Watch: Gophers volleyball earns No. 8 overall seed in NCAA Tournament

The University of Minnesota volleyball program received the No. 8 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships and will host the NCAA First and Second Rounds of the tournament at Maturi Pavilion. The first two rounds will take place Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3, it was announced Sunday.

KSTP Sports was at the Gophers’ watch party.

***Click the video box above to watch interviews with coach Hugh McCutcheon and senior CC McGraw***

Florida State and Northern Iowa will compete in the first match of the evening, set for 4:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by the Gophers facing SE Louisiana at 7 p.m. The winner of each match will advance to the Second Round, set for 7 p.m., Saturday. All matches will be played at Maturi Pavilion.

Should the Gophers advance out of the second round, Minnesota is in the No. 2 seed in the Texas Region and will travel to Austin, Texas, for the NCAA Regionals from Dec. 8-10. Texas is the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Also in their region is No. 3 seed Ohio State and No. 4 Marquette.

Omaha, Neb., is the host city for the NCAA Championships, Dec. 15-17 as the national semifinals and championship match will be played at the CHI Health Center.

The 2022 season marks the 27th year the Golden Gophers have advanced to the NCAA tournament. Receiving an at-large bid this year, the Gophers have now advanced to the tournament in eight straight seasons and 10 of 11 years under head coach McCutcheon.

Minnesota has had a top-16 seed the past seven seasons. The Gophers were the No. 2 seed in 2015, 2016 and 2018, No. 3 in 2020-21, and the No. 7 seed in both 2017 and 2019. Minnesota was No. 12 overall in 2021.

Minnesota is one of six Big Ten teams to make the 2022 NCAA tournament and is one of the league’s five seeded teams. Wisconsin holds the highest seed at No. 2, followed by Nebraska (6), Ohio State (9), and Penn State (15). Purdue also advanced to the tournament. In all, the Gophers faced 14 teams that made up the field of 64. Along with the five other Big Ten teams Minnesota faced this season, the Gophers also competed against Baylor, Florida, Oregon, Pepperdine, Stanford, Texas, TCU and Washington State.

The Gophers enter the NCAA tournament with a 20-8 (15-5 Big Ten) overall record. They tied for third in the conference with Ohio State. Wisconsin (19-1) finished first, followed by Nebraska (16-4) in second place.