Out & About: Gophers/Alumni

#5 posting 8.26.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHERS 3, ALUMNI 0
(30-27, 30-17, 30-26)

The Minnesota Gophers open the home season with an exhibition against the alumni, and the youngster beat the veterans in a sweep. The Gophers experimented with different looks in each game with major changes in game three.

Christine Tan ripped four straight aces for the Gophers in game one after the Alumni built up a 2-0 lead. The current Gophers never trailed after that. The Alumni did however tie the game three times the last time at 12 all. Brooke Dieter led the way for the current crop of Gophers with five kills. Her Outside partner Kayla Roehrig knocked down four kills. Both teams each had 10 First ball side outs with the alumni actually having a better FBSO% of .588 to .556. The difference was the current Gophers had that four ace run by Tan, the alumni never had three straight points off any of their servers.

Game two the Gophers of 2007 dominated. Their FBSO% clocked in at .769 while the alumni had a .385 margin. Jessy Jones controlled the net with six kills, plus she had a part in two blocks for points. During a 10-2 run in the early part of the game, Jones had six of those points. Kelly Roysland served up five points during the run.

Game three saw massive changes with both Dieter and Roehrig sitting and Roysland and Cowles hitting left side. Also sitting was Jessy Jones and Rachel Hartmann. Replacing Jones was Charde Phillips and taking over the setting duties for Hartmann was Caitlin Schneider. Even with all the personal moves the 2007 Gophers jumped out to a 9-3 lead with two new servers throwing the alumni a curve. Michelle Wilber delivered three straight points, as did Krista Chin. The Gophers pushed the lead to 11-4. Lauren Gibbemeyer had five points as she started to rule the net. The Alumni slowly started chipping away at the lead. Five Gopher errors helped to cut the lead to 19-14. The Alumni blitzed forward with an 11-5 run to take a 25-24. The Alumni didn't have numbers, and I wasn't totally familiar with all their personal, but they put down six kills in this sequence. Hailey Cowles put an end to the alumni run with an overpass kill for a side out and then hammered one home on Chin's serve to give the lead and momentum back to the current squad. The 2007ers finished up with a 6-1 run to take the match 3-0. Gibbemeyer had 7 kills and a hand in three blocks for points.

The alumni included: 21 players with the most senior member being Monika Getchell (Lacis) from the class of 1979 all the way up to last year's group of Kelly Bowman, Meredith Nelson, and Malama Peniata. All in all there was one player from the 70s; six from the 80s; three from the 90s; and nine from the 2000 decade.

photos: #1 Jones set for the attack out of the middle; #2: Dieter in the after mode of her attack on the left side; #3 Roysland in the middle of her jump serve. photos by kja

MINNESOTA
1 Kelly Roysland, DS (OH g3) 1-0-5---6
1fr Kayla Roehrig, OH 0-2.5-8---10.5
2 Christine Tan, L (g1) 4-0-0----4
2 Michelle Wilber, DS (g3) 1-0-0---1
2fr Jessy Jones, MH (g1, 2) 0-2.5-8---10.5
2fr Charde Phillips, MH 0-0-0---0
3 Hailey Cowles, DS (g1) 2-0-4---6
3 Krista Chin, DS (g3) 1-0-0---1
3fr Rachelle Hagerty 0-0-6---6
4 Brooke Dieter, OH (g1, 2) 0-1-5----6
(4 Hailey Cowles OH g3)
5 Kelly Schmidt, MH(g1) 0-0-5---5
5 Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH (g2, 3) 0-3.5-8---11.5
6 Rachel Hartmann, S 1-0.5-2---3.5
Totals: 10-10-50----70 points, 20 points on Alumni errors

NUMBER CRUNCHING
Gophers 07 27/47 .574; 90 points 70 points (.778) earned; 35 (.500) allowed
Alumni 23/46 .500; 70 points, 35 (.500) earned; 20 allowed (.222)

Serving order
G1
Roysland, Cowles, Tan, Dieter, Schmidt, Hartmann L: Tan
G2
Roysland, Cowles, Hagerty, Dieter, Gibbemeyer, Hartmann L: Cowles
G3
Schneider, Roysland, Wilber, Chin, Cowles, Gibbemeyer L: Fallon

ROTATIONS* using Roysland as #1 in all situations
1. Roysland 18-15 .545
2. Cowles 17-9 .654
3. Tan 17-12 .586
4. Dieter 13-10 .565
5. Schmidt 13-12 .520
6. Hartmann 12-12 .500
Totals: 90-70 .563

Photos to follow