Gopher Volleyball Team Sweeps Jackson State

Minneapolis (Gophersports.com) -- The University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated Jackson State in three sets in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night. The Gophers are now 27-4 on the season and remain undefeated at the Sports Pavilion this season.

"We're very happy to start the tournament and obviously happy with the result," head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. "I thought our team, for the most part, was pretty clean. I thought we executed at a high level. We're certainly happy with the performance with the win and we're happy to be moving on in the tournament."

As a team, the Gophers hit for .562 on the match, the best since .558 in 1998 against Buffalo. Minnesota out blocked Jackson State 7.5-0. On the match, the Gophers had only four errors. Hannah Tapp lead Minnesota with 12 kills and just two errors, hitting .556. Daly Santana followed close behind with 11 and one error, and Sarah Wilhite had 10 kills and zero errors in 18 attempts. Santana and Dalianliz Rosado contributed eight digs each. Molly Lohman had four blocks, and Paige Tapp had six kills with two blocks. Samantha Seliger-Swenson contributed 43 assists, two kills and five digs.

"I think our first contact was really good and that allowed Sam to connect with each of her hitters and I think that was really good for us tonight," Santana said.

Minnesota drew 5,167 fans for the opening round of the match as the Gophers are averaging over 4,000 per match this year.

"It was great coming out there after the Marquette-UNI match and seeing a packed Pav," Hannah Tapp said. "That energy really fuels us and it was great to see."

The Gophers will face Marquette University in the second round of the tournament Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles defeated Northern Iowa, 3-2, in the earlier match (25-17, 22-25, 25-11, 23-25, 15-9).