The Minnesota volleyball team visits a top five team's venue for the second time in three weeks when it travels to Gainesville, Fla. to play in the UF Hilton Classic. Minnesota will take on Xavier (5-1) in the first round of the tournament on Friday, Sept. 12 at 5 p.m. (ET). No. 3 Florida (6-1) will play Florida A&M (2-2) at 7 p.m. (ET) in the second match of the night. On Saturday, Sept. 13, the losers of the two matches will play in the consolation match at 1:30 p.m. (ET), while the winners will play in the championship at 3:30 p.m. (ET). Xavier enters the week with a 5-1 record after going 2-1 at the Xavier Invitational last weekend. No. 3 Florida is coming off a weekend that saw them sweep No. 7 UC Santa Barbara and No. 4 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. Florida A&M went 1-0 last week with a victory over Jacksonville. Minnesota's only meeting against Florida came on Sept. 11, 1984 when it defeated the Gators 3-1. The Golden Gophers have not played Xavier or Florida A&M. However, Minnesota did play host to Florida A&M's First Round NCAA Tournament matchup against Georgia Tech in 2002.

Minnesota will continue its tough non-conference schedule this and next week. The Golden Gophers will take on Xavier on Friday, Sept. 12 in the UF Hilton Classic. With a victory over the Musketeers, Minnesota would likely play No. 3 Florida. It would mark the Golden Gophers' fourth ranked opponent in eight matches if they played the Gators. Minnesota would also go against its second top five opponent and third opponent ranked in the top 15. The Golden Gophers have already played No. 2 Hawai'i, No. 9 UCLA and No. 21 Louisville. Minnesota will also play No. 6 Northern Iowa on Wednesday, Sept. 17 in Rochester, Minn. After that match, the Golden Gophers will have played five ranked teams in nine matches if they play Florida.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF version of these notes. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, download it for free!