After losing the first set, the No. 3-ranked Gophers volleyball team recovered to beat Maryland 17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-20 on Friday night in College Park, Md., to remain unbeaten in Big Ten play and clinch at least a tie for the conference title.
On Saturday, Minnesota (23-2, 17-0 Big Ten) can win the title outright with a victory at Ohio State or if second-place Illinois loses at Rutgers.
This is the Gophers' third Big Ten title; they won in 2002 and 2015.
Freshman Adanna Rollins led the Gophers with 19 kills. Stephanie Samedy added 16 kills, 12 digs and hit a team-high .361. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 48 assists and CC McGraw 18 digs.
Erika Pritchard led the Terrapins (17-12, 8-9) with 16 kills and 18 digs.
Maryland outhit the Gophers, .242 to .209 and outblocked them 11-6. But the Gophers had more service aces (6-1) and total attacks (158-149). And the Gophers played better at the end, especially Samedy.
Ahead 22-19 in the second set, the Gophers ended the match on three consecutive points — two on attack errors by Maryland, with a Samedy kill in between. Samedy also got kills on set point in the third set and on match point in the fourth.
News Services
