University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Earn No. 8 Overall Seed in NCAA Tournament
11/27/2022 5:39:00 PM | Volleyball
Minnesota will host for the eighth consecutive year
MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota volleyball program received the No. 8 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships and will host the NCAA First and Second Rounds of the tournament at Maturi Pavilion. The first two rounds will take place Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3, it was announced tonight on ESPNU.
"I think certainly our body of work in the home stretch is something we're really proud of," said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. "One thing with the NCAA Tournament, we have to take it one game at a time. There's a lot of noise around it, but we're trying to take it one point at a time."
Florida State and Northern Iowa will compete in the first match of the evening, set for 4:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by the Gophers facing SE Louisiana at 7 p.m. The winner of each match will advance to the Second Round, set for 7 p.m., Saturday. All matches will be played at Maturi Pavilion.
"It's every girls dream to compete in the NCAA Tournament and have a shot at a national championship," said senior libero CC McGraw. "We're really excited to have a chance to play at home for two more games in front of our fans. We're trying to peak in December and keep our momentum going into the tournament."
Should the Gophers advance out of the second round, Minnesota is in the No. 2 seed in the Texas Region and will travel to Austin, Texas, for the NCAA Regionals from Dec. 8-10. Texas is the tournament's No. 1 overall seed. Also in their region is No. 3 seed Ohio State and No. 4 Marquette.
Omaha, Neb., is the host city for the NCAA Championships, Dec. 15-17 as the national semifinals and championship match will be played at the CHI Health Center.
The 2022 season marks the 27th year the Golden Gophers have advanced to the NCAA tournament. Receiving an at-large bid this year, the Gophers have now advanced to the tournament in eight straight seasons and 10 of 11 years under head coach Hugh McCutcheon.
Minnesota has had a top-16 seed the past seven seasons. The Gophers were the No. 2 seed in 2015, 2016 and 2018, No. 3 in 2020-21, and the No. 7 seed in both 2017 and 2019. Minnesota was No. 12 overall in 2021.
Minnesota is one of six Big Ten teams to make the 2022 NCAA tournament and is one of the league's five seeded teams. Wisconsin holds the highest seed at No. 2, followed by Nebraska (6), Ohio State (9), and Penn State (15). Purdue also advanced to the tournament. In all, the Gophers faced 14 teams that made up the field of 64. Along with the five other Big Ten teams Minnesota faced this season, the Gophers also competed against Baylor, Florida, Oregon, Pepperdine, Stanford, Texas, TCU and Washington State.
The Gophers enter the NCAA tournament with a 20-8 (15-5 Big Ten) overall record. They tied for third in the conference with Ohio State. Wisconsin (19-1) finished first, followed by Nebraska (16-4) in second place.
TV/Streaming coverage will be determined early this week.
Ticket Information for NCAA First and Second Round
Gopher Volleyball season ticket holders with a Gopher Score rank in the top 1,000 can purchase tickets for the NCAA First and Second rounds of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship starting Monday morning at 9 a.m. Single session tickets will become available Monday, Nov. 28 starting at 1 p.m. Central time.
First and Second Round Schedule:
Friday, Dec. 2
4:30 p.m. - No. 7 Florida State vs. Northern Iowa
7 p.m. (or 30 minutes following the first match) - SE Louisiana vs. Minnesota
Saturday, Dec. 3
7 p.m. - Game One Winner vs. Game Two Winner