurt was Cowles in game four with Meyer notching 7 points off them.

next up: tomorrow morning