Gophers volleyball team advances to Sweet 16

The No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team defeated the Northern Iowa Panthers in straight sets, 25-18, 25-16, 25-15 on Saturday evening at Maturi Pavilion. With the win, Minnesota advances to the Sweet 16 for the eighth straight season and the 10th time in head coach Hugh McCutheon’s tenure.

“At the beginning of the match, it was a handful,” said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. “They were hitting .529 through the first media timeout and it was on. To our athletes’ credit, they hung in there and kept playing good Gopher volleyball. We’re obviously very happy to be advancing.”

Taylor Landfair paced the Gophers with 11 kills while Carter Booth had six kills and 11 blocks. Melani Shaffmaster ran the offense efficiently, posting 25 assists to go with three kills and five digs.

“Rachel Kilkelly came in and had some awesome serves that helped knock them out of system and we were able to go on a run in the first set,” said CC McGraw. “Defensively, we cleaned some stuff up with our blocking and we made adjustments that helped put us in better positions to win.”

As a team, Minnesota (22-8, 15-5 Big Ten) hit .288 with 33 kills, 16 team blocks, 29 digs and four aces. Northern Iowa (27-8, 17-1 Missouri Valley) hit .056 with 34 kills, three team blocks, 34 digs and one ace.

Emily Holterhaus led Northern Iowa with 11 kills.