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The #18 Gopher’s bounced back from their upset loss to Louisville on August 30th in a big way this last weekend by winning the Yale Invitational in 3 straight matches. For their effort, #16 Adrianna Nora (Sr) was named tournament MVP while #1 Daly Santana (Jr) & #8 Sarah Wilhite (So) were named All Tournament.
Gophers in back road unifoms via pbs.twimg.com
Review - Week 2
Game 1: Friday, 9/5/2014 at Yale (6:00 pm)
via Gophersports.com
The Gopher’s entered the game ranked #18 in the nation, good for 6th in the B1G Ten. While the first set was a bit of a challenge with a close 25-23 score, the Gophers would win the next two sets and the match by scores of 25-11 & 25-19. Junior star Daly Santana had a great night finishing with a career best 21 kills. She made it a double-double by also getting 11 digs while hitting .444 along with two solo blocks. Other Gophers also had a good night with but listing all of their stats would make this article too long. I recommend reading the official recap here.
via pbs.twimg.com
Game 2: Saturday, 9/6/2014 vs Boston College (@ Yale, 10:00 am)
via grfx.cstv.com
The Gophers must have celebrated their victory over Yale too much as they were a little slow the next day when Boston College jumped ahead by winning the first two sets 12-25 & 22-25. The Gophers must have woken up at the break because they would come back and win the next three sets and the match 25-18, 25-15, & 15-13. Santana once again led with Kills (17) followed by the Tapp sisters #7 Hannah & #4 Paige, both Sophmores, who acted like twins as both had 12 kills and hit .318 to tie for the team lead in hitting percentage. Sarah Wilhite had a double-double with 10 kills & 14 digs. Read the official recap here.
via pbs.twimg.com
Game 3: Saturday, 9/6/2014 vs Albany (@ Yale, 4:00 pm)
After following the first game of the day via Twitter, I was afraid the Gophers would have had enough energy for their last game of the day and tournament. I needn't worry as the Gophers would go on to win the their match against Albany 25-13, 25-11 & 25-19 for the undisputed tournament win. This final game the Gophers were led by, Adrianna Nora. Nora would lead the teams in kills (10), hitting (.500), & blocks (4 BA). Read the official recap here.
via grfx.cstv.com
Despite winning all three games and moving to 4-1 (0-0) on the season, the Gophers actually dropped to #19. Despite the drop, they actually moved ahead of Michigan State who went from #14 to #23. Louisville, who defeated the Gophers in their second game of the season, dropped from #24 to #34. See the full rankings here.
Preview
The Golden Gophers will come home to the Sport Pavilion this weekend for the Diet Coke Classic. Friday they will play Tulsa at 7:00 pm. Saturday they will face Milwaukee at 10:00 am and Iowa State at 7:00 pm. Tulsa enters this weekend with a record of 5-1 (0-0) and on a hot streak as they have won their last three. Milwaukee has a record of 4-3 (0-0) but has lost their last two. Iowas State should prove to be the biggest challenge as the Cyclones enter ranked #30 with a 3-2 (0-0) record. They may be 3-2 but their two losses were to start the season and came against two top opponenets in #1 Stanford & #7 Florida State. Don't look for Iowa State to be afraid of the Gophers.
Minnesota should win the first two games and should beat Iowa State. That said, the way they have played so far this year does not lead me to believe that the game against Iowa State will be easy. All three games will be on BTN plus, but if you can, try to make a game. #PACKTHEPAV Ski-U-Mah!