COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State (18-7 overall, 6-6 Big Ten) women's volleyball team, with four players scoring double-figure points, upset seventh-ranked Minnesota (17-7, 8-4), 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-15) Saturday night in St. John Arena. The Buckeye victory is OSU's first win over a ranked team in 19 tries under head coach Geoff Carlston. Buckeye Katie Dull posted a team-high 12.5 points (10 kill, two ace serves and one assist block) with Kelli Barhorst contributing 11 (nine kills, one ace serve and two assist blocks), Emily Danks 10.5 (nine kills, one ace serve and one assist block) and Anna Szerszen 10 (eight kills, one ace serve and two assist blocks). Lauren Gibbemeyer posted a match-high 13.5 points (12 kills, one solo block and one assist block) for Minnesota with Ariana Filho adding six points (six kills).
Ohio State opened the first set by scoring the first 10 points of the match. The run began with an Ashley Hughes kill, a Minnesota error, two kills from Barhorst and a solo block by Hughes for a 5-0 lead. Two kills each from Hughes and Dull and a Gopher error made it 10-0. Two Buckeye errors and one from Minnesota moved the score to 11-2. Three kills from Gibbemeyer, two Buckeye errors, a Tabitha Love solo block and one from Gibbemeyer cut the OSU lead to 11-9. A Barhorst kill and a Danks-Barhorst block made it 13-9, OSU. At 23-19, an ace serve from Amanda Peterson made it 24-19 and set point for Ohio State. A Buckeye error stopped the point at 24-20. Ohio State won the set, 25-20 with a kill from Danks to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .130 for the set to .114 for Minnesota.
Tied at two in set two, kills from Barhorst and Danks gave OSU a 4-2 lead. A kill from Gibbemeyer cut the lead to one at 4-3. A Minnesota error and back-to-back kills from Danks gave the Buckeyes a 7-3 lead. At 17-13, a Dozier-Anna Szerszen block, a Szerszen kill and two Minnesota errors gave OSU a 21-13 lead. A Minnesota kill from Katherine Harms and an OSU error made it 21-15. A Kristen Dozier kill and an ace serve from Danks put the lead at eight, 23-15. A Hailey Cowles kill and a Buckeye error reduced the lead to six at 23-17. The Buckeyes, with a Szerszen kill, reached set point at 24-17. Minnesota kills from Megan Wilson and Gibbemeyer stopped two set points to make the score, 24-19. The Buckeyes, off a Minnesota error, won the set, 25-19, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .516 for the set to .314 for the Golden Gophers.
Set three saw a four-four tie broken with a five-point Buckeye run to open a 9-4 lead. Kills from Szerszen and Danks and an ace serve from Barhorst made it 7-4 as Minnesota called time out. OSU made it 9-4 with back-to-back kills from Danks. The Gophers responded with kills from Filho and Tabitha Love to make it 9-6. Szerszen, with two kills, made it 11-6. Two OSU errors, one from Minnesota and a Szerszen kill moved the score to 13-8. A Minnesota error, a solo block from Hughes and a Dull-Barhorst block gave Ohio State a 16-8 lead. Two kills from Gibbemeyer and two Minnesota errors moved the score to 18-10, OSU. Two ace serves from Dull and a Minnesota error opened a 21-10 Buckeye lead. A Gibbemeyer-Taylor Carico block and a kill from Barhorst made it 22-11. A Minnesota error and a Filho kill moved the score to 23-12. A Buckeye error made it 23-13. Ohio State reached match point with a kill from Danks at 24-13. Two OSU errors stopped match points to cut the lead to 24-15. The Buckeyes, with a Dozier-Szerszen block, won the set, 25-15 to win the match, 3-0. Ohio State hit .320 for the set to .042 for Minnesota.
Ohio State hit .294 for the match to .170 for Minnesota. The Buckeyes had a 45-33 margin in kills and a six-to-two edge in ace serves. OSU's Dull posted a match-high two aces in the match. Minnesota gave up seven service errors to four for OSU. Defensively, Ohio State had a 44-39 advantage in digs. Dull posted a match-high 13 for the Buckeyes for a double-double (kills-digs). At the net, Ohio State had a six to three margin in team blocks. Five players shared match-high honors with two blocks each. OSU's Barhorst, Dozier and Szerszen had two assist blocks each while Hughes' posted two solo blocks. For Minnesota, Gibbemeyer recorded a solo and an assist block in the match. At setter, OSU's Hughes posted a match-high 37 assists while Carico recorded 31 for Minnesota.
Ohio State returns to the road next week to play at Iowa, Friday, Nov. 6 and at Wisconsin, Saturday, Nov. 7.
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