Any doubts about Minnesota volleyball taking a step back in 2019 have been squashed after the Gophers finished off a terrific weekend by upsetting No. 1 Stanford in four sets.
Participating in the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge in Pennsylvania, the Gophers beat the defending national champions in four close sets: 27-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20. The upset victory gets the Gophers to 4-2 on the season while Stanford lost for the first time.
“Really happy with the result and I’m really happy with the way the team competed,” head coach Hugh McCutcheon said, via GopherSports.com.
“I thought there has been a lot of growth over the last couple weeks of how the team competed and it was good to see that exhibited here tonight. It was a tough turnaround for Stanford to play late last night and turn around and play us today, but we still had to go out there and play and I was really proud of how the team competed.”
Minnesota, ranked No. 8 in the country, started the season with a win over North Carolina before losing back-to-back matches against Florida State and No. 3 Texas. But they’ve rallied for three straight wins over No. 7 Florida, No. 10 Oregon and No. 1 Stanford.
The Gophers reached the NCAA Sweet 16 each of the past two years after going to back-to-back Final Fours in 2015 and 2016.
