The Ohio State women’s volleyball team began this year’s Big Ten season as harmless as a toddler, as the young team struggled to an 0-3 conference start.But as the season has progressed, the Buckeyes have learned from their mistakes and now the toddler has grown into a vicious monster which has destroyed eight out of its last nine Big Ten opponents.On Saturday, Minnesota became the Buckeyes’ latest victim as OSU dominated the Golden Gophers 15-13, 15-4, 15-6 in front of 741 fans at St. Johns Arena.”We’re getting better,” said OSU head coach Jim Stone. “I think we’re playing a lot more consistently in terms of not making as many errors, and we’re starting to play better defense and block more balls.”Over the weekend, the Buckeyes (17-7, 8-4) easily defeated both Minnesota and Iowa to increase their home winning streak to five games and improve their overall home record to 8-2.”It was important for us to keep our home winning streak alive, especially against a team like Minnesota, because they beat us pretty badly earlier this season,” said OSU outside hitter Rosie Snow.In the first game, senior outside hitter Andrea Pankova helped the Buckeyes jump out to a quick 5-0 lead, by scoring two service aces and two kills to begin the game.Minnesota then rallied behind numerous kills from freshman outside hitters Sonja Posthuma and Nicole Branagh, to score nine consecutive points on the way to taking a 13-6 lead.The Buckeyes did not give up, however, as outside hitters Vanessa Wouters and Rosie Snow took control by scoring three kills each, to tie the game at 13-13.Two Minnesota hitting errors then gave OSU a 15-13 win and from there the Buckeyes completely dominated the rest of the match.In the second game, the Buckeyes raced out to a 13-1 lead on the way to a 15-4 win, as Minnesota could not defend against the outside hitting onslaught provided by Wouters, Pankova, and Snow.Minnesota jumped out to a 5-2 lead in game three, but once again the Buckeyes’ offense could not be stopped as Pankova and Wouters smashed kill after kill after kill to lead OSU to a 15-6 win.”This was a very important win for us because Minnesota was tied with us in the Big Ten,” said OSU middle blocker Shellye Sills. “We are still a very young team, but in each game we are learning something new to help us in the next match we play.”