No. 18 Minnesota takes down No. 1 Texas in 5 sets

The No. 18-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers volleyball team took down the No. 1 Texas Longhorns in five sets Monday night at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

The last time the Gophers defeated a No. 1 ranked team was in 2019 against Stanford and the program had gone without a win against the Longhorns since 2017 — when the Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the nation — before Minnesota's latest five-set victory.

It comes after the Gophers lost in a nailbiter to the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday in five sets.

Related: Gophers drop 5-set battle against No. 5 Stanford to open season

The two-time defending champion Longhorns took the first set 25-22 and Minnesota won the next two, with scores of 25-19 and 25-20, respectively. The Gophers were also up 2-1 in sets against Stanford but couldn't close it out.

The Longhorns took the fourth set in dominating fashion 25-13, sending it to a fifth. It would be the first time Texas would have to play a fifth set since playing in the Sweet 16 against Tennessee last year.

The Gophers jumped out to a 5-0 lead early and dominated the set as Minnesota-native Julia Hanson finished the set with a kill, tying her career high of 19. She also had 13 digs for Minnesota.

Mckenna Wucherer also had 12 kills and Lydia Grote had nine. Melani Schaffmaster led the team with 44 assists and Zeynep Palabiyik led the Gophers with 22 digs.

Minnesota's loss to Stanford featured 23 service errors in comparison to Monday night's 14 against Texas.

The Gophers outpaced the Longhorns in every statistical category (points, kills, aces, blocks and assists) except for digs (82-87).

Minnesota (1-1) will next take on No. 23 Baylor on Friday in Waco, Texas at 7 p.m. CT.