The Minnesota volleyball team dropped to No. 22 in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll on Monday, Sept. 15. The Golden Gophers received 236 points in the poll to drop from last week's No. 20 ranking.

Minnesota went 1-1 to finish second in the UF Hilton Classic. The Golden Gophers defeated Xavier in the first match 3-0, but lost in the finals to No. 3 Florida 3-0.

Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Paula Gentil (Forteleaza Ceara', Brazil) were both named to the All-Tournament team for Minnesota. Busse has been named to seven of the last eight All-Tournament teams, while Gentil has been named to an All-Tournament team on three different occasions in her career.

Minnesota is one of four Big Ten teams in the top 25. Penn State is the highest ranked team at No. 11, Michigan State is No. 15 and Wisconsin is No. 24.

The Golden Gophers have been ranked in the top 25 for 20 straight weeks.

Minnesota begins a busy week of matches on Wednesday, Sept. 17 when it plays No. 6 Northern Iowa at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn. at 7 p.m. That match will mark the fifth ranked opponent in nine matches for Minnesota this season.

The Golden Gophers will then host the Diet Coke Classic on Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20. On Friday, Sept. 19, Minnesota will take on Colorado State at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Gophers will then play Charlotte on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 12:30 p.m. Minnesota will wrap up the tournament against UW-Milwaukee on Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Rank School (First-Place Votes) Total Points 2003 Record Last Week 1 USC (65) 1,625 9-0 1 2 Hawai'i 1,547 9-1 2 3 Florida 1,507 8-1 3 4 Stanford 1,406 6-2 4 5 Georgia Tech 1,286 8-0 10 6 Northern Iowa 1,242 7-1 6 7 Pepperdine 1,230 8-2 7 8 Nebraska 1,211 8-1 5 9 UCLA 1,161 8-1 9 10 Kansas State 978 10-2 12 11 Penn State 908 8-1 8 12 California 848 8-0 16 13 UC Santa Barbara 773 4-3 11 14 Washington 754 9-0 18 15 Michigan State 672 5-2 17 16 Arizona 620 6-4 14 17 Santa Clara 591 5-4 13 18 Notre Dame 501 7-2 15 19 Louisville 367 5-3 21 20 Pacific 259 5-2 24 21 San Diego 246 7-2 NR 22 Minnesota 236 3-5 20 23 Long Beach State 218 5-2 19 24 Wisconsin 188 6-2 25 25 Loyola Marymount 181 10-1 22

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Texas A&M 133, BYU 106, Missouri 50, North Carolina 49, San Francisco 47, South Carolina 39, Utah 36, Colorado State 31, Ohio State 21, Cincinnati 17, Northwestern 9, Ohio 9, Western Michigan 6, Southwest Missouri State 2, St. Mary's, Calif. 2