‘U’ Bests Buckeyes in Four Sets

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team defeated the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes in four sets, 20-25, 25-21, 25-21 on Friday evening at the Covelli Center.

With the win, Minnesota improves to 19-8 (14-5 Big Ten). The Gophers are 6-3 on the road in conference play and 7-4 overall. It’s their seventh top-25 win of the year, including the second over a top-10 opponent.

Taylor Landfair led the Gophers with 52 kills and nine digs while Carter Booth went for a career-high 13 kills and seven blocks. CC McGraw led the backcourt with a season-high 20 digs while Melani Shaffmaster had 53 assists and 16 digs.

As a team, Minnesota (19-8, 14-5 Big Ten) hit .254 with 64 kills, 10 team blocks, 70 digs and five aces. Ohio State (19-8, 15-4 Big Ten) hit .239 with 65 kills, 11 team blocks, 71 digs and no aces.

Emily Londot led Ohio State with 19 kills.

Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota started out strong, scoring five of the first seven to take an early 5-2 lead. Taylor Landfair and Carter Booth each had two kills in the spurt. Ohio State would fight back, tallying five of the next seven to tie the set up at 7-7. A kill from Arica Davis put the ‘U’ back up one before a 6-2 OSU spurt gave the home team a 13-10 advantage. The Buckeyes would go up 14-11 after another kill before two kills from Mckenna Wucherer and another from Landfair tied it up at 14. OSU got hot once again in the middle of the set, tallying five of the next seven points to go up 19-16, forcing a timeout from coach McCutcheon. OSU would go up as many as five at 21-16 after a pair of blocks. Minnesota would cut the lead to three at 21-18 and 22-19, but would get no closer. OSU closed out set one, 25-20. The Gophers hit .233 compared to .375 for the Buckeyes in set one. Taylor Landfair led the ‘U’ with five kills while Mckenna Wucherer had four.

Set 2: The two teams split the first six points before the Buckeyes tallied three straight to take a 6-3 lead. A kill from Melani Shaffmaster made it 6-4 before a pair of OSU kills put the home team back up three at 9-6. The Gophers would respond, scoring six of the next seven to take a 12-10 lead. Landfair had three kills in the run while Booth combined with Shaffmaster and Landfair for blocks. OSU called a timeout to try and stop the momentum. Minnesota wasn’t done, getting kills from Jenna Wenaas and Booth to go up four at 14-10, capping an 8-1 run. Two kills from OSU cut the lead in half before a 5-2 Gophers spurt put the ‘U’ up 19-14, forcing the home team into another timeout. Landfair, Booth, Wenaas and Davis tallied kills in the spurt. The Gophers would extend the lead to as many as six at 23-17 after a kill from Wucherer and a couple more from Landfair. The Gophers would close out set two, 25-21, to tie up the match.

Set 3: The two teams split the first eight points before a 3-1 run put OSU up 7-5. OSU would score four of the next six to go up 11-7, forcing a Minnesota timeout. The Gophers would respond, getting kills and block from Booth and Landfair to cut the lead to 12-11, forcing a Buckeyes timeout. Minnesota would go down 14-12 before getting a block from Booth and Shaffmaster, an ace from CC McGraw and a kill from Wucherer to take its first lead of the set since 3-2. Another ace from CC put the ‘U’ up 16-14, leading to timeout No. 2 from OSU. The Buckeyes answered with a 3-0 spurt to regain the lead at 17-16 before the Gophers responded with five straight to go up 21-17. Wucherer had a pair of kills and Shaffmaster tallied an ace in the spurt. OSU cut the lead in half after a pair of Minnesota errors, but the Gophers scored three straight to go up 24-19 and take control of the set. Rachel Kilkelly registered an ace while Davis and Landfair had a block. Wenaas ended the set with a kill as Minnesota took set three, 25-21.

Set 4: The ‘U’ and OSU split the first eight points before the Gophers scored three in-a-row, getting a block from Davis and Shaffmaster and a pair of Buckeyes attacking errors to go up 7-4. Three straight from the home team tied it up. A kill from Davis, an ace from Shaffmaster and an OSU error put the Gophers up 10-7. The Buckeyes punched back, however, tallying seven of the next nine to go up 14-12, forcing a timeout form coach McCutcheon. Two kills and a block from Landfair helped the Gophers on a 4-0 run to take a 16-14 advantage, leading to a timeout from OSU. The Buckeyes would tie it up at 16, 17 and 18 before kills from Wenaas and Wucherer put Minnesota up 20-18. OSU tied it up at 20 and the teams exchanged ties and one-point leads for the next eight points until it was tied, 24-24. An OSU attacking error and a kill from Booth ended the match, with the Gophers winning a thrilling 26-24 fourth set.

UP NEXT: Minnesota (19-8, 14-5 Big Ten) takes on No. 5 Nebraska (24-3, 16-2 Big Ten) tomorrow night at 8 p.m. CT on BTN.

Notable:
-The Gophers (10) posted 10+ blocks for the 17th time this season (13-4 record).
–Carter Booth (13) posted her third 10+ kill match of the season. 13 is a new career-high.
-Booth also had seven blocks, her 10th 5+ block match of 2022.
–Taylor Landfair (25) tallied her 25th 10+ kill match of the year and fifth 20+ kill match. She tied her season-high with nine digs.
–CC McGraw (20, 1,873) passed Dalianliz Rosado (1,870) for No. 3 in digs in Minnesota history. No. 2 is Christine Tan with 1,927.
–Melani Shaffmaster posted double-double No. 14 on the year with 53 assists and 16 digs. 53 assists ties a season-high.
–Jenna Wenaas (12) posted her seventh 10+ dig match of the season.