Gophers Advance to Elite Eight with 3-2 Win Over Florida

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Schedule

Nov 1

8:00 PM

Volleyball

vs #22 USC

Nov 5

7:00 PM

Volleyball

at #12 Wisconsin

Nov 8

2:30 PM

Volleyball

vs #1 Nebraska

The University of Minnesota volleyball team earned a spot in the NCAA Regional Final with a 3-2 win over Florida, tonight, in Austin, Texas. The Golden Gophers (26-5) will face Louisville tomorrow at 7 p.m., for a chance at the NCAA Championship next week. The match is also televised on ESPNU.

The Golden Gophers had four student-athletes who gained double-digit kills. Minnesota was led by Alexis Hart, who had 16 kills in 38 attempts and hit .342. Adanna Rollins had 15 kills, while Regan Pittman had 14 (hit .458) and Taylor Morgan had 10 kills (hit .533) and a match-best seven blocks. Stephanie Samedy also added seven kills, 17 digs and six blocks. Kylie Miller posted a double-double with 49 assists, 10 digs, four blocks and an ace. CC McGraw added 16 digs.

As a team, the Golden Gophers led in hitting efficiency (.331), assists (61), digs (64) and blocks (13) and tied with 64 kills. Florida had 64 kills, hit .247, added eight aces and seven blocks.

Louisville, who defeated Texas, 3-2 earlier this evening, is 22-9 on the season. The Cardinals opened the NCAA Tournament by defeating Samford and punched their ticket to the Regional Semifinal with a win over No. 15 seed Western Kentucky. Louisville went up 2-0 on the Longhorns, 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 18-25, 15-12.

Quotable
"As we would expect at this stage of the tournament, it was a heck of a battle,: head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. "We're certainly happy with the result. I thought Florida played a really good match. They had a good plan, it took everything we had to find a way to win, but I was really proud of the team for hanging in there. I thought we maintained our composure at a really solid level throughout the match, even when it wasn't going our way, I thought our athletes were still present and in it and engaged and working hard, and at the end of the day that paid some dividends. Happy with the team and happy to be advancing."

Notable
Minnesota is making its first NCAA Regional Final appearance since 2016. The Golden Gophers will be making their fourth NCAA Regional Final showing under head coach Hugh McCutcheon (2012, 2015, 2016, 2019).

How they won the set:
First Set: Despite Minnesota hitting .343 in the opening set, the Gators took the first set 25-23. Tied at 12-12, Florida went up, 15-12 off a kill and back-to-back blocks. Minnesota trailed Florida 18-13, but came within one at 20-19 off a Pittman ace. With Florida at set point, 24-22, Minnesota cut the Gator lead to one at 24-23, but Florida finished off the set on a kill.
Second Set: The Gophers tied the match 1-1 on a 25-14 second-set win. Minnesota opened the set with a 6-1 lead. The Gators battled back and cut the lead to one at 9-8, but Minnesota went on a 5-0 run for a 14-8 lead. The Gophers, however, continued the pressure and built a 22-12 lead off Samedy kill. Minnesota tied the match 1-1 when Pittman added her fifth kill of the match at 25-14.
Third Set: Florida hit .441 in the set and limited Minnesota to .205 as the Gators took a 2-1 lead. As the two teams were tied at 12-12, Florida went a 6-0 run and took an 18-12 lead. Florida finished off the set on back-to-back kills for a 25-16 set win.
Fourth Set: Pittman has six kills in the fourth as the Gophers won the set 25-15. Minnesota went up 11-7 off a Hart kill as Florida called a timeout. After Florida took a timeout at 11-7, the Gophers came out of the break and went on a 9-2 run. The Gophers finished off the set with four kills from Pittman to take the set at 25-15 and tied up the match at 2-2.
Fifth Set: Tied at 3-3, Minnesota took an 8-3 lead off a Florida error, including five points on Samedy's serve rotation. Minnesota took a 9-5 lead off a Rollins kill and 11-6 advantage on a Miller kill. The Gophers pushed it to 13-8 off a Gator service error. Minnesota pushed it to set point off a Rollins kill, while Samedy added match point on a kill from McGraw.

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