University of Minnesota Athletics
2015 Big Ten Champions
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Hugh McCutcheon Named National Coach of the Year | Season in Review
The 2015 marked a pivotal shift for the Gopher Volleyball program. After missing the 2014 NCAA tournament for the program's first time since 1998, Minnesota catapulted its stardom in 2015 and won the Big Ten Championship and made a trip to the Final Four. Entering the season picked fifth in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches' poll the Gophers entered 2015 unranked.
After a pair of losses in the opening weekend to Texas A&M and Stanford, the Gophers competed in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. There, senior Daly Santana held 39 kills in the 3-2 win over Louisville. The team then closed out the tournament with a sweep over No. 18 North Carolina. After sweeping the next two weeks of preseason play, the Gophers were ranked No. 21 at the start of Big Ten play. Minnesota fell in a 3-2 decision to No. 1 Penn State in Happy Valley during the second game of league action. However, the Gophers rebounded in a big way, and made their Big Ten presence known.
Setting a school record, Minnesota went on to win 15-straight Big Ten matches. Against some of the toughest teams in the nation, the Gophers earned eight sweeps, five four-set decisions and two five-set wins in that span and defeated the likes of ranked teams in Wisconsin (twice), at Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue and Michigan. A loss in the third to last regular season match ended the win streak, but the Gophers solidified themselves at the top of the Big Ten. A 3-2 win over Ohio State on senior night gave the Gophers a share of the Big Ten title and a 3-1 win at Indiana secured the Gophers' first Big Ten title in 13 years. Minnesota established an astounding 18-2 league mark, with the only two conference losses coming on the road.
Daly Santana was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, Minnesota's first recipient of the award since 2003 (Cassie Busse). Samantha Seliger-Swenson became the Gophers' First Big Ten Freshman of the Year since 1993 (Katrien DeDecker). The Gophers entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, the highest mark by the Gophers in program history. Minnesota swept its first three opponents in the NCAA Tournament in Jackson State, Marquette and Illinois. The Gophers then defeated Hawaii in the Des Moines Regional to advance to the NCAA Final Four. It marked the program's fourth NCAA national semifinal appearance and the first under head coach Hugh McCutcheon.
Despite a 3-1 loss to Texas to end the season, Minnesota finished off the year with a 30-5 overall mark, an 11-win jump from the 19-12 campaign in 2014. McCutcheon was not only named the Big Ten Coach of the Year, but also was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Coach of the Year, Minnesota's first ever recipient. Santana and Hannah Tapp were named First Team All-Americans, while Seliger-Swenson and Paige Tapp added Second and Third Team All-America honors.
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