Minnesota tops Louisville

Their home court, the Sports Pavilion, is waiting in Minneapolis.

One obstacle stands in the way - Tennessee.

Minnesota won a 3-1 over Louisville on Friday in NCAA volleyball first-round action at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The 11th-seed Gophers need a win tonight over the Lady Vols to get back home to the regional in hopes of advancing to the Final Four in Tampa, Fla.

UT, a 3-1 winner over Duke, and Minnesota play at 7 p.m.

"I like the word incentive better than pressure,'' Minnesota coach Mike Hebert said after the Gophers won 25-20, 24-26, 26-24, 25-22 over the Big East champion Cardinals.

"They really want to make it back to that regional. So I'd say we're feeling highly motivated.

"We really want to play in Minneapolis.

First the Gophers have to play the second round in Knoxville.

They had some nervous moments Friday.

The Gophers won the first game, and almost had the second locked up. Almost. Louisville escaped a 22-24 deficit to even the match.

The Cardinals, up 24-23 in the third game, were a point away from taking the advantage but this time it was Minnesota rallying to win 26-24.

The Gophers never trailed in decisive game five.

The match was a duel of freshman killers.

Tabitha Love, a 6-foot-6 freshman from Manitoba, Canada, led the Gophers with 19 kills.

Louisville's best weapon was Lola Arslanbekova, a freshman from Uzbekistan, who had 20 kills.

For Minnesota, Hailey Cowles added 18 kills. All-Big Ten player Lauren Gibbemeyer had 17, including the final two points of the match.

"It's great to get the first match out of the way,'' Gibbemeyer said. "We're calmer now. We kind of had first-game jitters.

Added Cowles, "We're one round further and one round closer to home.''