University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Opposite
/ Volleyball
Outside
/ Volleyball
Middle Blocker
/ Volleyball
No. 19 Minnesota Rolls Rutgers
11/23/2025 5:40:00 PM | Volleyball
The Gophers improved to 21-8 (11-7 B1G)
PISCATAWAY, N.J. --Â The No. 19 Minnesota volleyball team swept the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday evening at Jersey Mike's Arena. The set scores were 25-19, 25-21, 25-16. The Gophers have now won four straight matches heading into the final two games of the season.
Kelly Kinney paced the Gophers with 10 kills and a career-high six blocks while Carly Gilk had eight kills and seven digs. Lourdes Myers went for seven kills and seven blocks while Jordan Taylor added seven blocks.
"This is one of the most supportive teams I've ever been on," said Kinney. "We lean on each other so much both on and off the court and we really have been able to grow together this year."
The Gophers (21-8, 11-7 Big Ten) outhit the Scarlet Knights (11-19, 2-16 Big Ten) .373 to .170. Minnesota had more blocks (14Â to 5) and digs (28 to 26). The two teams tied with six aces.
"We had a hard time in Minneapolis with Rutgers on offense, so it was a big deal for us to have a better defensive performance tonight," said head coach Keegan Cook. "Now we get to go home and play two great Big Ten opponents with a lot on the line. I'm excited for our young group and hope we can make some more memories here this week."
For Rutgers, Zora Hardison led the team with nine kills while Lily Bolen had 27 assists.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The two teams came out evenly, splitting the first 14 points before the Gophers went up 9-7 on a pair of RU errors. RU cut the lead to 10-9 after a kill before Minnesota got kills from Hanson and Gilk along with an ace from Gilk to go up 13-9. Rutgers would cut the lead to two at 15-13 heading into the media timeout. A block from Kinney an Taylor combined with an RU attacking error made it 17-13, forcing the home team into a timeout. The Gophers would extend their lead to five at 21-16 after kills from Swenson, Kinney, Taylor and Hanson. After a couple exchanges of points, RU called its last timeout of the set trailing 23-18. A kill from Kinney and an ace from Lourdes Myers ended the set with a 25-19 Gophers win. Minnesota hit .530 for the frame and had six players with multiple kills in the frame.
SET 2 | Rutgers started out strong, scoring seven of the first 10 points. Minnesota would respond with five of the next six to tie it up at 8-8. Myers had a pair of blocks and a kill in the run while Kinney and Swenson posted kills as well. A kill and a block helped RU go up 10-8 but Minnesota answered with seven of the next eight to take a 15-11 lead into the media break. Kinney tallied a kill along with two combo blocks with Taylor in the spurt. After the timeout, Minnesota got a kill from Gilk, block from Kinney and Taylor and an ace from Kinney to go up 18-12. RU called a timeout at that point. The Scarlet Knights would respond with five of the next seven after the timeout, slicing the lead to 20-17. Coach Cook called his first timeout of the frame at that point. Two kills from Hanson helped Minnesota go up 22-17 before three straight from RU cut the lead to two at 22-20, leading to Minnesota's last timeout of the frame. Two kills from Kinney made it 24-20, causing an RU timeout. The Gophers would close out set two with a 25-21 win.
SET 3 | RU came out hot again, tallying four of the first five points. The Gophers brought it back to within one at 7-6 following kills from Myers and Kinney. A service error and an RU kill put the home team up 9-6 before the Gophers tallied five straight to go up 11-9, forcing a timeout. Swenson had an ace and Gilk and Taylor combined for a block in the spurt. After the break, Gilk tallied three straight kills to put Minnesota up 14-11. The Scarlet Knights reeled off four consecutive after that to go up 15-14. The two teams exchanged points to 16-16 before the Gophers accelerated to the finish on a 9-0 run to win 25-16. Kinney had a trio of kills, Myers had two and Hanson had an ace in the final run.
Game Notes
» Minnesota is now 14-3 against Rutgers all-time.
» The 'U' clinched a winning Big Ten season for the 11th consecutive year with their 11th conference win today.
» The Gophers had 14 blocks, their 14th time this year with 10+.
» The 'U' hit over .300 for the 13th time this season and second straight match.
» The win was the Gophers 14th sweep of the year.
» Lourdes Myers had seven blocks, her eighth time this year with five-or-more.
» Jordan Taylor had seven blocks, her 10th time with five-or-more this year.
» Minnesota is now 19-3 against unranked teams this season.
» Kelly Kinney had a team-best 10 kills and a career-high six blocks.
Up Next
Minnesota hosts No. 11 Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 26. The match starts at 6 p.m. CT on BTN.
Kelly Kinney paced the Gophers with 10 kills and a career-high six blocks while Carly Gilk had eight kills and seven digs. Lourdes Myers went for seven kills and seven blocks while Jordan Taylor added seven blocks.
"This is one of the most supportive teams I've ever been on," said Kinney. "We lean on each other so much both on and off the court and we really have been able to grow together this year."
The Gophers (21-8, 11-7 Big Ten) outhit the Scarlet Knights (11-19, 2-16 Big Ten) .373 to .170. Minnesota had more blocks (14Â to 5) and digs (28 to 26). The two teams tied with six aces.
"We had a hard time in Minneapolis with Rutgers on offense, so it was a big deal for us to have a better defensive performance tonight," said head coach Keegan Cook. "Now we get to go home and play two great Big Ten opponents with a lot on the line. I'm excited for our young group and hope we can make some more memories here this week."
For Rutgers, Zora Hardison led the team with nine kills while Lily Bolen had 27 assists.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The two teams came out evenly, splitting the first 14 points before the Gophers went up 9-7 on a pair of RU errors. RU cut the lead to 10-9 after a kill before Minnesota got kills from Hanson and Gilk along with an ace from Gilk to go up 13-9. Rutgers would cut the lead to two at 15-13 heading into the media timeout. A block from Kinney an Taylor combined with an RU attacking error made it 17-13, forcing the home team into a timeout. The Gophers would extend their lead to five at 21-16 after kills from Swenson, Kinney, Taylor and Hanson. After a couple exchanges of points, RU called its last timeout of the set trailing 23-18. A kill from Kinney and an ace from Lourdes Myers ended the set with a 25-19 Gophers win. Minnesota hit .530 for the frame and had six players with multiple kills in the frame.
SET 2 | Rutgers started out strong, scoring seven of the first 10 points. Minnesota would respond with five of the next six to tie it up at 8-8. Myers had a pair of blocks and a kill in the run while Kinney and Swenson posted kills as well. A kill and a block helped RU go up 10-8 but Minnesota answered with seven of the next eight to take a 15-11 lead into the media break. Kinney tallied a kill along with two combo blocks with Taylor in the spurt. After the timeout, Minnesota got a kill from Gilk, block from Kinney and Taylor and an ace from Kinney to go up 18-12. RU called a timeout at that point. The Scarlet Knights would respond with five of the next seven after the timeout, slicing the lead to 20-17. Coach Cook called his first timeout of the frame at that point. Two kills from Hanson helped Minnesota go up 22-17 before three straight from RU cut the lead to two at 22-20, leading to Minnesota's last timeout of the frame. Two kills from Kinney made it 24-20, causing an RU timeout. The Gophers would close out set two with a 25-21 win.
SET 3 | RU came out hot again, tallying four of the first five points. The Gophers brought it back to within one at 7-6 following kills from Myers and Kinney. A service error and an RU kill put the home team up 9-6 before the Gophers tallied five straight to go up 11-9, forcing a timeout. Swenson had an ace and Gilk and Taylor combined for a block in the spurt. After the break, Gilk tallied three straight kills to put Minnesota up 14-11. The Scarlet Knights reeled off four consecutive after that to go up 15-14. The two teams exchanged points to 16-16 before the Gophers accelerated to the finish on a 9-0 run to win 25-16. Kinney had a trio of kills, Myers had two and Hanson had an ace in the final run.
Game Notes
» Minnesota is now 14-3 against Rutgers all-time.
» The 'U' clinched a winning Big Ten season for the 11th consecutive year with their 11th conference win today.
» The Gophers had 14 blocks, their 14th time this year with 10+.
» The 'U' hit over .300 for the 13th time this season and second straight match.
» The win was the Gophers 14th sweep of the year.
» Lourdes Myers had seven blocks, her eighth time this year with five-or-more.
» Jordan Taylor had seven blocks, her 10th time with five-or-more this year.
» Minnesota is now 19-3 against unranked teams this season.
» Kelly Kinney had a team-best 10 kills and a career-high six blocks.
Up Next
Minnesota hosts No. 11 Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 26. The match starts at 6 p.m. CT on BTN.
Highlights: Gophers 3, Rutgers 0
Sunday, November 23
Highlights: Gophers 3, Maryland 0
Friday, November 21
Highlights: Gophers 3, Iowa 0
Sunday, November 16
Highlights: Gophers 3, Penn State 0
Friday, November 14