Minnesota (27-4, 19-1) came out on fire in set one, but things fell apart for the Gophers after they came up short in a marathon second set. “It’s disappointing obviously for a lot of reasons,” said Gopher Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon, “From my perspective this group has worked incredibly hard and deserved the chance to compete at the end of this thing, but that’s not going to be our lot in life, so we got to deal with what is and move on.”
Minnesota lost 25-21, 39-41, 14-25, 24-26. Oregon (23-10, 13-7) came to play and won every statistical category in the four-set win.