It was just Minnesota’s second five-setter this year, and the Gophers are 1-1 in those matches.
Taylor Landfair led Minnesota with 19 kills and Jenna Wenaas tallied 14 kills and nine digs. Melani Shaffmaster went for 43 assists and 18 digs while CC McGraw paced the backcourt with 13 digs.
As a team, Minnesota (15-7, 10-4 Big Ten) hit .259 with 54 kills, 11 team blocks, 57 digs and six aces. Illinois (11-13, 6-8 Big Ten) hit .222 with 68 kills, eight team blocks, 63 digs and five aces.
Brooke Mosher and Raina Terry led Illinois with 21 kills.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: After the Illini scored first, the Gophers reeled off eight of the next nine points to take a commanding 8-2 lead. Lauren Crowl started the ‘U off with a kill and Elise McGhie followed with an ace. Jenna Wenaas and Taylor Landfair had a pair of early kills as well. The Gophers would go up 11-4 before Illinois called its first timeout. The Illini would cut the lead to five at 14-9 before the Gophers sent it back to seven at 19-12 after kills from Carter Booth and Wenaas. The Illini scored to make it 19-13 before a kill from Arica Davis and a UI attacking error put Minnesota up 21-13, causing the home team to take its last timeout of the frame. Illinois would get no closer than eight the rest of the way as the ‘U’ closed out set one, 25-15. Minnesota hit .417 compared to just .139 for the Illini. Wenaas and Landfair had three kills each while Booth and Davis had two.
Set 2: Illinois jumped out quickly in set two, scoring seven of the first 11 and nine of the first 14 to take a 9-5 lead. Minnesota would answer back, scoring five of the next seven to cut the lead to just one at 11-10. Wenaas had a kill in the spurt combined with three UI attacking errors. The Illini would respond right back, tacking on five of the next six to go up a then set-high five at 16-11, forcing a Minnesota timeout. The Gophers would get no closer the rest of the way, as the Illini played evenly until scoring five of the final six points of the set to win, 25-16. Through two, the teams were tied at one set apiece.
Set 3: The Illini came out hot once again, tallying five of the first seven off four kills to go up 5-2. A pair of kills each from Booth and Landfair helped the Gophers tie it back up and six and seven. A kill and an ace helped UI take a two-point lead once again at 10-8 before Minnesota answered back to tie it up. The Gophers took their first lead of the set at 12-11 after a kill from Booth. The ‘U’ would score three of the next four, getting a kill from Melani Shaffmaster and an ace from Landfair to go up 15-12, forcing an Illinois timeout. A kill from Wenaas and another ace from Landfair capped a 9-2 Minnesota run to take control of the set with a 17-12 advantage. A pair of attacking errors from UI and a kill from Davis put the ‘U’ up 21-16, causing the home team to take its final timeout of the set. The Gophers would close out set three, winning 25-19. The Gophers closed on a 17-9 run after trailing 10-8.
Set 4: Minnesota jumped out to an early 5-2, lead, getting consecutive aces from Rachel Kilkelly in the early-going. The ‘U’ went up 8-3 after a kill from Wenaas, but a 5-0 run paced by two kills from UI’s Raina Terry tied it at eight and forced a Minnesota timeout. Kills from Shaffmaster and Landfair made it 12-9 Minnesota until the Illini got two straight kills to cut the lead to one. Kills from Davis and Wenaas then sandwiched a UI attacking error, putting the Gophers up 15-11 and forcing a timeout from the home team. Four straight points from the Illini would tie the match at 15 out of the break. The Gophers would respond, scoring four of the next five to go up 19-16, leading to the final timeout from Illinois. Kilkelly capped the spurt with her third ace of the match. Minnesota would go up 20-16 after a Landfair kill, but the Illini responded with a 5-0 charge, taking a 21-20 lead and forcing a Minnesota timeout. UI would go up 22-20 before a Wenaas kill and Booth block tied it up. The teams would exchange points to 23 before the Illini closed it out with two kills to win, 25-23.
Set 5: The two teams exchanged the first six points before a Gophers service error and UI ace put the home team up 5-3. An Illini error and a kill from Davis tied it up at 5-5. The Gophers would go up 7-6 before Illinois scored the next two to go up 8-7 as the teams flipped sides of the net. The two teams would go back and forth, tying at eight, nine, 10, and 11 before the Illini called a timeout with the ‘U’ taking a 12-11 lead. Minnesota went up 13-11 and 14-12, Illinois cut it to 14-13 before Wenaas closed it out with a kill. She led the ‘U’ with three kills in the final set.
UP NEXT: Minnesota (15-7, 10-4 Big Ten) returns home to take on Maryland (6:30 p.m. on Friday) and Indiana (2 p.m. on Sunday) to close out their Big Ten home slate. Sunday afternoon is senior day at the Pav. Both games will be shown on B1G+.
Notable:
-Minnesota moves to 44-40-1 all-time against Illinois, including a 15-2 record under Hugh. Minnesota has won eight in-a-row and 12 of 13 against the Illini.
–CC McGraw (13) tallied her 98th career 10+ dig outing, including her 13th this season. She’s now up to 1,809 for her career, just 61 behind Dalianliz Rosado for the No. 3 spot in Minnesota laurels.
-McGraw is the fourth Gopher to go over 1,800 career digs.
–Melani Shaffmaster posted 43 assists and 18 digs, her 11th double double this season.
–Taylor Landfair (19) totaled double digit kills for the 22nd time this season and 40th time in her career. She’s one of two Power Five players in the country to have double digit kills in every match.
–Carter Booth tallied six blocks, her eighth 5+ block match this season.
–Rachel Kilkelly tallied 11 digs, her fourth 10+ dig match of 2022, and third consecutive.
-Kilkelly also had three aces, her first 3+ ace match of the year and fifth of her career.
-Minnesota (11) posted 10+ blocks for the 14th time this season.
