Golden Gopher volleyball team heads to final four
Minnesota Sports- The U's volleyball team won the regional final contest 3-1 over Florida State Saturday to advance to the final four of the NCAA Division I tournament.
- Minnesota Golden Gophers
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MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota volleyball team (28-8) defeated Florida State (31-3) in four sets by scores of 25-20, 25-7, 18-25, 25-17 to advance to the National Semifinals at the Sports Pavilion on Saturday.
Minnesota will face the winner of the Texas-Nebraska match in the National Semifinals on Thursday at either 6 or 8 p.m. Tickets for the National Semifinals will go on sale on Monday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. Orders for tickets will be taken until noon.
The trip to the National Semifinals will be the third in school history for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota advanced to the National Semifinals previously in 2003 and 2004. It will also be fifth trip for Golden Gopher Head Coach Mike Hebert.
Freshman outside hitter Tabitha Love (Dauphin, Manitoba) was named the Minneapolis Regional Most Outstanding Player. Love averaged 5.38 kps and hit .402 in the two NCAA Regionals. Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) and Taylor Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) were also named to the All-Tournament. Florida State's Mira Djuric and Rachael Morgan also received honors, along with Lauren Rapp (Kentucky) and Tessa Nelson (Colorado State).
Love paced the Minnesota attack for a second night in a row, as she hit .370 (21-4-46) with 21 kills. Gibbemeyer hit .464 (15-1-28) with 15 kills, six digs and three blocks on the night. Senior libero Christine Tan (Safety Harbor, Fla.) collected 24 digs and three assists to help secure a trip back to her homestate for the National Semifinals.
Carico also had seven kills, 44 assists and 13 digs for the match. Junior outside hitter Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie, Minn.) collected 11 kills, 13 digs and three assists on the match.
Minnesota outhit Florida State .331 to .179, and had 66 kills to 45 for the Seminoles. The Golden Gophers also collected 73 digs to 56 for Florida State and outblocked the Seminoles 8.0-to-5.0.
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