Note to Gophers volleyball fans: Never lose hope in NCAA tournament play.

A day shy of 12 years later, history repeated itself Saturday at the Sports Pavilion.

Showing flashes of what they did on the road to Pac-12 foe USC on Dec. 4, 1999, the Gophers rallied from a 0-2 hole against Washington in the second round of the tournament. The marathon 18-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 15-11 match stamps the Gophers' ticket into the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.

Minnesota (19-11), the 13th seed, will take on No. 4 seed Iowa State on Friday right back at the Sports Pavilion.

Saturday's match was the Gophers second 0-2 rally this season. Minnesota also turned the tables at Michigan on Oct. 7.

It's something players never get accustomed to but the Gophers looked to be on a mission from the first serve of potential elimination.

"None of us wanted our season to be over, and we were going to do everything as a team we possibly could to come back and get the win," junior outside hitter Katherine Harms said.

Harms had a match-high 29 kills, 10 more than her previous career-best.

Early on, it appeared no one was going to have a night to remember.

The Gophers hit a paltry .105 through the first two sets against the Huskies (24-8) but regrouped during the standard 10-minute break.

With Mia Tabberson replacing Kellie McNeil at setter, Minnesota made just two errors in the third set en route to a .486 clip. The Gophers then used a 5-0 run late in the fourth set to force the decisive fifth.

In that set, Harms continued her determined play. She picked up a dig and a kill on consecutive touches to get the Gophers scoring started.

Ashley Wittman took over from there, pounding five of her 23 kills for the match in the fifth.

Washington coach Jim McLaughlin called Minnesota's switch at setter "the turning point of the match" and the feeling was the same on the opposite sideline.

"In a lot of ways [Tabberson] was our hero," interim head coach Laura Bush said.

Though playing at home, the Gophers looked out of sorts to start Saturday.

Washington, an at-large bid, was far and away the superior team in the first set, using a 6-0 run at the end set a tone.

Despite the eventual 0-2 deficit, the Gophers played some of their best volleyball of the season in the next three sets but Bush sticks to her belief that the team has yet to peak.

"Gosh I hope we haven't," Bush said. "I hope we keep getting better. This is the tournament. We're going to need more matches like this to get through."