Minnesota Volleyball: Gophers Sweep IU and Maryland

Minnesota (19-4, 11-3) got two wins over teams in the bottom half of the conference. Gophers weren’t perfect but were able to sweep both Indiana and Maryland.

Wednesday evening Indiana gave the Gophers all they could handle, forcing extra points in one set.

In set one, an 9-1 Minnesota run was the difference maker. Dalianliz Rosado started the run with the ace. The Gophers got two kills from Sarah Wilhite during the run and two blocks from tandem of Molly Lohman and Paige Tapp as Minnesota went up 18-9. IU was able to cut into the Gopher lead late. The Hoosiers scored five of the last seven points to cut the margin to four, as Minnesota won 25-21.

Minnesota got down 2-0 in the first set. They wouldn’t take the lead from the Hoosiers til they earned set point. Every time Minnesota drew within one, IU would answer with a kill. Minnesota got down was many as five. A clutch 4-0 run put Minnesota in front just as IU was on the brink of a set point. Down 23-20, Minnesota got a kill from Hannah Tapp. Then IU committed a hitting error. From there Wilhite put one down and Morgan Taylor and H. Tapp stuffed IU. The Hoosiers converted on the next point, tying the score at 24. On the ensuing point Wilhite and H. Tapp combined for the block. Paige Tapp finished it off for the Gophers getting a kill to win the set 26-24.

IU held the lead for most of the third set. The Hoosiers scored first and held the lead til Minnesota broke a 8-8 tie with a kill from Paige Tapp. IU quickly retook the lead and held it til Minnesota tied it again at 19-all. From there Minnesota outscored the Hoosiers 6-2, to win 25-21.

Paige Tapp led Minnesota with 11 kills, hitting, .524 to go with five blocks. Hannah Tapp had six blocks. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had a double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs. Dalianliz Rosado had two aces. Minnesota hit .245 and had 12 blocks.

Sunday the Gophers faced the Terrapins coming away with another three-set win.

Minnesota took advantage of 10 Terrapin hitting errors as they won the first set easily, 25-16. Minnesota stretched their lead to five with a four point run early. The Gophers were up 5-4 and took advantage of three consecutive Maryland hitting errors including one H. Tapp-Seliger-Swenson block. From then on Minnesota held at least a three point lead. The Gophers held Maryland to .000 hitting effort.

Little runs here and there were the difference for Minnesota in the second set. The Gophers used three and four point runs to grow their lead while keeping Maryland from getting momentum and going on runs of their own. Minnesota grew their lead to eight, 16-8 with a three-point run. Alexis Hart and Molly Lohman capped the run with back-to-back double blocks. Minnesota won 25-19.

The third set was the closest. Minnesota had the lead first but surrendered it to Maryland in the midst of a 6-2 Terrapin run, falling behind 7-5. Later Alexis Hart had three kills in a 6-0 run as Minnesota went up 14-11. Maryland tripped up the Gophers late with a 3-0 run that cut Minnesota’s lead to one, 21-20. Minnesota answered with P. Tapp kill then P. Tapp, Lohman and Hart shut the door on Maryland with a triple block. Minnesota went on to win 25-22.

Sarah Wilhite led Minnesota with 13 kills hitting .355. Alexis Hart added eight kills, hitting .438. Samantha Seliger-Swenson put up 34 assists. Dalianliz Rosado had 10 digs. Molly Lohman led Minnesota’s front line with six blocks; both Tapp sisters had four blocks. The Gophers hit .304 as a team and had 10.5 blocks.

One last regular season road trip for the Gophers as they down to Illinois to face the Illini and Northwestern Wildcats this weekend.

You can vote for the Tapp twins for the Senior CLASS Award here.