(GopherSports.com) -- The University of Minnesota volleyball team defeated UCF in straight sets to win the Diet Coke Classic tournament on Saturday night. The Gophers defeated both UC-Irvine and NDSU in three sets earlier in the tournament.

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Daly Santana was named MVP for the tournament, and hit for a match-high 12 kills. All-Tournament selections Samantha Seliger-Swenson and Dalianliz Rosado had match-high assists and digs, with 39 and 20. Paige Tapp led the team in blocks with three block assists and two solo blocks. As a team, the Gophers out blocked the Knights 9-3, and hit .327 to UCF's .099.

The Gophers will head to Charleston, S.C. for the Charleston Classic on Sept. 18.

Set Breakdown:
Set 1: Minnesota erased an early 5-1 lead to take the first set, 25-19. The Gophers trailed through 16-15, but in the midst of a 7-3 run, the Gophers gained control of the set at 17-16. Trailing 15-12, Minnesota had a kill from Paige Tapp, a block from Santana and Molly Lohman followed by an ace from Dalianliz Rosado to tie the set at 15. The Gophers would take the lead on a kill from Hannah Tapp and held the lead until the end of the set. As Hannah Tapp had another kill for a 20-17 lead, UCF took a timeout. However, Santana provided back-to-back aces for a 22-17 lead. The Gophers closed out the set on a kill from Santana and a Lohman ace for the 1-0 lead.

Set 2: The Gophers took a 2-0 lead off a 25-15 second set win. After a tie set at 14-14, Minnesota took the lead with a Santana kill. With that 15-14 lead, Minnesota went up, 23-14, off of Rosado’s serve rotation. UCF took a timeout after a Gopher block from Santana and Lohman put the Gophers up, 17-14. An ace by Rosado and a kill from Goehner pushed the score to 19-14, also forcing UCF to take another timeout. Minnesota went up 22-14 on a kill from Santana, while she and Lohman connected for another block at 23-14 to end the run. The Gophers finished off the set with a Santana kill, her ninth of the match.

Set 3: Minnesota cruised to a 25-14 set win and a sweep over the Knights. The Gophers opened the third set with a 9-1 lead, while later holding a 14-4 lead. The double-digit lead forced UCF to burn its second timeout of the set. Minnesota would go up 16-5 on a Hannah Tapp kill, followed later by a 20-9 lead off a Santana kill. Seliger-Swenson added a kill fromToni Alugbue to push the score to 22-11. Minnesota finished off the match with back-to-back kills from Lohman to improve to 5-2 on the season.

Diet Coke Classic All Tournament
UC Irvine, right side hitter Harlee Kekauoha
UCF, outside hitter Jale Hervey
North Dakota State, outside hitter Jenni Fassbender
North Dakota State, , outside hitter/ds Mikaela Purnell
Minnesota, libero Dalanliz Rosado
Minnesota, setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson
Minnesota, outside hitter Daly Santana, MVP of the Tournament

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