Out & About: Minnesota/Ohio State

#2 posting 10.27.2006
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MINNESOTA 3, OHIO STATE 0
30-22, 30-28, 30-19

The Gophers forced Ohio State back on their heels most of the night. OSU spent most of the night out of system and the Gophers slammed the door shut with lights out first ball side out. It appears the Gophers are on a mission.

Here are the game reports from the respective schools: Minnesota, Ohio State, and the box

Minnesota started off the night with 11 straight FBSO. Ohio State could not generate any offense at all. It was 19-11 MN at this point. The streak ended on Hartmann's rotation as OSU picked up four points to make it 19-16. But after a Jones kill for a sideout, Tan came in and serve up four points of her own.

Ohio State had their own FBSO run in game two with five straight. Their biggest lead was 8-5. MN took the lead on Peniata's serve 11-10. It then became a one/zero game as both teams sided out. OSU did get the advantage 19-18 after Bowman missed her serve, but Crumpston came right back with a FBSO kill. Nelson put some distance between the teams with two points on her serve, both coming on OSU errors. After a Buckeye time out they put together a 4-1 run and closed to 29-28. But Crumpston put it down for the 30th point on the second time over the net to end game two.

MN started off the third game with six straight FBSO. The Gophers led 15-7 at this stage. The biggest Gopher margin was 21-9 on Bowman's ace. Ohio State did close to 24-15 with three straight in Hartmann's rotation. MN got their FBSO mojo back to close with four straight. The game did end on a missed serve by Meyer.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
team, 1stso/serves--1stso%; pts scored, % earned, % allowed
Minnesota 42/53---.792; 90; .811; .406
Ohio State 32/53---.604; 69; .594; .189
The fact is MN earned their points; Ohio State didn't gift wrap too many. The .306 hitting % obviously was a plus. They also had 22 more kills and 11 more digs.

The key fact was the first ball side out %. MN was 14/16 in both games one and three, and you can see the score was pretty favorable for them. Ohio State actually had better FBSO in game two (.750 to .667), but the Gophers never got hurt by damaging runs. Their biggest run in game two was toward the end with three points. Ohio State however gave up runs of four once, and three twice.

ROTATION POINTS
MINNESOTA
Tan: 18-12 .600
Peniata 22-11 .667
Bowman 13-12 .520
Crumpston 11-11 .500
Nelson 14-8 .636
Hartmann 12-12 .500

OHIO STATE
Main 18-20 .474
Szerszen 12-17 .414
Tengnas 11-14 .440
McCarthy 10-12 .455
Meyer 9-13 .409
Stevens 9-14 .391

Three MN rotations were .600 or above, and all were .500 or above. Hartmann's rotation improved, and that is crucial for continued success. One reason game two was so close was six missed serves by MN. So Ohio State didn't have to work to get their side outs. Again MN missed six in game three.

Now they will face Penn State tomorrow and PSU will be steamed due to the 3-0 loss at Madison tonight. Here is the Penn State side and Wisconsin side of things. It should be a donnybrook.

Next up: tomorrow morning