Gophers Volleyball moving on in NCAA Tournament

The Minnesota volleyball team racked up 12 blocks on the way to a three-set victory (25-17, 25-14, 25-23) against the Utah State Aggies Friday night in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

It was the ninth straight season the Golden Gophers won an NCAA Tournament match. All-time, Minnesota is 27-1 in the first round of the big dance.

“Proud of our group, especially for how we played in the serve and serve receive game,” said Keegan Cook. “We applied a lot of pressure there. Then in the third set, we were down and really had to battle back. Proud that we showed a lot of what we’ve been known for late in the season here and happy I get to coach this group at least one more day.”

Lydia Grote finished with 10 kills (.471) on the night to lead the Gophers attack. The ‘U’ got 17 digs from Kylie Murr along with six blocks each from Arica Davis and Phoebe Awoleye to lead them defensively.

“We’ve been talking about making the [NCAA] tournament all year long,” said Lydia Grote. “Our season was much more difficult than expected, but we really battled and persevered. We knew we had to believe in ourselves if we wanted to have this opportunity.”

As a team, Minnesota hit .196 with 33 kills, 37 digs, 12 blocks and nine service aces. Utah State was held to 31 kills on .048 hitting with 36 digs, eight blocks and four aces.