Dylan Ness, one of the Gophers' three senior wrestlers who are rated No. 1, knew his team needed a win, and he got it.

Ness defeated Anthony Collica 6-0 at 157 pounds in the second-to-last match to clinch top-ranked Minnesota's 19-15 victory over No. 8 Oklahoma State on Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion.

The Gophers (5-0) built a 9-0 lead on decisions in the first three matches. Logan Storley and Scott Schiller, the team's other No. 1-ranked wrestlers, won 8-1 at 174 and 11-4 at 197, respectively. In between those matches, Brett Pfarr won 5-1 at 184.

But Oklahoma State (2-1) tied the match 9-9 going into the break. Austin Marsden won 6-2 at heavyweight for the Cowboys, and Eddie Klimara pinned Sam Brancale at 125 in 4:58.

Brothers Chris and Nick Dardanes of the Gophers won the next two matches, Chris on a 20-8 major decision at 133 pounds, to put Minnesota ahead 16-9.

At 149, though, the Cowboys had one of their best wrestlers, No. 5-rated Josh Kindig. He edged Jake Short 4-1, getting a last-second takedown against an aggressive Short.

That made the score 16-12. Ness, up next, ended the suspense.

The dual meet ended with Alex Dieringer, Oklahoma State's lone top-ranked individual, beating Nate Wanzek 9-2.

This was the Gophers' fourth win in the past five meetings.

U waiting, hoping

The 2014 Big Ten volleyball regular season concluded Saturday, and the 64-team for the NCAA tournament will be announced at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

One team especially anxious to see the at-large selections will be the Gophers, who finished their conference schedule with a sweep over Indiana on Friday.

Coach Hugh McCutcheon's team is on the bubble with a 19-12 record overall and a 9-11 mark in the Big Ten, one of the nation's strongest conferences.

Minnesota has made the past 15 national tournaments and was No. 49 in the volleyball RPI rankings going into this weekend.