Out & About: Minnesota/Washington State

#1 posting 3.31.2007
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MINNESOTA GOPHER SPRING ROUND ROBIN

MINNESOTA gophers 2*,
WASHINGTON STATE cougars 1
32-34, 30-18, 10-8

The Gophers opened their spring portion of their schedule with Washington State. Match time was limited to one hour. This marked the first time the 2007 class was not part of the performance. Christine Tan filled the Libero role that Malama Peniata held. In the middle replacing Meredith Nelson was Kelly Schmidt; taking Meghan Crumpston's spot was Katie Vatterrodt and taking Kelly Bowman's spot was Rachelle Hagarty.

In the first contest MN got out to a 3-1 lead with two gifts and a kill by Kyla Roehrig. WSU took their first lead at 5-4 after a run of three and expanded it to 11-5 with a 6 point run on their fourth serve. It became a game of catch up for the Gophers after that and they did whittle the lead down rotation by rotation. MN tied it at 19 on Jessy Jones serve on a kill by Hagarty from the right side. But MN was caught in a side out sequence as both teams broke each other's serve. Finally on Rachel Hartman's serve MN scored a point on a WSU hitting error and claimed a narrow one point lead. WSU got it right back at 25-24 before a WSU net serve tied it at 25 all. The Cougars put on a run of three with one kill and two Gopher hitting errors. 28-25. MN managed to knot it up at 29 on Christa Chin's serve and a dump kill by Hartmann followed by a tandem block by Schmidt and Hartmann. But a net serve killed the momentum. The Gophers were on the verge of victory at 32-31 after a WSU hitting error on Chin's serve, but a kill from their right tied it at 32. The WSU second server finished off with a hitting error on Roehrig followed by a tip kill 34-32.

MN played much stronger in the second contest with better passing and more kills. The Gophers had runs of three or more four times, and limited WSU to two runs of three. WSU didn't help their cause with seven missed serves in the contest. Jessy Jones had two straight blocks as the Gophers went up 4-2. WSU rallied to take a 7-8 lead after a kill by their left. Roehrig had two straight kills to put the Gophers back up 11-8. It was part of a 14-3 run by Minnesota that broke open the game 19-10. Roehrig had five kills during the run. MN's biggest lead came at 24-12, but WSU rallied for three straight to cut it to 24-15. A Schmidt Slide kill ended their run. An over pass kill by Jones put the Gophers on the verge at 29-17, but WSU's left held off the inevitable for one more point. Jones finished the second game with a kill 30-18.

With some time left the two teams played up to 10. MN grabbed the lead at 5-3 on three straight points off Jones' serve 5-3, the last an ace. WSU edged ahead 6-5 after a hitting error that went deep for Schmidt. Vatterrodt put down a kill and then she and Schmidt blocked to put the lead back in MN's hands 7-6. A hitting error returned it to WSU, but their serving game was off in the nets again 8-7 Minnesota. Hartmann had a tip kill to put the Gophers on the edge 9-7. Vatterrodt's serve went deep however, but Roehrig finished with a kill to make it 10-8 in an abbreviated game.

MINNESOTA
rotation, player, pos., aces-blocks-kills total points
1. Katie Vatterrodt, OH 0-1.5-8---9.5
2. Christine Tan, L 0-0-0----0
2 fr Kelly Schmidt MH 0-2.5-4---6.5
3. Rachel Hartman, S 0-0.5-3---3.5
4. Kyla Roehrig, OH 0-1-11---12
5. Jessy Jones, MH 1-2.5-5---8.5
6. Rachelle Hagerty, OH 0-2-8---10
totals: 1-10-39----49 points, 22 on WSU errors
ASSISTS: Hartmann 26, Hagerty 4, Vatterrodt 1, Jones 1, Tan 1

ROTATIONS
1 Vatterrodt 15-8 .652
2 Tan 12-10 .545
3 Hartmann 13-10 .565
4 Roehrig 9-13 .409
5 Jones 14-12 .538
6 Hagerty 9-7 .563
totals: 72-60 .545

BY THE NUMBERS
First ball side out/Serves--%; points scored, % earned, % allowed
Minnesota 26/39---.667; 72, .694, .333
Washington State 19/38---.500; 60; .667; .306

Next up: Monday