Minnesota Volleyball Team Ranked No. 9 in Preseason USA Today/CSTV Poll

The Minnesota volleyball team is starting the season ranked No. 9 according to the CSTV/AVCA Preseason Top-25 poll, which was released on Tuesday, Aug. 14. Minnesota received 1,032 points in the poll.

It marks the seventh time in eight years the Golden Gophers have been ranked in the preseason top 25, and the fourth time in five years that they have been in the top 10. Minnesota was ranked No. 11 in the 2000 preseason poll, No. 15 in the 2001 preseason poll, No. 6 in 2003, No. 5 in 2004, No. 6 in 2005 and ninth this year.

Minnesota is one of only eight programs in the nation to be ranked in the preseason top 10 in at least four of the last five years.

Last season, Minnesota finished the year ranked No. 6 after going 26-8, advancing to the NCAA Regional Finals for the third time in four years and missing the Final Four by one game. The Golden Gophers also finished second in the Big Ten for the sixth time in eight years.

Minnesota was among five Big Ten teams that were ranked in the preseason poll. Penn State was ranked No. 3, Wisconsin No. 11, Purdue No. 13 and Ohio State No. 16. Michigan and Michigan State also received votes in the preseason poll.

Along with playing the teams from the Big Ten that are in the poll, Minnesota will also travel host three ranked teams in the Diet Coke Classic. The Golden Gophers will face No. 25 Ohio University (Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.), No. 2 Stanford (Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m.) and No. 15 San Diego (Sept. 2 at 1:30 p.m.) in the tournament. Minnesota will also travel to play at No. 12 California on Sept. 8. The Golden Gophers open up the season at Notre Dame, who received 86 points in the poll, on Aug. 24.