Gopher volleyball faces Western Kentucky in first round of NCAA tournament
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Gophers were hoping to host the first weekend of the NCAA volleyball tournament, but instead they're in Lexington, where they'll take on Western Kentucky on Thursday.
The team was on the bubble — ranked 16th by the AVCA but 26th in RPI — and ended up taking one of the six seeds in the 64-team bracket. They were one of nine Big Ten teams to make it to the postseason.
Despite starting out the season with big wins against No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin, the Gophers struggled against ranked opponents and went on a three-match losing streak in the beginning of November. But they closed out the conference season with three wins, which is giving them confidence heading into the tournament.
For senior setter Melani Shaffmaster, it was their last away game against Illinois that showed her the essence of Minnesota volleyball. The team was able to rally from a seemingly insurmountable 16-6 deficit to come back and take the set 27-25, and win the match 3-1.
"I know Keegan and the staff has a lot of faith in us but I think until we actually prove it to ourselves, it's kind of hard to take those words into account," Shaffmaster said. "So I think that set, and that game on the road was a really big win and it kind of showed us something that we're capable of doing."
"There were two different sets in that match where we were down significantly, and we were able to come back and win the set. So I just think just showing how much determination we have to turn things around can allow us to go really far in this tournament," said senior right side hitter Lydia Grote.
Grote and Shaffmaster were among four Gophers to be honored with all-Big Ten awards. They were joined on the first team by unanimous selection Julia Hanson; Phoebe Awoleye was named to the second team.
Hanson was also named the AVCA Player of the Week after a dominant performance against Illinois and Ohio State, averaging 5.63 kills per set. She joins a short yet prominent list of former Gophers including Lauren Gibbemeyer, Hannah Tapp, Sarah Wilhite and Stephanie Samedy, who have all gone on to have careers with the USA national team.
Western Kentucky has gone undefeated in their conference for the last five years. Their losses came in the preseason, against teams including Kentucky, Illinois and Michigan State.
If the Gophers can pick up a win on Thursday, they'll face either No. 11 Kentucky or Cleveland State on Friday.