Maryland
Minnesota
No. 23 Minnesota Downs Terps, 3-0
10/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
MINNEAPOLIS – The Maryland volleyball team fell, 3-0 (15-25, 24-26, 17-25), to No. 23 Minnesota Friday.
The Gophers (12-4, 2-3 Big Ten) are the sixth ranked team the Terps (7-9, 0-5 Big Ten) have faced in the last eight matches. Northwestern, one of the unranked teams Maryland faced, received votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll when the teams played and is now ranked 24th.
“Minnesota is an exceptionally well-coached team,” said head coach Steve Aird. “They have an excellent program and really good athletes who competed at a pretty high level tonight. I thought we fought pretty hard in game two and did some nice things. We've got to get better, watch some film and get ready for one of the best teams in the country in Wisconsin.”
The Gophers jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first set. Freshman middle blocker Hailey Murray made a big block to make the set 13-7, and senior outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher made her first of a team-high 12 kills to bring the game to 19-9. Minnesota sealed the set, 25-15.
The Terps countered in the second set, leading for most of the game. Maryland took a 10-6 lead before Minnesota took a timeout. The Terps worked up to a 17-13 lead on a Crutcher kill before the Gophers began fighting back.
Minnesota tied the set at 21. Despite two more kills from Murray and one from Crutcher, Minnesota took the second set, 26-24. The Terps hit .314 in the second set and Crutcher made six kills.
After the intermission, two kills and a service ace game the Gophers a 3-0 lead. Despite five more Crutcher kills and a pair of blocks from sophomore middle blocker Ashlyn MacGregor, Minnesota maintained the lead, 15-11. Kelsey Hrebenach, Chavi St. Hill, Murray and Whitney Craigo peppered in kills, but a Gopher kill took the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-0.
Junior defensive specialist Dani Bozzini made two service aces. Crutcher made a team-high 13 kills while Murray and Fraik each had seven. Junior libero Amy Dion made 14 digs, and Craigo led the team with 17 assists.
The Terps take on No. 6 Wisconsin in Madison at 2 p.m. Sunday. The match will be broadcast on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
