Gophers volleyball makes NCAA tournament, will open against Utah State in Omaha

If there was any tension inside the Bierman Athletic Building on Sunday night as the Gophers volleyball team waited to see if it had made the NCAA tournament, it was expertly dispelled by a meandering toddler.

Oliver, the son of Minnesota coach Keegan Cook and his wife, Sarah Ammerman, tried to pull the plug on the ESPN live feed into the room, tested his sippy cup against a few electrical outlets and generally kept the mood light as players and coaches chased him ahead of the selection show.

Then things got tense.

Players rocked in their seats as brackets were slowly unveiled, lobbed jokes at the screen and finally erupted when their name was called. The Gophers are in the tournament. They will face No. 6 seed Utah State on Friday at 4 p.m. in Omaha, where Creighton, the No. 3 seed in the region, will play host to the first two rounds and open against Colgate.

It's the ninth consecutive tournament appearance for the Gophers, who rode a late-season turnaround to win 10 of 14 matches and finish fifth in the Big Ten in their first season under Cook.

The Big Ten placed two teams in the top four seeds: Nebraska was No. 1, followed by Stanford, Wisconsin and Pittsburgh. The Gophers played the Cornhuskers, Cardinal and Badgers this season, going 0-4, but played a tense, improved match against Nebraska to end the regular season on Saturday.