Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball
| Minnesota Golden Gophers women's volleyball |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | University of Minnesota |
| Head coach | Hugh McCutcheon (Fourth season) |
| Conference | Big Ten |
| Location | Minneapolis, MN |
| Home arena | Sports Pavilion (Capacity: 5,700) |
| Nickname | Golden Gophers |
| Colors | Maroon and Gold |
| AIAW and NCAA Tournament runner up | |
| 2004 | |
| AIAW and NCAA Tournament Final Four | |
| 2003, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2016 | |
| AIAW and NCAA Tournament appearances | |
| 1989, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 | |
| Conference regular season champions | |
| 2002, 2015 | |
Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball is the NCAA Division I women's volleyball team at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The program began its first season in 1972 under head coach Dee Jilek. Its current head coach is Hugh McCutcheon, who took over the team after the 2012 Olympics. Previous coach Mike Hebert had led the Golden Gophers to every NCAA Tournament, with the exception of 1998, when he was head coach of the team. His tenure was highlighted by back-to-back NCAA Final Four appearances in 2003 and 2004. Hebert also led Minnesota the program's first Big Ten title in 2002.
At the conclusion of the 2010 season, Hebert announced his retirement.
Even with a 13 overall tournament seed, Minnesota beat Washington in the regional final in five games to advance to the school's first NCAA Final Four. In the national semifinals, Minnesota played top ranked and undefeated Southern California tough, but fell in three games. Minnesota was led by Cassie Busse with 23 kills and Erin Martin with 11.
The tournament's #4 overall seed, Minnesota defeated fifth-seeded Ohio State in the regional final to advance to their second straight national semifinal. Once again, they met Southern California, but the outcome was different than the previous year. Behind 18 kills from Minnesota's Erin Martin, the Golden Gophers defeated the two-time defending NCAA Champions in four games to advance to the programs first NCAA National Championship.
In the final against Stanford, Minnesota could not stop Ogonna Nnamani and struggled to find an offensive rhythm, falling in three straight games to finish as national runners-up. Despite leaving the match against Stanford with a neck injury, Minnesota All-American libero Paula Gentil set an NCAA tournament record for digs in the NCAA tournament with 173 total in six matches.
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