Gophers volleyball talks ‘going somewhere you haven’t been’ in NCAA Tournament

Gophers volleyball opens NCAA Tournament with Western Kentucky

The University of Minnesota volleyball team is the No. 6 seed in its bracket and faces Western Kentucky in Louisville Thursday night. The Gophers are making their 29th overall appearance, and 10th straight.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota volleyball team is on a bit of a short week, but that’s just fine with them.

The Gophers (20-10) leave Tuesday night for the Louisville Regional of the NCAA Tournament. They’re the No. 6 seed and will face Western Kentucky in the opening round Thursday night. Minnesota is making its 29th overall tournament appearance, second straight under Keegan Cook and 10th straight overall.

Last year in Cook’s first season, the Gophers got a 3-0 win over Utah State before falling to Creighton to end their season. Minnesota has made six NCAA Final 4 appearances, the last coming in 2019. Cook is doing his best to prepare the Gophers for a tournament run.

"Play the match, not the moment. Try and give these guys a vision for us playing six matches, but also remind them that it’s going to be one rotation at a time," Cook said Tuesday from Maturi Pavilion. "I think the one message I’ve tried to share with them is that at some point, you’ve got to go somewhere you haven’t been before with people that you care a lot about. That’s what I want for this group."

Gophers open with the Hilltoppers

Minnesota faces Western Kentucky in its first match. The Hilltoppers are 28-6 on the season and went a perfect 18-0 on Conference USA action.

They didn’t face a regular season gauntlet like the Gophers did with ranked opponents, but they won’t be taken lightly. The next Minnesota loss ends their season.

Shaffmaster has led the Gophers to two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight in her five years at Minnesota.

"We’re trying to treat every game as the same but I know there’s a looming pressure that everyone kind of knows if we don’t win this game, we’re done with the season, senior Melani Shaffmaster said. "That’s kind of put on the backburner until it gets a little choppy in the game. We’re going to treat Western Kentucky as if it were Penn State at Penn State."

The bracket

If the Gophers beat Western Kentucky, they would face the winner of No. 3 Kentucky and Cleveland State. Minnesota is 27-1 all-time in first round matches, including 15 straight wins. The Gophers enter the NCAA Tournament on a three-game win streak and having faced 10 ranked opponents, beating then No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin.