Minnesota Puts Away Pepperdine in Five Games

Minnesota shocked fourth-seeded Pepperdine on Friday night, outlasting the Waves, 28-30, 30-28, 30-27, 26-30, 15-8, in the semifinals of the NCAA women’s volleyball regional at Long Beach State.

The Gophers (25-10) will play Washington tonight at 7 p.m. in the regional final, with the winner advancing to the national semifinals Thursday in Dallas.

Minnesota will next play Washington, which upset Stanford, last season’s national runner-up, 30-25, 26-30, 30-19, 30-26, in the other regional semifinal.

Pepperdine (27-3) never could shake the Gophers, and Minnesota raced to a 10-4 lead in the fifth game. The Gophers won the match after a furious rally, with outside hitter Trisha Bratford getting the winner from the back row when she split the Pepperdine defense.

The Waves, who saw their 27-match winning streak end, took leads of 11-7 and 22-16 in the first game, but Minnesota rallied to tie the score, 26-26, on an attack error by Pepperdine’s Katie Wilkins. Pepperdine got a break to take a 29-28 lead on a service error by Minnesota’s Marci Peniata and won the game on a kill by Wilkins to the left corner after the Gophers handed the Waves a free ball.

Minnesota appeared to take charge of the match in the third game, rallying from an 18-13 deficit. The Gophers outscored the Waves, 10-2, for a 23-20 lead. During that stretch, the Gophers got five kills from Erin Martin.

Pepperdine’s kill leader, Katie Wilkins, spent most of the time in the back row during the run and Pepperdine, without her firepower, had difficulties connecting with consistency. The Gophers got the game-winner on a Pepperdine handling error.

But the Waves responded, breaking open a tight battle late in the fourth game when they built a 27-25 lead in part because of a hitting error by Peniata.

-- Paul McLeod

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Top-ranked USC (32-0) got 14 kills from Bibiana Candelas and 13 from Keao Burdine in a 30-26, 30-25, 30-27 victory over Texas A&M; (23-10) to advance to the regional final at Lincoln, Neb.

The Trojans tonight will face cross-town rival UCLA (24-8), which upset No. 9 and host Nebraska, 20-30, 30-27, 30-21, 30-23.

The Bruins got 16 kills from Brynn Murphy to defeat the Cornhuskers (28-5).