How to watch Gopher volleyball in the NCAA Final Four
It'll be a late Thursday night for volleyball fans as the Gophers don't play their Final Four game against Stanford until 8:30 p.m. local time, although it'll be 9:30 p.m. when they begin play in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
If you plan on watching the showdown of national volleyball powers, you'll have to make sure you have access to the only place it is being televised: ESPN. It's the second game of the night, with Baylor and Wisconsin meeting in the other national semifinal at 6 p.m.
Click on either link below for access to live stats during the games.
- No. 1 Baylor vs. No. 4 Wisconsin | 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19 | ESPN
- No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 7 Minnesota | 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19 | ESPN
The Gophers upset Stanford 3-1 when the Cardinal were ranked No. 1 in the nation on Sept. 14. Minnesota has not faced Baylor and lost twice to Wisconsin during the regular season.
Minnesota is looking for redemption failing to reach the Final Four in Minneapolis a year ago, having lost on their home court to 15-seed Oregon. This year's dream season nearly came crashing down in the second round as they trailed Creighton 24-22 in the fourth set, only to rally for the set and eventual match win.
The Gophers then escaped against Florida in the Sweet 16 and rocked Louisville in the Elite 8 for a spot in the Final Four.
This is Minnesota's sixth appearance in the Final Four, including third in the last five years. Their only appearance in the National Championship was in 2004 where they lost to Stanford.
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.