Out & About: Minnesota/Michigan State

#3 posting 11.16.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

MINNESOTA gophers 3, MICHIGAN STATE spartans 1
(30-23, 24-30, 30-21, 30-18)

The Minnesota Gophers had one bump in the road in the four game win over Michigan State. That bump happened in game two when they fell behind 14-1. Other than that one bad stretch the Gophers had a strong performance, limited their errors to 17 on the night and had a first ball side out percentage of .667 in the victory over Michigan State.

First off it was near impossible to move on campus tonight. There were major events going on all over---Men's Hockey, Women's Basketball and state high school swimming tournament. Traffic didn't budge, parking was scarce. What usually takes 23 minutes to go from my home to the parking lot took a good 55 minutes. Luckily it was parent night and I wasn't late for the actual game.

The Gophers have reverted back to putting Brook Dieter on the left side. That probably happened last week when Dieter picked up her third player of the week honor in the Big 10. She does have a groove there and again had a strong kill game with 18.

Minnesota broke free in game one with a 8-2 run to lead 20-13. The Gophers had a six straight fbso string early in the contest. They only gave up one run late in the game.

Game two saw the Gophers fall flat at the start 14-1. Since the Spartans went into break with a 30-24 win Minnesota outscored MSU 23-16 the rest of the way. In fact the only two runs MSU had in game two was right at the beginning.

Minnesota adjusted their line up in game three. Katie Vatterodt started in games one and two. Kelly Schmidt started in game three and four. The Gophers also adjusted their serve rotations with Hartmann leading off in games one and two. Christine Tan led off in game three, and Kelly Roysland led off in game four. Minnesota led right from the start as they came off break with renewed vigor and urgency. They jumped off to a 10-1 lead. MN maintained that up to 25-20 when they took a time out to stop a MSU run. Dieter came back with a kill after the time out and the Gophers finished with a 4-1 run.

In game four MSU never had a run of 3 or more. On top of that Minnesota's fbso was 12/15 or .800 %. That is solid. If they can maintain that door slamming fbso %, and can remain consistent, then they may surprise a few folks. They have the size at the net. The ball control and defense looked better tonight.

MINNESOTA
Rotation; player, position, aces-blocks-kills-total
1. Rachel Hartmann, S 0-0/4-3---5
2. Hailey Cowles, DS 1-0-0----1
2fr Kyla Roehrig, OH 0-0/1-18---18.5
3 Christine Tan, L 0-0-0---0
3fr Jessy Jones, MH 0-2/3-6---9.5
4 Kelly Roysland, DS 0-0-0----0
4fr Katie Vatterodt, RH g1&2 0-0/2-2---3
4fr Kelly Schmidt, RH g3&4 0-0-3---3
5 Brooke Dieter, OH 0-3-18---21
6 Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH 2-1/4-13----18
Totals: 3-6/14-63---79

MICHIGAN STATE
1. Ashley Schatzle, OH 1-0/1-16---17.5
1br Allyson Karaba, server 0-0-0---0
2. Jessica Hohl, MH 1-0/2-6---8
3. Heather McDaniel, DS 0-0-0----0
3fr Jenilee Rathje, RS 0-0/4-13---15
4. Katie Johnson, OH 0-0/6-13----16
5. Mike Trogdon, L 0-0-0----0
5fr Vanessa King, MH 0-0/9-7----11.5
6. Lauren O'Reilly, S 1-0/2-5---7
totals: 3-0/24-60----75

TRENCH PLAYER
Brook Dieter

BY THE NUMBERS
team, fbso/att; fbso%; points, %earned, %allowed
Minnesota 40/60; .667; 114; .693; .185
Michigan State 29/62; .468; 92; .815; .307
3+runs: MN 10, MSU 5
missed serves: MN 5, MSU 7
Ace to Error: MN 0.60; MSU 0.43
Time out %: MN 1/3; MSU 4/6

ROTATIONS
MINNESOTA
1. Hartmann 12-19 .387
2. Cowles 18-19 .486
3. Tan 18-12 .600
4. Roysland 20-15 .571
5. Dieter 28-14 .667
6. Gibbemeyer 18-13 .581
totals: 114-92 .553
Hartman led off in game 1 (on defense) and 2; Tan led off (on defense) in 3; Roysland served first in four.

MICHIGAN STATE
1. Schaetzle 14-16 .467
2. Hohl 22-28 .440
3. McDaniel 20-25 .444
4. Johnson 13-19 .406
5. Trogdon 12-15 .444
6. O'Reilly 11-11 .500
totals: 92-114 .447

Next up: tomorrow morning