Out & About: Minnesota/Penn State

#5 posting 10.26.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

PENN STATE nittany lions 3, MINNESOTA gophers 0
(30-21, 30-25, 30-15)

Penn State handed Minnesota their 6th straight loss in Minneapolis tonight. Penn State could move up to #1 in the nation next week after the sweep loss by #1 Nebraska earlier this week. As it was Minnesota tried different combinations with changes in the line up, but the results were the same. The changes included Brook Dieter moving from left to right, flipping with Katie Vatterodt to start, and Rachelle Hagerty to finish. It doesn't seem like the Gophers have a line up they can live with. In the back row Kelly Roysland is now seeing limited touches. Christine Tan is now working on left back issues. Lauren Gibbemeyer is seeing more action in the back row. Hailey Cowles also has moved to middle back. The retooled lineup is still trying to get used to the new spots.

Minnesota hung with Penn State early having leads at 3-1 and 8-7, but a fatal 9-0 run on a side out and Christa Harmotto's serve to take a 16-8 lead. Three hitting errors and two aces were part of the Penn State run. The Gophers tried to stop the bleeding at 12-8. Truth be told neither team was on top of their first ball side out game. Penn State allowed three runs of 3 points in the first game, and only had a fbso of .583.

The Gophers best chance for a win came in game two. Penn State led early 9-5 but a four point run on a side out and Christine Tan serve tied the game at 9. Rachelle Hagerty had a hand in three straight points with two kills sandwiched around a block. There were six ties in game two with the last coming at 24. That came after a 4-1 run by the Gophers. Penn State took a time out to talk about it and put their foot down, or at least the ball down, with a 6-1 run.

That winning momentum propelled Penn State to a commanding lead in the third game with a 4-0 start and break points at 13-3, and 23-9. The Gophers were not able to get a side out, Penn State sided out for the Gophers with three straight missed serves. However Penn State was able to squeeze points off all of those serves, but one. Minnesota, on the other hand, did not score a point on their own serve until their 11th serve of the game. There really wasn't any rhythm to the game for Minnesota, Penn State controlled the action at the net, and picked and chose where and when to put the ball down. Seemingly down balls came back to life with Penn State's defense and that deflated the Gophers.

MINNESOTA
rotation, player, position, aces-blocks-kills----total points
1. Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH 0-1/0-7----8
1bf Kelly Roysland, DS 0-0-0-----0
2. Rachel Hartmann, S 0-0-0----0
3. Christine Tan, L 1-0-0-----1
3fr Kyla Roehrig, OH 0-1/0-6----7
4 Hailey Cowles, DS 0-0-0-----0
4fr Jessy Jones, MH 0-0/1-5-----5.5
5 Brook Dieter, RH 0-0-6----6
6 Katie Vatterodt, OH 0-0-1----1
6 Rochelle Hagerty, OH 0-0/1-10----10.5
6br Kelly Fallon, DS 1-0-0-----1
totals: 2-2/2-35-----40 points, 21 points on Penn State errors

PENN STATE
1. Nicole Fawcett, OH 0-0/2-13----14
1br Alyssa D'Errico, DS 0-0-0----0
2 Roberta Holehouse, L 0-0-0---0
2fr Melissa Walbridge, MH 0-1/4-3---6
3 Kate Price, RH 1-0-0-----1
3 Kara Callahan, DS 0-0-0----0
4 Megan Hodge, OH 2-0/2-19-----2
5 Christa Harmotto, MH 1-2/4-6----11
5 Ann Naylor, DS 0-0-0----0
6 Alisha Glass, S 0-2/3-4----7.5
6 Blair Brown, RH 0-0/1-6-----6.5
Michelle Osterreider 0-0-0-----0
totals: 4-13-51-----68 points, 22 points on Minnesota errors

TRENCH PLAYER
Megan Hodge

NUMBER CRUNCHING
team, fbso/attempts; fbso%; points; %earned; %allowed
Minnesota 19/43, .442; 61, .656, .244
Penn State 28/42, .667; 90, .756, .344
missed serves: Penn State 12, Minnesota 7
3+ runs: Penn State 12, Minnesota 4

ROTATIONS
MINNESOTA
Lauren Gibbemeyer 9-16 .360
Rachel Hartmann 7-12 .368
Christine Tan 13-10 .565
Hailey Cowles 10-17 .345
Brook Dieter 10-23 .303
Hagerty/Fallon 12-11 .522
totals: 61-90 .404
This is the rotation they used in game one. In games 2 & 3 Cowles led off.

PENN STATE
1. Fawcett/D'Errico 13-8 .619
2 Roberta Holehouse 13-9 .591
3 Kate Price 19-8 .703
4 Megan Hodge 16-12 .571
5 Ann Naylor 20-13 .606
6 Glass 8-11 .421
totals: 90-61 .596
Only one Penn State rotation failed to win tonight. Four Gopher rotations were sub .400

Next up: tomorrow morning