The Bears manage to survive NCAA Sweet 16, sending the Gophers home
A very interesting match took place in the NCAA regional semi-finals on Friday night in which the Gophers were about to win each set, only to find themselves on the losing side at the end.
"It was a peculiar match," Coach Mike Hebert of the Golden Gophers said. "I just felt all match long like we were winning. And then you look up at the end and we made a couple mistakes and we lose."
The Gophers had the lead till the end in all the three sets of the match but Cal always managed to overtake them and make a win. The set scores stood at 26-24, 25-23, 25-23 at the end of the game. This is the fourth time in four years that the Golden Bears
have managed to advance to the final four.
California Coach Rick Feller had been feeling the intense pressure all through the match. He said he was both relieved and fortunate that the Bears had got to the next round in the NCAA tournament.
However, he was confident about the skills and capability of his team. “When Minnesota got to 23 points in sets 2 and 3, these girls had no fear on their faces," Feller said.
Herbert also admitted to the determination of the Golden Bears. He said, “It was unfortunate that we didn't give our best effort tonight, but you've got to hand it to Cal. They scored the right points at the right time to take the victory."
The second set marked the turning point of the contest, when Cal pushed from a 23-18 deficit to make a seven straight points win. This kept the pressure on the Gophers in the last set and they lost a 23-21 lead.
For Senior Lauren Gibbemeyer, a three-time All-Big Ten middle blocker this was her last match.
"We had expectations to go all the way and definitely make it back to the Final Four," Gibbemeyer said. "It's always really upsetting when you don't make that goal. Like Coach Hebert said, we were right there with them every game. It was the crucial points,
the end of the set points that really made the difference."
Cal’s strong distribution among its attackers provided the recipe for the win. Even though Minnesota’s defense was stronger and the Bears were not passing well, they managed to stay resilient. The Bears showed superior team play with Adrienne Gehan, Correy
Johnson, Kat Brown and Shannon Hawari making most contributions.
The Bears are now all set to play the Washington/Nebraska winner.
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