Final Stats

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. -- Beginning its weekend of top-five matchups, the Rutgers women's volleyball team was defeated by No. 3 Minnesota on Friday night at the Sports Pavilion. The Golden Gophers (16-4, 8-3 Big Ten) topped the Scarlet Knights (4-20, 0-11 Big Ten) by set scores of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-15.

Rutgers was led by senior right side Lauren Cloyd with eight kills. Freshman middle blocker Jasmine Stackhouse added in six kills and a team-best four blocks.

Paige Tapp and Sarah Wilhite each added in 11 kills each for Minnesota. Tapp led with a .400 hitting percentage and also registered four blocks. Molly Lohman posted four blocks of her own in the win.

After falling behind 4-1 to start set one, RU rallied three consecutive points guided by two kills from Stackhouse to tie the score, 4-4. Although the Gophers would hold the edge, the Scarlet Knights kept the deficit to no more than three across the following serves. With a 12-9 lead, UM then went on to distance its lead to a 19-10 en route to a first set victory.

The Gophers moved into the lead to start the second but a kill for Fletcher kept the margin at 4-3. The Scarlet Knights remained strong as a Cole Trimble kill held the score at 8-6. Although another Trimble kill would stump a 5-0 run for the Gophers, Minnesota continued to add to its 13-7 advantage for its second consecutive win in the match.

The third set remained close at the beginning just as the previous two. A kill for Cloyd held the Gopher edge at 13-10. However, that is as close as the Scarlet Knights would come as Minnesota once again established a substantial lead on the board to pick up the win in the third and final set.

UP NEXT
Rutgers remains in the Midwest with a trip to No. 4 Wisconsin on Sunday, Oct. 30. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET on BTN Plus.

KNIGHT NOTES

• Rutgers faced its sixth ranked opponent of the season for its eighth overall match against a ranked team.

• The Gophers marked the second highest ranked opponent of the season coming in at third nationally. RU faced then No. 2 Wisconsin earlier in the month.

Follow Rutgers Volleyball on Twitter and Instagram (@RUvball) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersVolleyball). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter(@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), Snapchat (@RUAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics).

-RU-