The University of Minnesota men's tennis team heads to Champaign, Ill., this weekend for the 2005 Big Ten Championship. The Golden Gophers (8-12, 5-5 Big Ten) are the No. 7 seed for the conference tournament and will face No. 10 Wisconsin (8-13, 2-8) on Thursday, April 28 at 10 a.m. The winner of that match will advance to the quarterfinals to face No. 2 Ohio State (17-7, 8-2). Wisconsin downed Minnesota, 7-0, on April 8 at the Baseline Tennis Center. The Buckeyes narrowly defeated the Maroon and Gold, 4-3, on March 27 in Columbus.The top five seeds in the Big Ten Championships received byes to the quarterfinal round.

The University of Minnesota ranks fourth all-time in most Big Ten Championships won. Since 1910, the Golden Gophers have tallied 15 team championships. Minnesota’s mark of 15 titles ranks behind Michigan (36), Chicago (20), and Illinois (16). Since 1980, Minnesota has the most titles with nine, followed by Michigan (8) and Illinois (7).