Volleyball and Wrestling Wins for Gophers

The University of Minnesota upset No. 16 Purdue in three sets, 25-21, 25-17, and 25-16, Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion to improve their overall record to 18-11, and 8-10 in Big Ten play.

Daly Santana led the team in kills with 15, hit .324, and added nine digs. Alyssa Goehner was the team leader in digs with a total of 10. Erica Handley had 17 assists in the match, while Katie Schau had 13. Paige Tapp led the team with 10 total blocks and added five kills. As a team, the Gophers hit .265 to Purdue’s .066. The Gophers also outblocked the Boilermakers 13-4.

Minnesota looks to get their next win on the road at Ohio State, Wednesday at 6:00.

Set 1: Minnesota took a 25-21 first set win and 1-0 lead. The Gophers opened up the set with an 8-4 lead, but the Boilermakers came back to tie the set and later take a 9-8 lead on an ace. The Gophers took a timeout and the two teams exchanged points until the 17-17 mark. The Gophers used a two-point lead on a Santana kill and another from Goehner for a 19-17 lead. That was all the Gophers needed to propel the lead for the remainder of the set. Minnesota pushed the lead to 22-18 on a block from Paige Tapp and Goehner. Purdue fought back to cut the lead to 22-21 on a block, but Minnesota put away the set on a kill from Goehner, a block from Paige Tapp and Hannah Tapp and a Boilermaker attack error to put Minnesota up, 1-0.

Set 2: Minnesota used five blocks in the second set to earn a 25-17 second set win. Despite the Boilermakers attempting 41 swings to Minnesota’s 24, the Gophers had the five blocks to Purdue’s one. After the two teams started with an 8-8 tie, Minnesota went on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 15-8. In that span, Purdue used both of its timeouts as the Gophers accomplished three blocks and forced three Purdue attack errors. Minnesota would later push the score to 20-11 after a 3-0 run off a block from Paige Tapp and Santana and back-to-back kills from Santana. Purdue cut the lead to 23-16, but the Gophers closed out the set on a kill from Wilhite for set point and a Purdue attack error as the Gophers went up, 2-0.

Set 3: Minnesota swept the Boilermakers on a 25-16 third set win as it hit .438 in the final set. The Gophers had 15 kills, committed just one error in 32 attempts, while Purdue had 14 kills, eight errors in 35 attempts to hit .171. In the third set alone, Santana had seven kills in 13 swings to hit .538. The Gophers also accomplished four blocks in the set. Minnesota opened up the third set with a 12-6 lead on a Hannah Tapp and Molly Lohman block. The Gophers pushed the score to 17-9 on another block, this time from Lohman and Wilhite. A Goehner ace gave the Gophers a 22-12 lead, while Santana pushed it to match point. She also finished off the Boilermakers with her 15th kill of the evening and a 3-0 win.

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For the second straight night, No. 1 Minnesota put up 36 points and nine match wins in a home dual, defeating Michigan State 36-3 on Friday night at the Sports Pavilion only 24 hours removed from knocking off Grand Canyon. The victory improves the Gophers to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Big Ten, extending the team's winning streak in Big Ten home openers to seven, and its win streak in the series against Michigan State to eight.

Three highly ranked Gopher wrestlers - No. 2 Chris Dardanes (133), No. 3 Nick Dardanes (141) and No. 1 Scott Schiller (197) - all returned to the lineup for the conference opener and each reminded fans why they are considered some of the nation's best at their respective weight classes. Chris Dardanes handled No. 16 Javier Gasca 10-4 in the night's lone matchup between ranked opponents. After watching his brother return to action with a victory, Nick stepped onto the mat in the next match and pinned Garth Yenter at the last second, literally, as 0:01 showed on the first period clock when the fall was called. Later in the dual, Schiller scored a fall of his own, pinning Nick McDiarmid at 4:36. In each of his three victories this season, Schiller has pinned his opponent.

The Dardanes matches immediately followed the Gophers only loss on the night, a hard-fought 7-5 decision that went against Jordan Bremer at 125. Leading by six after the pin at 141, the Maroon and Gold never looked back. Seth Lange made his season dual debut next at 149 and won a convincing 7-2 decision. No. 1 Dylan Ness earned a major decision, 9-1, at 157. No. 15 Nick Wanzek trailed 3-2 after the second period of the next match, but scored three points in the third period and added a bonus point for riding time to win an exciting 5-3 decision and keep his career dual record perfect at 4-0. No. 1 Logan Storley stretched his streak of scoring bonus points in every match he's wrestled this season to eight by defeating Nick Proctor by tech fall, 16-0, at 5:26. At 184, No. 14 Brett Pfarr needed two brief blood time stoppages but took his match 6-2. No. 20 Michael Kroells wrapped up the dual with a 7-2 win at 285.

After competing four times in seven days, the Gophers will have a few days off to prepare for their next dual, a top 10 matchup against No. 9 Oklahoma State next Saturday at the Sports Pavilion. The match will be streamed on BTN Plus and updates from throughout the meet will be provided on the Gopher Wrestling Twitter feed.

Match Results

125: Mitch Rogaliner (MSU) dec. Jordan Bremer (Minn), 7-5 / Minnesota 0 - Michigan State 3
133: No. 2 Chris Dardanes (Minn) dec. No. 16 Javier Gasca (MSU), 10-4 / Minnesota 3 - Michigan State 3
141: No. 3 Nick Dardanes (Minn) fall (2:59) Garth Yenter (MSU) / Minnesota 9 - Michigan State 3
149: Seth Lange (Minn) dec. Nick Trimble (MSU), 7-2 / Minnesota 12 - Michigan State 3
157: No. 1 Dylan Ness (Minn) maj. dec. Roger Wildmo (MSU), 9-1 / Minnesota 16 - Michigan State 3
165: No. 15 Nick Wanzek (Minn) dec. Ryan Watts (MSU), 5-3 / Minnesota 19 - Michigan State 3
174: No. 1 Logan Storley (Minn) tech. fall (5:26) Nick Proctor (MSU), 16-0 / Minnesota 24 - Michigan State 3
184: No. 14 Brett Pfarr (Minn) dec. John Rizqallah (MSU), 6-2 / Minnesota 27 - Michigan State 3
197: No. 1 Scott Schiller (Minn) fall (4:36) Nick McDiarmid (MSU) / Minnesota 33 - Michigan State 3
HWT: No. 20 Michael Kroells (Minn) dec. Luke Jones (MSU), 7-2 / Minnesota 36 - Michigan State 3

Source: Gophersports.com