Bethany Brafford is not trying to bill this as a rematch.

But the junior middle blocker can’t help agonizing over Minnesota’s volleyball team’s heartbreaking five-game loss to Northern Iowa in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament.

And she can’t stop viewing the No. 20 Gophers match against the Panthers in this weekend’s Diet Coke Classic as a chance to get even.

“I keep thinking about how close that match was,” Brafford said. “We need to prove we can come back and beat them.”

Minnesota was just one game from advancing to its third consecutive Sweet Sixteen last December when Northern Iowa stormed back to win three straight games – including a 17-15 decision in the fifth game – to stun the Gophers.

While both teams played in the State Farm Volleyball Classic two weeks ago, their paths did not cross. This weekend, however, the Gophers (5-1) will definitely face No. 9 Northern Iowa, giving them their first shot at payback.

“We want to go out and get some revenge,” said outside hitter Cassie Busse. “We’re not focusing on Northern Iowa more than any other team, but it’s in the back of our minds.”

The presence of seventh-ranked UCLA will ensure Minnesota doesn’t make the tournament a one-game grudge match. The Bruins lost to No. 4 Hawaii in the Hawaiian Airlines Classic championship match last weekend, but pounded Ohio State, the preseason Big Ten favorite, in three games during the tournament.

“(UCLA) is a better team than people expected,” head coach Mike Hebert said. “We haven’t proven we can play at their level, and we want to do that this weekend.”

Senior Lauren Fendrick leads a Bruins front line featuring a half-dozen players measuring 6-foot-1 or taller.

Minnesota struggled against top-ranked Stanford’s towering blockers in the State Farm Classic last month, and the Gophers hit over coaches raising snow shovels in practice this week to prepare for a similar test against UCLA.

The Gophers’ lineup, which lost middle blocker Maggie Freiborg to a season-ending ACL injury, will be shuffled yet again this weekend.

Busse, who hit from the left side during last weekend’s Florida Atlantic Classic, will swing primarily at opposite hitter, her natural position, this weekend.

Minnesota practiced this week with Busse on the right, while Brafford and Erin Lorenzen saw time on the left side.

Hebert is not yet settled on a lineup for this weekend.

“We’ve toyed with Bethany on the left and Lisa Axel at setter,” he said. “We won’t experiment as much this weekend, but we’re still not sure how it will work out.”

The Gophers must face UCLA Friday night and Rhode Island Saturday afternoon before their much-anticipated match with Northern Iowa on Saturday night.

Hebert isn’t concerned with the team looking ahead to the Panthers, and said Minnesota is motivated by more than redemption this weekend.

Brafford, however, is still feeling the sting from the Gophers’ loss in the NCAA tournament last season.

She is ready for a rematch.

“Those final three games (last season) shouldn’t have happened the way they did,” she said. “I’m definitely focused on that match.”