Other Gopher Sports
Last Friday the Gophers kept their sweep streak alive with a 3-0 victory over the Indiana Hoosiers. The game saw the continued resurgence of the Gopher offense. Minnesota hit .312 as a team and tallied an amazing 63 kills as a team in only three games. Minnesota was led by 18 kills from junior Meghan Cumpston while Meredith Nelson added 15 and Sarah Florian accounted for 12. In a new twist, Kyla Roehrig replaced Jess Byrnes on the right side in the second game and scorched the Hoosiers for 8 kills on only 11 swings. Paula Gentil frustrated Indiana with 21 digs.
The race for the Big Ten title will be centered in West Lafayette on Friday night as the Gophers and Boilermakers square off in what should be a heated battle. A few short years ago, Purdue and Iowa were the cellar dwellers of the Big Ten conference. Today, Purdue is an outside contender for the Big Ten crown and will be a threat to make a long NCAA run. The Boilers are led by an All-American candidate at setter in Renata Dargan. Dargan is a smart setter and leads a diversified Purdue attack that does not rely heavily on one player. Purdue has five players with over one hundred kills on the season. Leah Wischmeier is the biggest offensive threat, but if she gets stymied Purdue has many more options.
Purdue also features a tough defense, as they have only allowed their opponents to hit .174 on the year. In order to win this game at Purdue, where the Boilers have only dropped one match this year in five games to Wisconsin, Minnesota will have to continue their offensive resurgence. The balanced Purdue attack might fluster the Gophers early, but Minnesota should be able to settle down on defense and this match should once again come down to offense. Setters Kelly Bowman and Rachel Hartmann must keep Purdue guessing for Minnesota to beat Purdue and keep their solid footing in the Big Ten race.
A trip to Champaign is always difficult no matter how the Illini are playing. Huff Hall is one of the best volleyball atmospheres in the nation and Illinois is always prime for an upset. Unlike Purdue, Illinois relies heavily on the arm of one player, senior outside hitter Rachel Van Meter. Van Meter has more than twice the hitting attempts of her closest teammate and still terminates at an effective .252 clip. Minnesota does not typically struggle with one-hitter offenses unless that hitter is truly great and Van Meter does not fall into that elite category. Illinois’ defense is one of the weaker in the conference, which will allow the Gophers to build decent leads while they frustrate the Illini attack with strong back-row defense. If Minnesota stays settled, they should come out of Champaign with an easy victory.
The Illinois-Minnesota match can be seen tape-delayed on ESPN2 on Sunday at 1:30.