The Gophers will need to pull off a road upset to advance
The Minnesota Golden Gophers knocked off Western Kentucky 3-1 in the opening round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Thursday. Minnesota advances to the Round of 32 where the #6 seeded Gophers will face the host and #3 seeded Kentucky Wildcats at 6:00 Friday evening. Kentucky had no trouble defeating Cleveland State in a 3-0 sweep.
The Gophers and Hilltoppers played a closer match that it may appear from the score. Western Kentucky held advantages over Minnesota in hitting percentage (.250 to .186), kills (59 to 50), digs (61 to 60) and blocks (9 to 6), but fell victim to 18 service errors.
The first set was a back and forth affair with the score even at 9-all after the first 18 points. The teams would go on mini runs each taking the lead by two or three points to the point where WKU held a 19-16 lead. But the Gophers would close out on the longest run of the set taking a 21-20 lead. WKU got one point back to tie it at 21 before the Gophers went on one final run to finish off the 25-22 opening set win.
The second set was all Minnesota. The Gophers got up early and never let the Hilltoppers back in it. From 5-all the Gophers would go on a run to take a 16-8 lead at one point. Minnesota’s momentum slowed near the end—a precursor of what was to come, and the Hilltoppers made things interesting, but the Gophers held on for a 25-20 win in set 2 and a 2-0 lead.
In the third set it was once again a back and forth affair to start. Neither team had more than a three point edge and Minnesota had a 15-12 lead after a Hilltopper timeout. But, the timeout worked as Minnesota was completely outgunned afterwards with the Hilltoppers ending on a 13-4 run to take the third set 25-19.
The fourth set looked like it would be all Hilltoppers early. Minnesota continued their struggles from late in the third set and fell behind by five at 17-12 at one point. But, the Gophers would dig deep and find a way to battle back and avoid a fifth set. A 7-2 Gophers run knotted the set at 19-all. WKU would score three of the next four, to take a 22-20 lead and it looked like the Gophers would turtle like they had in the third set. Minnesota then called its last timeout. Then Makenna Wucherer decided to take over. She picked up back to back points with a kill and an ace to tie it up at 23. The Gophers would finish the match off with Julia Hanson’s team leading 13th kill of the match and then a block from Lydia Grote and Calissa Minatee sealed the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.
“I’m certainly as dissatisfied as I could be with an NCAA win, these guys know that and I feel fortunate I can tell them that,” said head coach Keegan Cook. They are mature enough to handle it, and they’ll be ready for tomorrow night.”
The Gophers will take on #3 seed Kentucky on their home court after the Wildcats easily took care of Cleveland State 3-0.
The Wildcats won the SEC with a 14-2 record. They did go 1-5 against common opponents this season defeating Western Kentucky 3-1, but losing to Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Texas and Stanford. Minnesota knocked off Western Kentucky and Texas but lost to the three other Big Ten opponents and Stanford for a 2-4 record.
Kentucky has won 12 consecutive matches. UK head coach Craig Skinner was named SEC Coach of the Year, while sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye was named the conference Player of the Year.
The Gophers and Wildcats are 3-3 all-time against one another with the last match occurring in 2013 a 3-2 Kentucky win in Lexington. The winner will advance to the Sweet 16, likely at Pittsburgh against either #2 seed SMU or #7 seed Missouri. Friday’s match will begin at 6 PM and will stream on ESPN+.