Gophers Win Epic Battle Over Georgia Tech

The Gophers won yet another five game match this volleyball season 25-30, 30-22, 30-24, 46-48, 15-9 to keep their national title dreams alive. After stumbling out of the starting gate, Minnesota bounced back to claim games two and three in impressive fashion. Just when it looked like Georgia Tech was done for, down 28-23 in game four, senior Lynette Moster came up to serve. She disrupted the Gophers offense and the Yellow Jackets came storming back taking a 29-28 lead. What happened after that will go down in volleyball history. The Gophers fought off 8 game points while Georgia Tech fended off 10 match points that would’ve ended their season. The Yellow Jackets rode the right arm of senior Lauren Sauer to the 48-46 victory that saw both teams give the ultimate effort. Paula Gentil served Minnesota to victory as the Gophers started game five on a 6-0 run and never looked back, winning 15-9.

For the match, three Gophers set career highs in kills. Erin Martin slammed down 31 kills and Meredith Nelson had 21 kills while hitting .462. Lindsey Taatjes had career-high 13 kills, hit .382 with 41 assists and 23 digs, for her first triple-double. Kelly Bowman also had a triple-double with 10 kills, 43 assists and 16 digs. It was the first time in Gopher Volleyball history that two players have triple-doubles in the same game. To add to the heroic performances of the night, junior libero Paula Gentil shook of pain and injury to lead the team with 41 digs. Georgia Tech was led by senior outside hitter Lauren Sauer who had 25 kills of her own while fellow senior outside hitter Lynette Moster added 20 kills.

Tonight, the Gophers have to re-energize themselves for another shot at the Final Four against a familiar opponent. Ohio State comes back to the Sports Pavilion for the second time this season after dispatching Tennessee 3-2 last night in a thriller. Minnesota lost to Ohio State 3-1 in Columbus on October 1st while ranked #1, the Gophers then defeated the Buckeyes 3-1 at home on November 6th.

OSU led by senior outside hitter Stacey Gordon, the Big Ten Player of the Year and favorite for National Player of the Year honors. The senior is the all-time kills leader in Big Ten history and led the Buckeyes with 35 kills last night. If Minnesota has any chance to defeat OSU, they’ll have make Gordon less effective. In Ohio State’s victory of Minnesota, Gordon had 36 kills and hit .368. In the loss, the Gophers held Gordon to 27 kills at a .253 clip. The Buckeyes have other strong players in Maya Mapp, Danielle Meyer and Marisa Main. However, OSU usually goes the way of Gordon. The other key to this match is who will be the most energized after going five games last night. My prediction: Minnesota in five after a lot of high drama.

The Sports Pavilion will be rocking as these two Big Ten foes face-off for a spot in the Final Four. Tickets are $10 for student and seniors and $12 for adults and first serve is slated for 7 pm. It’ll be hard to find a better atmosphere in Minneapolis this fall/winter so come on down for the fun.