University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Omaha for Final Four
12/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| Minnesota vs. Texas (Final Four National Semifinal) | |||||||||||
| Thursday, Dec. 17 | Minnesota vs. Texas | 6 p.m. | ||||||||||
| Location | CenturyLink Center | Omaha, Neb. | ||||||||||
| TV | ESPN2 | ||||||||||
| Watch Online | Thursday | ||||||||||
| Live Stats | |||||||||||
| Game Day Live | Live Updates | ||||||||||
| Official Sites | Minnesota | Texas | ||||||||||
| Social Media | @GopherVball | Facebook | ||||||||||
Notes
GOPHERS ADVANCE TO FINAL FOUR
The University of Minnesota volleyball team earned a 3-0 win over Illinois and a 3-1 win over Hawaii to advance to the NCAA Final Four, held in Omaha, Neb., and CenturyLink Center. Minnesota will play No. 3 seed Texas in the first NCAA National Semifinal game, Thursday at 6 p.m. No. 4 seed Nebraska and No. 9 seed Kansas will play at 8:30 p.m.
FOLLOWING THE GOPHERS
The Minnesota/Texas match will be televised live on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. A game day live page and live statistics will be available on gophersports.com.
ALL TIME SERIES & LAST TIME
Minnesota and Texas have faced each other seven times in school history, dating back to 1981 with Minnesota holding a slight 4-3 all time record. The Gophers and Longhorns split action the last time the two teams faced each other in 2012. Minnesota won the first contest, 3-1, on Sept. 6, 2012. The very next night, Texas won, 3-1. In the Gopher win, Minnesota at the time, snapped a Texas 33-straight home wins, dating back to Sept. 4, 2010.
GOPHERS RECEIVE NO. 2 SEED
The Gophers earned a No. 2 overall seed, which marks the highest seed for the Golden Gophers in school history, topping the previous best, No. 4 in 2004 and 2000. Of the 64 teams to make it to the NCAA Tournament, Minnesota played 12 this season.
MINNESOTA IN THE FINAL FOUR
The Golden Gophers are making their 20th school appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota is playing in its fourth Final Four in school history. The previous three date back to 2003, 2004 and most recently 2009. Coincidentally, the Gophers faced Texas in the National Semifinal in 2009 and fell in three sets. Minnesota has advanced to the national championship game once in school history, dating back to 2004. The only schools with more appearances in that span are Penn State (7), Texas (6), Stanford (5), and USC (5).
ABOUT THE FIELD
The No. 3 seed Texas Longhorns stayed in Austin, Texas for the first four rounds of the tournament. In the opening weekend, Texas defeated Fairfield (3-0) and Purdue (3-1). Last weekend, the Longhorns earned a 3-1 victory over UCLA and 3-2 decision over Florida to advance to the Final Four.
Nebraska opened NCAA post season play with a 3-1 win over Harvard, followed by a 3-0 victory against Wichita State. The Cornhuskers traveled to Lexington, Ky., and won 3-0 over Brigham Young in the Sweet 16. The Huskers punched their ticket to Omaha with a 3-1 win over Washington.
Kansas is the No. 9 overall seed and hosted the First and Second Rounds with wins against Furman (3-0) and Missouri (3-0). The Jayhawks traveled to San Diego and defeated Loyola Marymount (3-1) in the Sweet 16). Kansas earned a 3-2 win over No. 1 seed USC to advance to its first Final Four in school history.
ABOUT TEXAS
The No. 3 seed Texas Longhorns enter the Final Four with a 29-2 overall record and are making their fourth-straight Final Four appearance. During the regular season, Texas won the Big-12 title with a 15-1 record. As a team, the Longhorns are hitting .308, average 14.39 digs per set and 2.51 blocks per set. Amy Neal leads the team with 447 kills and averages 4.22 kills per set in 1150 attempts. Paulina Prieto Cerame has 307 kills, while middle blockers Chiaka Ogbogu and Molly McCage are hitting .411 and .377 for the season. Chloe Collins has 1215 assists, while libero Cat McCoy has 439 digs.
ELITE EIGHT RECAP
Minnesota defeated Hawaii in four sets in the NCAA Regional Finals on last Saturday night. The Gophers took the Rainbow Wahine to four sets, 25-18, 25-13, 24-26, 25-21. Daly Santana, Hannah Tapp, and Sarah Wilhite were named to the All-Tournament Team, with Santana being named Outstanding Player of the Regional. Minnesota out hit the 'Bows .403 to .210, and out blocked them 12-4. Santana led the team with a match-high 26 kills, hitting .438, and contributed 12 digs with three blocks. H Tapp hit 15 kills with zero errors, hitting a team-high .600, adding five blocks.
DID YOU KNOW?
With sweeps over Jackson State, Marquette and Illinois in the first three rounds of the 2015 Tournament, it was the first time Minnesota has swept its way into the Elite Eight. Minnesota earned 3-0 wins over Jackson State and Marquette to advance to the Sweet 16. The only other times came in 2004 and 2010. In 2004, the Gophers defeated Georgia Tech, 3-2, to get to the Regional Semifinals, while in 2010 Minnesota fell to Cal, 3-0.
GOPHERS ADD SIX AVCA ALL-REGION HONORS
The University of Minnesota had four representatives on the American Volleyball Coaches Association's All-North Region Team, announced today by the AVCA. Daly Santana, Samantha Seliger-Swenson, Hannah Tapp and Paige Tapp were all-region selections. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon was named the North Region's Coach of the Year, while Seliger-Swenson was named the North Region's Freshman of the Year.
Paige Tapp NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Paige Tapp has been named a Second Team Academic All-American, announced last week by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The award marks the first Academic All-America honor for Tapp and the University's first since Cassie Busse in 2003.
A marketing major through Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, Tapp holds a 3.87 cumulative grade point average as a junior. A First Team All-District last season, Tapp garnered her second All-America honor as a Golden Gopher after receiving third team laurels from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as a sophomore last year.
MCCUTCHEON REACHES NO. 100
With the win over Ohio State on Nov. 25, head coach Hugh McCutcheon reached the 100-win milestone in just four years. In his first year as Gopher head coach, McCutcheon went 27-8 in 2012, 29-7 in his second year and 19-12 last year. With a 30-4 mark this season, McCutcheon now sits at 105-31 at the Gopher helm.
