University of Minnesota Athletics
2003 Final Four
The Golden Gophers advanced to their first Final Four in school history in the 2003 season. Minnesota had a tough start to the season, as it started out 0-4 for the first time in school history. The Golden Gophers got things on track after defeating No. 6 Northern Iowa in Rochester, Minn. to vault them on a four-match winning streak. After regrouping to a 7-5 record, Minnesota hit a another stumbling block as it started Big Ten play 0-2 for the first time since 1993. The Golden Gophers responded with road losses to Indiana and Purdue to start Big Ten play, with a 10-match Big Ten winning streak. The winning streak, which was the second-longest conference winning streak in school history, featured exciting road wins over #13 Penn State and No. 21 Wisconsin, and a home win over the Badgers and No. 22 Michigan State. The three-game victory at Penn State on Oct. 18, was the first three-game victory at State College in Minnesota’s history.
The Golden Gophers’ winning streak came to an end, however, on Nov. 7 as Illinois fought off three match points and claimed the match in five games to end the streak at 10 matches. The next night, Northwestern defeated Minnesota for the first time since 1993 to drop Minnesota to 10-4 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers rebounded with four straight wins to move to 14-4 in conference play. That set up a match at home against Penn State with the Big Ten title on the line. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the Nittany Lions walked away with the 2003 Big Ten title after a hard fought four-game victory. The Golden Gophers ended the regular season with a three-game sweep over Ohio State to finish tied for second in Big Ten play with a 15-5 record.
Minnesota moved to 7-0 at the Sports Pavilion in NCAA Tournament play with a first round victory over UW-Green Bay (3-0) and a hard-fought second round victory over interstate rival Northern Iowa (3-1).
Minnesota’s 11 matches against ranked opponents going into the NCAA Regionals paid dividends, as the Golden Gophers were battle tested and ready heading into a neutral site in Long Beach, Calif. that included Stanford, Washington and Pepperdine. Minnesota won its first NCAA Regional semifinal in school history with a five-game victory over No. 4 Pepperdine. The win over the fourth-ranked Waves was the highest ranked opponent Minnesota had defeated in school history. It also marked the first time in the NCAA Tournament that a No. 4 regional seed had beaten No. 1 seed since 1999.
The Golden Gophers faced No. 13 Washington in the NCAA Regional Finals, after the Huskies upset Stanford to get there. After falling behind 1-0 in the match to Washington and trailing late in the second game, Minnesota pulled out a five-game victory to advance to its first Final Four in school history. Fittingly, senior Cassie Busse had the deciding kills in all three games that Minnesota claimed against the Huskies. Minnesota became the first No. 4 regional seed to advance to a Final Four and the lowest seeded team in NCAA Tournament history, at No. 13, to make a Final Four.
Minnesota met an imposing force in USC in the Final Four. The Women of Troy carried an NCAA Division I record 45-match winning streak into Final Four. Minnesota led in the late going of both game one and two, but succumbed to the eventual national champions (USC) in three games.
Individually Busse was named a First-Team All-American, the first for Minnesota since 1996. She also became only the third Minnesota player to be named Big Ten Player of the Year. In the NCAA Tournament, Busse was named NCAA Pacific Regional Most Outstanding Player and to the Final Four All-Tournament team. For a second straight year, Paula Gentil was the only libero named to an All-American team as she collected second-team honors. She was also named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for a second year in a row. Gentil broke the Big The single-season dig record with 656, while Busse finished fifth on the Minnesota single-season kill list with 614. Mike Hebert was named the Volleyball Magazine National Coach of the Year as well. Lindsey Taatjes also received Big Ten Honorable Mention All-Conference honors, marking the fifth straight year a Minnesota setter received all-conference honors. Taatjes recorded the third-highest single-season assist total in school history at 1,665. Meredith Nelson was also named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team, while Erin Martin and Gentil received Pacific Regional All-Tournament honors. Busse, Trisha Bratford and Martin also became the first trio of Minnesota players in school history to record 400 or more kills in the same season.