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Sept. 12, 2004

Minneapolis, Minn. - Five University of Northern Iowa players reached double-figures in kills, but it was #5 Minnesota coming away with a hard-fought 3-1 win Sunday afternoon in the final match of the Diet Coke Classic. Game scores were 26-30, 30-25, 32-30 and 30-24 in favor of the Golden Gophers.

Senior Rachael Tink (Waterloo, Iowa), who was named to the all-tournament team, led the way with 14 kills. Shari Vermeer (Sioux Center, Iowa) recorded 12 kills, with Trista Humpal (New Hampton, Iowa) and Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) each added 11. Stephanie May (Dubuque, Iowa) had a season-high 18 digs for the Panthers

"I was very pleased with our play today," said UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen. "Obviously, the ultimate goal is to win matches, but the way we gave great effort today after yesterday was great to see. Minnesota kept making runs to put pressure on us, and we responded each time and didn't quit."

The Panthers used an early 7-0 run to take a 10-4 lead in game one, and eventually stretched it to 13-6. However, Minnesota rallied with an 8-1 run of its own to tie the game at 14-14. The teams then took turn trading points, before UNI took the lead for good, 25-24, on a Gophers hitting error. The Panthers scored six of the game's final eight points, three on kills by Rachael Tink. Shari Vermeer had six kills in the opening game for UNI.

Minnesota used an 8-0 run to open up a 25-18 lead late in game two, but UNI fought back to pull within 26-24 after a kill by Erin Hirsch (Waterloo, Iowa). That was as close as the Panthers would get as the Gophers won game two, 30-25. Tink had five kills in the second game for the Panthers.

Each team had opportunities to win the critical third game, with Minnesota eventually pulling out a 32-30 victory. The Gophers led, 27-24, before two kills by Danielle Brazda and a Laura Rowen block pulled the Panthers even. After a Gophers' kill, Rowen had back-to-back kills to give UNI a 29-28 lead. Erin Martin of Minnesota answered with a kill to even the score at 29-all, and after a UM service error, Martin had another kill to make the score 30-30. The Gophers scored the final two points to earn the third game win.

In the fourth game, Minnesota went on a 6-1 run early to open up a 16-9 lead, forcing UNI to battle from behind the rest of the way. The Panthers were able to pull within four points at 18-14, before Minnesota called a timeout, and the Gophers answered with five of the next six points to open up a 23-15 margin. UNI showed grit late in the game, running off eight of the final 10 points, but Minnesota claimed the fourth game, 30-24, and the match.

With the win, Minnesota improves to 7-1 while UNI falls to 3-4. The Panthers' next match will be this Friday, when they open their home season against Bradley at 7:30 p.m. in the two-day Panther Invitational.