U volleyball rallies, defeats Huskies

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.

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.

"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.