Gophers volleyball bounces back, sweeps Rutgers

The No. 9 Gophers volleyball team bounced back from Friday's loss at Penn State by sweeping Rutgers 25-11, 25-19, 26-24 on Sunday in Piscataway, N.J.

Carter Booth led the Gophers (18-8, 13-5 Big Ten) with eight kills and five blocks and became the first Gophers freshman with 100 blocks in a season since Reagan Pittman i 2017. Jenna Wenaas had six kills, seven digs and three blocks, and Arica Davis went for a team-high eight blocks after having seven at Penn State.

The Gophers hit .244 to .099 for the Scarlet Knights (8-22, 2-16), who hit -.200 in the first set. Alissa Kinkela led Rutgers with 11 kills.

The Gophers close the regular season at No. 5 Ohio State on Friday and No. 6 Nebraska on Saturday. The NCAA selection show is Sunday night, with the Gophers aiming to earn a top-16 seed so that they can play at home to start the tournament.

Seeking a record-tying 10th NCAA volleyball championship, Concordia (St. Paul) won the Division II Central Region tournament by coming back to beat St. Cloud State 24-26, 17-25, 25-19, 25-12, 15-13 in Wayne, Neb.

Jasmine Mulvihill had 13 kills and Sophia Anderson, Katie Mattson and Emma Schmidt each had 11 for the Golden Bears (29-5), who trailed 11-7 in the fifth set before taking eight of the last 10 points.

Kenzie Foley had 21 kills to lead the Huskies (28-6), who upset host Wayne State on Saturday. The Huskies last advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1996.

Troy Spratley and Aaron Nagao earned pivotal victories in their first career starts and the Gophers wrestling team won four of the last five bouts to beat Binghamton 19-15 in their first dual meet of the season at Maturi Pavilion.

"It was a slow start for sure, but I thought the second half of the lineup did a really good job for us," coach Brandon Eggum said. "We fell into a little bit of a trap where we had a hard time engaging, and we struggled taking shots from distance and getting into scrambles."

Spratley defeated Micah Roes 4-3 at 125 pounds and Nagao followed at 133 by beating Ivan Garcia 8-2. Other winners for the Gophers included Andrew Sparks (165 pounds), Jared Krattiger (174), Michael Blockus (149) and Brayton Lee (157), who finished the competition with a 14-5 major decision against Connor Decker.

Payton Price and Nikki May scored second-half goals and Ferris State beat host Bemidji State 2-0 to advance to the NCAA Division II national semifinals in women's soccer for the first time.

Price scored on a header off a corner kick at 53:00 and May followed with a goal 3:13 later for the Bulldogs (12-5-7).

Alyssa Stumbaugh made five saves for the Beavers, who ended their season at 16-3-6.

Lyndon Hu scored on a penalty kick in the 25th minute and the Gustavus Adolphus men's soccer team lost in the NCAA sectional final 1-0 to host Chicago. The Gusties finished 15-2-6 and made their first NCAA quarter­final appearance since 2005.