Gophers volleyball: Minnesota sprints to second round of NCAA Tournament

The No Minnesota Gophers defeated the Fairfield Stags in straight sets - - - Friday night at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis Minnesota controlled the match from the first serve and strolled to its first win at The Pav in the NCAA Tournament since The Gophers hit and posted eight organization aces to Fairfield s one Gophers head coach Keegan Cook declared at first he did not know how much of an advantage hosting would give Minnesota I thought when you get on the plane you start to feel the potency of the tournament Cook mentioned So I thought it was supposedly Wednesday or Thursday when specific of the decals started to go down in the building then I saw the enthusiasm pick up a little bit Well once Cook s squad walked into a packed Maturi Pavilion they channeled that strength on the court The first set was no contest as in the blink of an eye the Gophers held a - lead Minnesota strolled to a - Set supremacy as senior outside hitter Julia Hanson and freshman opposite Carly Gilk combined for eight kills to lead the offense Hanson s third kill of the first set gave her in her college career She explained redshirt freshman setter Stella Swenson has been great at finding her this season When I hit that back row attack for Stella I knew this instant Hanson disclosed But yeah it s not something I was focusing on but it was at the back of my mind The Stags manifested signs of life early in the second set opening with a - advantage But the Gophers answered back with a - run to establish a stranglehold on Set A one-sided fight after four points in Set as Minnesota outscored Fairfield - from that point on to tighten their grip on the match The Gophers were hitting after two sets and had blocks to the Stags one Cook reported having a full week of practice and keying in on their defensive eye work and winning rallies the hard way paid off It kind of came together in that second set just a lot of positive touches a lot of good transition volleyball Cook noted December s all about transition volleyball and so yeah it felt good Fairfield hung around in the third set trailing - until a - scoring run from Minnesota created separation The Gophers built on that momentum allowing for it to rotate in subs late with the match in hand Gophers senior Chloe Ng picked up her first career NCAA Tournament system ace in what may have been her final match action on the Maturi Pavilion court The Pav erupted when the ball touched the floor Gilk explained even though it s her first year playing with Ng she s been able to see the impact she has on the unit I know how much work she puts in on and off the court Gilk announced So just seeing her be able to do that at The Pav where she s been her last four years was so fun to see I was super excited for her Cook added she had been acing the Gophers in practice all four years so it was nice to see her ace an opponent Minnesota toppled the Stags - in Set to beat Fairfield to book their spot in the second round The Gophers only allowed total points across the three sets Cook disclosed he expects the Gophers and Iowa State to respond to their first-round matches well noting he hopes his company will be fresher because of the sweep Related Articles St Thomas volleyball Tommies fall in a first-round thriller Gophers likely bowl destination Rate Bowl in Phoenix Gophers dismiss defensive line coach Dennis Dottin-Carter D Football Patience persistence paid off for Matt Walker and Wisconsin-River Falls This group is ready Young tested Gophers volleyball unit set for NCAA run