The Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team kept on rolling Friday night with a sweep (25-15, 25-15, 28-26) of Michigan State in East Lansing. It was the third straight win for the 15th-ranked Gophers, who move to 15-6 (8-3 in Big Ten play) on the season. Follow All Gophers on Facebook Minnesota started fast, grabbing five of the first six points.
After a couple of Spartans points, the Gophers started to pull away, holding a 15-8 lead at the media timeout and cruising the rest of the way to a 1-0 lead. The Maroon and Gold hit .333 in the opening frame compared to Michigan State's .
077. The second set went down in similar fashion, with the Gophers starting strong — they scored collected seven of the first 10 points — and again led 15-8. The Spartans got a little closer than in the first frame but the Gophers again pulled away to take the stanza.
Michigan State was determined to avoid a sweep, coming out strong in the third set to take an early lead. However, Minnesota responded, going on a 7-2 run to grab the lead. The Spartans tied it up at 13-13 and it was back-and-forth from there.
After the Gophers grabbed a 24-23 lead, the Spartans fought off a couple match points but the Maroon and Gold finally closed them out, 28-26, to finish off the sweep. The Gophers outhit the Spartans .350 to .
151 on the night. Julia Hanson had a double-double to lead Minnesota with 16 kills and 10 digs; Melani Shaffmaster had 35 assists; and Calissa Minatee had a match-high four blocks. Minne.
