Gopher volleyball cruises to Sweet 16, now 2 wins from NCAA Final Four
Another year in the NCAA tournament and another year with a deep run for the Gopher volleyball team.
Minnesota swept Georgia Tech 3-0 on Thursday to reach the Sweet 16, winning the three games by scores of 25-19, 25-21, and 25-18. They're back on the court Sunday at 12 p.m. CT against Pittsburgh with a trip to the Elite 8 on the line. You can watch the match on ESPN3.
Last year's NCAA tournament was wiped out by the pandemic, but making a deep run in the tourney has become commonplace for Minnesota, who have reached the Final Four three times during their run of their seven straight trips to the tournament.
- 2019: Final Four (lost to Stanford)
- 2018: Regional semifinal (lost to Oregon)
- 2017: Regional semifinal (lost to USC)
- 2016: Final Four (lost to Stanford)
- 2015: Final Four (lost to Texas)
- 2014: Regional semifinal (lost to Stanford)
Minnesota is the No. 3 seed in the tournament and the favorite to represent their corner of the bracket. To reach the Final Four, they'll have to beat Pittsburgh and then win against Washington or Louisville on Monday.
The Final Four will happen in Omaha, Nebraska April 22-24.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.