Stewartville’s Hannah Tapp is Big Ten Player of the Week

The Big Ten Conference has named the University of Minnesota’s Hannah Tapp as a Co-Player of the Week for volleyball.

The Stewartville High School graduate led the Gophers to wins over Iowa and it third-ranked Nebraska and recorded a .444 hitting percentage during the past week. Tapp, whose twin sister Paige is also a standout member of the Gopher volleyball squad, notched 24 kills and 8 blocks during the 2 matches and posted a career-high 17 kills against Nebraska.

It is the first time she has been awarded the Big Ten Player of the Week Honor.

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(Gophersports.com) - With a pair of road wins last weekend, the University of Minnesota volleyball team moved up the national rankings in both the American Coaches Association poll and the recent NCAA RPI.

In the last NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) ranks, the Golden Gophers hold the sixth-best ranking in the nation. The RPI is one of the tools used by the NCAA Selection Committee to evaluate teams for the post season. In the top 10 alone, four hail from the Big Ten Conference in Ohio State (4) Gophers (6), Nebraska (7) and Penn State (8). Along with Big Ten teams ranked high in the RPI, Minnesota also competed against Stanford (12), Louisville (18) and North Carolina (32) in the non-conference season.

Minnesota jumped from No. 9 to No. 4 in the recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. Southern California is undefeated and ranked No. 1, followed by Texas (2), Penn State (3) and Minnesota (4). Also ranked in the top 25 are Big Ten foes Nebraska (9), Ohio State (11), Wisconsin (12), Purdue (17), Illinois (21) and Michigan (25). Michigan State is also receiving votes. The No. 4 ranking is the highest for the Golden Gophers since the 2009 season.

The Golden Gophers host their next four matches, starting Wednesday night against Indiana. Match time is set for 7 p.m. Minnesota welcomes No. 19 Purdue to the Sports Pavilion on Sunday, 2 p.m. The Gophers then host Michigan State and Michigan, Nov. 6-7, as both match times are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts.