No. 12 Minnesota defeats new Big Ten-foe UCLA in 5 sets

The Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team (9-4, 2-1) took down the UCLA Bruins (7-5, 1-2) in five sets at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Friday night.

Melani Shaffmaster made history on Friday night, becoming the first Gopher in program history to record 4,000 career assists, 1,000 digs, 300 kills and 300 blocks.

It marked the team's first-ever road match against their new Big Ten Conference foe.

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Minnesota hit .189 compared to UCLA's .183 for the entire match. The Gophers also had more blocks (12 to 11) and aces (6 to 4) but trailed in kills (68 to 58) and digs (84 to 66).

It's a bounceback win for the Gophers, who entered the match coming off a loss to No. 10 Purdue last weekend.

Related: Gophers volleyball falls short of No. 10 Purdue in 5-set battle

Lydia Grote led the Golden Gophers with 13 kills while Calissa Minatee had 11 and three blocks. Shaffmaster finished with 41 assists, nine digs, eight kills and four blocks. Phoebe Awoleye put up a team-high six blocks.

The Gophers won the first two sets as both teams went back and forth in the first set before Minnesota eventually extended its lead to 16-8. UCLA fought back to make it 22-21 Gophers but Minnesota closed out the first set 25-21.

The second set saw the Bruins storm out to a 10-4 early lead before Minnesota went on a 9-3 run to tie it at 13. The Gophers eventually had a one-point lead at 18-17 and UCLA failed to snag a lead after that, trailing by one twice (21-20 and 23-22) before a Grote kill and Awoleye's solo block ended the second set 25-22 Minnesota.

For the second consecutive set, UCLA started hot again as they built a 7-3 lead early on.Minnesota's 7-4 run put the Gophers behind one 11-10. Minnesota jumped out to a 13-12 lead but the Bruins went on a short run to make it 17-14 in favor of the home team. The Gophers did cut the lead to two at 22-20 but UCLA wrapped up the third set with a 25-21 win.

UCLA once more started out fast in the fourth set, as they led 8-5 before the Gophers tied it up at eight. Both teams stayed close before UCLA led 17-16 but Minnesota ended up tying it at 23. The Bruins went up 24-23 before eventually closing out the set at 27-25.

In the fifth and final set of the night, the Gophers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before the Bruins went up 4-3. Minnesota then led 8-6 after a kill from Lauren Cowl. An Elise McGhie ace put Minnesota up 10-6 and UCLA wouldn't get closer than three points in the set, as the Gophers won 15-10 and closed out the match.

In matches that have gone in five sets this season, the Gophers are 3-4. The other six matches played have all been sweeps.

Minnesota will next take on No. 21 USC (10-3, 2-1) on Saturday night at the Galen Center. First serve is scheduled for 10 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.